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Higher
Education and
Development
in Africa
Ped r o U etela
Higher Education and Development in Africa
Pedro Uetela

Higher Education
and Development
in Africa
Pedro Uetela
Maputo, Mozambique

ISBN 978-3-319-31140-1    ISBN 978-3-319-31141-8 (eBook)


DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-31141-8

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016941773

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017


This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of
translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,
electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now
known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information
in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the
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the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made.

Cover image © Afripics / Alamy Stock Photo


Cover design by Paileen Currie

Printed on acid-free paper

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature


The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Preface and Content Outline of the
Chapters

The debate concerning development has increasingly dominated


­government agendas and policies in many countries, including those in
Africa. Although higher education is expanding across the African con-
tinent, it lags behind the universal opportunities that are available in the
rest of the world. The low placement of African higher education on the
global landscape has led researchers such as Teferra and Altbach (2004) to
suggest that African universities operate under inadequate conditions, and
that enabling them to catch up will be a very long process.
My analysis of African higher education is similar to that of Teferra and
Altbach (2004). As I illustrate through an examination of their hypothesis,
the failure of African universities to foster growth may partly be due to
the impact of social, political and economic disputes. As a result of these
upheavals, nations such as Cape Verde, Djibouti, Gambia, Seychelles, and
São Tomé and Príncipe have remained without higher education provi-
sion a long time. It took decades for those states to establish forms of
higher learning (e.g. in Cape Verde, the first higher education institution,
the Jean Piaget University, was created in 2001; in Djibouti and Gambia,
there was no higher education institution that fit the category of university,
at least previous to the period our research was undertaken). Furthermore,
in a continent with more nation states than any other (54 countries), in
2005 there were approximately 300 institutions that fitted the definition
of a university. This lack of higher education facilities threatens the future
of the continent if one considers universities as key for modernization
­development and most significantly as the vital forces for transformation
in the knowledge era.

v
vi Preface and Content Outline of the Chapters

What do we mean by “development”? How is it achieved, assessed


and measured? Has the expansion of higher education in Africa always
been linked with small steps towards modernization or with failing to take
them? How do we understand the process? In attempting to find answers
to some of these questions, this book discusses some of the dominant
­narratives outlined by the international corporations concerning invest-
ment in higher education in Africa, especially those supported by agen-
cies such as the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund
(IMF). As they argue, the rates of return in higher education for African
countries are considerably lower than for primary and secondary educa-
tion, so investment in higher education is not seen as cost-effective, even
to the point of compromising the modernization of the continent.
Based on careful analysis, with special focus on the period from the dawn
of independence of African countries during the 1960s and 1970s to the
present, we explore the main theses regarding the connection between eco-
nomic growth and higher education which have divided researchers both
theoretically and in practice. The experiences of the ancient African univer-
sities are used to validate the argument that investing in higher education
in Africa is not per se a threat to growth, as appears to be thought interna-
tionally. Instead it can foster the knowledge generation that is ­necessary for
modernization and development through ­intellectual c­ apital, an approach
that has been neglected for Africa. Therefore, the u ­ nderlying theme of the
five chapters is addressing the relationship between higher education and
economic development, how the linkage has been ­conceived, and how it
has been neglected with regard to the continent.
This book offers insights into the state of higher education in Africa
and globally. It also raises awareness that a knowledge-based economy can
be a vital force for economic development, and that investing in institu-
tions which generate such expertise needs to be prioritized rather than
neglected, as has happened previously in Africa. The book also offers
guidance for a range of educational leaders and policy-makers in general,
and for curriculum designers and those involved in higher education in
particular.
Furthermore, given that higher education in Africa is a new field of
study, I hope that this book will add to the few research results that are
available, and may prove useful to state authorities and researchers in higher
education institutions. It includes a synopsis of the historical development
of higher education in Africa from the institutions of ancient Egypt and
Timbuktu to the modern university, and will be an important tool for
Preface and Content Outline of the Chapters  vii

students and lecturers in the domains of history, philosophy, sociology,


leadership, governance, and policies of higher education internationally.
The book also discusses the underlying strategies that have defined the
relationship between higher education and economic growth, including
the arguments for supporting the universities.
This book reports on empirical data from the Mozambican higher
education institutions in southeast sub-Saharan Africa mainly, and on the
planning and policy reforms undertaken by some of the African coun-
tries since independence in the 1960s and 1970s—the era of the modern
university in Africa. On the link between higher education and develop-
ment, the book suggests that progress can be a social construct, and that
investing in higher learning is not per se either linked to growth or uncon-
nected. Therefore, my first research question refers to the place of higher
education in promoting economic growth on the continent. The second
inquiry is that given the fact that development is a social construction, is
how higher education can be considered as either a blessing or a curse in
Africa. The third question relates to the root causes of the contentious
relationship between universities and development, a subject that seems to
perpetually divide researchers and international agencies.
The debate presented in this book applies to a period in which inter-
nationalizing higher education, either in Africa or elsewhere, has become
a concern for governments, policy-makers and universities. In line with
internationalization and globalization, English is becoming the main lan-
guage in the global financial market, and in higher education. As Bourdieu
(1983) observed, it is through the languages which dominate the market
that prices and values are both established and determined (our translation
of Bourdieu, 1983); understanding the interaction of values and prices,
especially in higher education, is turning into a key interest for govern-
ments, universities and other stakeholders in higher learning.
Therefore, considering the book will be read mainly by Mozambicans
and others who use Portuguese as their first language, it has been carefully
written in accessible English—the language that controls the market—so
that readers will be alerted to the objective of raising the awareness of stu-
dents, researchers, policy-makers, government authorities and newcomers
in the field of higher education. These themes will be illustrated through-
out the book as follow:
Chap. 1 contextualizes the study and describes diverse approaches and
theoretical frameworks for thinking about development, and how it has
been addressed in the African context. It indicates how some of these
viii Preface and Content Outline of the Chapters

approaches on development are either linked to or unconnected with


“blessing and curse” theories of higher education in Africa in terms of
access, funding and finance, governance, gender and research.
Chap. 2 addresses the global landscape of higher education, point-
ing to the differences and similarities in a cross-national perspective.
It examines how divergences across nations can be used to examine levels
of poverty in sub-Saharan Africa, and the scepticism with which the rela-
tionship between higher education and development is perceived.
In addition, I formulate an equation to rank countries’ higher educa-
tion advancement in terms of (i) elitist, (ii) mass and (iii) universal higher
education in order to illustrate the relationship of the equation with the
theory of Trow on the stages of transformation of higher education. I
have selected nine countries at random, and grouped them into the three
categories represented by (i), (ii) and (iii) as a means of investigating
Teferra and Altbach’s (2004) argument that African higher education
faces unprecedented challenges which impact on its struggle for modern-
ization and development. I have re-interpreted some of the theories on
higher education enrolments and global population growth from 1965
to the mid-2000s (Bloom, Canning & Chan 2006) using my equation to
examine the interrelationships between the income of countries, the way
they invest in higher learning and their level of development.
Since higher education is not the only indicator of development nor
the unique area for investment by African governments, the final part of
Chap. 2 presents various theories on global development, especially the the-
ory of dependence and how it may be applied to the underdevelopment of
the African continent. This assessment may support the argument that eco-
nomic development in Africa cannot be understood in terms of economic
models and indexes, so any evaluation of advancement must instead con-
sider differentiated patterns, such as change, transformation, progress and
independence, which lead to a social construct theory of modernization.
In addition to dependence, almost all African countries fall under
the category of “periphery of periphery” (poorest nations) in the global
economy according to Sens’ 2012 theory on placement of states in the
global competition and dependence basis. It has often been proposed
that attaining economic development—moving towards the centre of
the centre in the global economy—will be achieved through knowledge.
Because countries in the category of the “periphery of the periphery”
serve the interests of all countries in the “centre” and in the “centre of
the periphery” group, the richer countries perceive them as a burden,
Preface and Content Outline of the Chapters  ix

and so underdevelopment in Africa may be justified from the p ­ erspective


of other regions’ interests. This approach opposes the theory that a lack
of investment results from low return indexes on higher education,
which thereby threatens modernization of the continent. To sum up, the
chapter demonstrates that, although higher education may be linked to
growth, it is not the only field in which African countries should invest.
There are other concerns to be targeted in the quest for development,
especially with the main focus on economic and political independence.
Chap. 3 revisits the genesis and early development of higher education
in both Africa and Europe. It hypothesizes that current scepticism regard-
ing the link between higher education and development in Africa can be
traced back to the failures of the continent to maintain the standards of
higher education models from ancient Egypt. The ancient Egyptians made
the highest advances in science and technology, through the categories of
philosophy that were later popularized as trivium and quadrivium and, as
a result, were role models for the early civilization of the continent. Teferra
and Altbach (2004) seem to agree with this thesis when they demonstrate
that the spread of higher education in Africa has been a very long process,
although colonization accounted for its destruction in some areas.
The emigration of African knowledge to the first universities in the
West and the high levels of investment in science and technology in those
institutions in modern times confirm the inability of the first African
higher education institutions to compete. Hence, we are left with today’s
dominant narrative that there is no direct connection between higher edu-
cation and development in Africa.
Despite these concerns, approaches in favour of the role of higher edu-
cation in African economic development are presented in addition. Chap. 3
also details the policy reforms undertaken by some African countries in
their attempts to link higher education and development. Therefore, some
of the strategies and plans for poverty eradication are critically examined in
relation to the link with higher education, and the challenges for African
higher education in the twenty-first century are also highlighted following
Teferra and Altbach (2004).
Chap. 4 addresses higher education governance and policy reforms. It
revisits a range of models of administration and control that have been
applied in higher education and how these have impacted on the African
states and universities. The case of Mozambique is discussed as an exam-
ple of country governance and policy reforms in order to further our
insights into the conditions under which higher education operates on the
x Preface and Content Outline of the Chapters

c­ ontinent. Despite the fact that the model of university governance and
policy applied in the the country (Mozambique) might not be representa-
tive of the state of higher education administration in the whole of Africa,
the example will help us to understand similar cases across the continent.
The university control mechanisms that are considered in Chap. 4
include those applied globally, in Africa and in Mozambique. We highlight
that, in order to understand the governance of the Mozambican higher
education system, it is important to revisit its historical advancement, both
political and economic, to appreciate the demands for the adjustment and
invention of new strategies of control. In addition, there is an examination
of the changing patterns of higher education which were attributed to the
demands of the liberal market, showing how these experiences challenge
the narratives regarding higher education as either a blessing or a curse.
Lastly, Chap. 5 ties together the discussions raised in the four previous
chapters sections. It does so by summing up the controversies between
the theories for and against the contribution of higher education to
growth in Africa. It also addresses the case of Mozambique based on a
discussion of the data and draws policy implications from the research.
Furthermore, it makes recommendations for African countries in general
and for Mozambique in particular as to future policies to follow so that
the dominant narrative that there is no direct connection between higher
education investment and development can be contradicted by evidence
from the field.

Objectives, Hypotheses and Methodology


The aims of this book are threefold:

1. To outline the debate and approaches to the relationship between


higher education and development with reference to different and
changing conceptions of the African university’s role in advancement;
2. To investigate the challenges facing higher education in Africa today
and how these account for the scepticism on an association between
higher learning and modernization;
3. To examine and interpret the existing theories that link higher educa-
tion and modernization in order to reformulate some of these.

In terms of hypotheses, the study formulates the thesis that, despite scepti-
cism, higher education in Africa, does not per se conflict with development.
Preface and Content Outline of the Chapters  xi

Instead, higher education has been neglected and devalued from ­colonization
to date, which has resulted in underdevelopment. The hypotheses are sup-
ported by our research, with special focus on the arguments that:

(i) colonization turned against earlier models of African universities;


(ii) it imposed the European typology of higher education institutions
globally which became novel and alien to the continent;
(iii) colonization severely restricted access to higher education;
(iv) in some colonies higher education was forbidden; and
(v) in other colonies, particularly in some of the former French territo-
ries, the few selected candidates attended universities in Europe.

Due to these policies the average participation of higher education-aged


cohorts remained very low at 3 % during the independence period and at
the time this research was undertaken (2014, 2015 and 2016) only aver-
ages 5 %.
The methodology for this research is mainly based on literature review,
interpretation and analyses of existing data on the state of higher educa-
tion in Africa. Some of the previous studies that are revisited in order
to formulate the new theory include those conducted by Langa, 2013;
Cloete, Bailey & Maassen, 2011; Macamo, 2006; Mkandawira, 2011;
Taimo, 2010; Rasian, 2009; Tilack, 2007; Bloom, Canning & Chan
2006; Lulat, 2003; Cloete et al., 2004; Teferra and Altbach, 2004; Agbo,
2003; Mckenzie, 2003; Moyo, 2008 and Ajay et al., 1996. Furthermore,
the data from the websites of some universities, ministries of education
and countries websites were used in discussions.
As mentioned earlier, given that higher education is both interdisci-
plinary and a new field of study, there are occasional shifts from social
to political, cultural and economic theories and analyses of development
throughout the book. However, despite these shifts, which amount to
a mixed method strategy, I have maintained coherence and cohesion in
order to guarantee the accuracy and validity of the data I present and
interpret.
I made personal contact with some personalities engaged with higher
education in Mozambique (Prof. Jeff Mukora and Mr. Sansao Chirinza)
and undertook visits to the National Direction for Coordination of Higher
Education DICES, Eduardo Mondlane University and the Pedagogic
University in Mozambique. These people and institutions provided me
with invaluable information on the evolution of Mozambique’s higher
xii Preface and Content Outline of the Chapters

education system, with special focus on the decades since the 1990s (the
period of liberal democracy in the country). Literature from the above
institutions includes summaries of both quality assurance and accredita-
tion in Mozambican higher education institutions, and was used to frame
the discussion on enrolment ratios, inputs and outputs in Chap. 4.
Acknowledgements

The research described in this book had its genesis when I was ­sponsored
as a Coordination for the Advancement of Higher Education Board
(CAPES) Fellow scholar to study for a PhD in social sciences in the
Federal Republic of Brazil. This scholarship followed a coursework pro-
gramme leading to my second MA in higher education studies and devel-
opment as an exchange student between Eduardo Mondlane University of
Mozambique and the University of Oslo in Norway.
My interest in framing new approaches to the relationship between
higher education and development in Africa from some of the existing
theses grew considerably when I was drafting a research project for my
MA dissertation. However, since I was receiving funds from the Brazilian
government at the Paulist State University (UNESP) in São Paulo and by
then no longer linked to either Eduardo Mondlane University or to Oslo
University, I thought about extending the initiative to other domains of
relevance and publishing my findings.
My interest in writing this book then considerably grew when, in the
course of drafting an article for the International Journal of Sociology
of Education—known as RISE (Revista Internacional de Sociologia de
la Educacion)— entitled “Higher Education and the Challenges for
Economic Growth in Mozambique: Some Evidence”, I read about the
theory of dependence and its impact on development. The main thesis
of this outstanding research by Correia and Meireles (2010) (see Chap.
2) is similar to that presented by Fernando Henrique Cardoso, a former
student of Florestan Fernandes and president of Brazil between 1995 and
2003 (see Limongi, 2012). The underlying focus of both research ­projects

xiii
xiv Acknowledgements

can be summed up by the argument that dependence often influences the


pace at which countries either develop or fail to develop. Analogously, a
similar argument can be applied to higher education, with special focus
on African universities today, that the extent to which higher education
institutions are dependent is a determinant of both growth and modern-
ization. Therefore, understanding the concept of development and how
it has been discussed in other countries and contexts shaped my research
on the possibility of analysing the underdevelopment of African education
systems, with a special focus on higher learning. These were my starting
points to the investigation of higher learning and modernization in Africa
through an economic, social, political and historical analysis, given that
higher education is not a specific discipline but a field of study with a wide
literature base. Thus, the final title of the book became Higher Education
and Development in Africa in line with suggestions by the editorial team
at Palgrave Macmillan to whom I am very grateful. In 2014 I contacted
DICES which was then part of the Mozambican Ministry of Education,
and since early 2015 has been under the Ministry of Higher Education.
I would like to thank various people and organizations. First and fore-
most, a special thank you goes to the editors at Palgrave Macmillan, espe-
cially Andrew James, Eleanor Christie, Eric Schmitt Thomas Hempfling
and Ananthi Durairaj for their patience and suggestions which led to the
accomplishment of this book. Second, I am grateful to Professor Jeff
Mukora, a senior staff member on the body for Mozambican national
quality assurance (the national system of higher education quality and
evaluation (SINAQES)), and Mr. Sansão Chirinza at the Department
of Evaluation and Accreditation of Higher Learning Institutions at the
National Direction for Higher Education Coordination (DICES) for the
data they provided on university dynamics in Mozambique. I also extend
my heartfelt gratitude to CAPES for their financial support, to the Paulist
State University and the government of Brazil for the hospitality, assistance
and the conducive environment I enjoyed while conducting my studies. I
would also like to thank my supervisor, Professor Dagoberto José Fonseca,
for his support and encouragement from our first contact in 2013 to the
close relationship we have today.
Last but not least, I express my warm acknowledgements and sincere
thankfulness in advance to my readers whose critical comments and
­suggestions will be very valuable for further research. I thank you all.
Contents

1 Preliminary Discussion on Higher Education


and Development Nexus: How it has been Addressed
for Africa    1
1.1 Introduction   1
1.2 Some Approaches to Development   2
1.3 The Problems of Development: Defining the Focus in Line
with Higher Education  11

2 Higher Education and Development: Global Trends  17


2.1 Introduction  17
2.2 Higher Education and Development: Global Indexes
and Linkages with Africa  18

3 Origins and Primary Developments of Higher


Education and Modernization in Africa  39
3.1 Introduction  39
3.2 Origins and Early Developments of Higher Education
in Africa  41
3.3 Further Empirical Evidence on Higher Education
Transformation in Africa  46

xv
xvi Contents

3.4 Discussion  69
3.5 Curricula Restructuring versus Higher Education
and Development in Africa  82

4 Governance and Operation of Universities: The Case


and State of Higher Education Administration in
Mozambique  97
4.1 Introduction  97
4.2 The Conditions Under Which Higher Education
Operates  98
4.3 Revisiting Other Models of Governance  104
4.4 Mozambican Higher Education Governance: Background
and Expansion 111
4.5 Mozambican Higher Education: Additional Evidence
on Evolution and University Governance  124
4.6 University Administration and Control in Mozambique  139

5 Higher Education and Economic Growth in Africa


and Supplementary Policy Reforms: Summing Up
the Successes and Failures for Linking Higher Education
and Development 149
5.1 Introduction 149
5.2 Higher Education and Economic Growth in Africa
and Supplementary Policy Reforms: Summing UP the
Successes and Failures for Linking Higher Education
and Development 150
5.3 The Case of Mozambique  167

Bibliography175

Index 177
CHAPTER 1

Preliminary Discussion on Higher


Education and Development Nexus: How it
has been Addressed for Africa

1.1   Introduction
The goal of development—or modernization, which I use interchange-
ably throughout this book—has led to many theories for the best way
to achieve it. While higher education has been commended as a route to
modernization, in Africa this idea has been contested as an inappropri-
ate approach to achieving economic growth. The main argument against
higher education is based on the contention that the greater the invest-
ment in higher education, the greater the burden to the African states.
This would result in more poverty, and more severe levels, leading to
underdevelopment instead of growth.
This argument has continuously weakened the case that higher edu-
cation can work for transformation. Some policies have argued for
investment in primary and secondary education, evidenced by recent,
unprecedented reforms at these levels, whereas others have gone beyond
considering education as an immediate factor. They contend that states
should first deal with political instability and wars against terror, and the
development of programmes to fight diseases such as malaria and HIV/
AIDS. The chances of attaining development would probably be higher if
the population were healthy before educational improvements were intro-
duced. Therefore, finding agreement on making progress with develop-
ment in Africa appears to have been a dividing matter in itself.
The apparent lack of correlation between levels of higher education
and economic advancement in Africa requires an investigation, given that

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017 1


P. Uetela, Higher Education and Development in Africa,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-31141-8_1
2 P. UETELA

knowledge has been shown to be a tool for economic growth, as evidenced


both theoretically and empirically in emerging economies (see Uetela, 2015b).
Furthermore, research has, for example, suggested a substantial parallelism
between the rates of participation in universities and the levels of develop-
ment, which countries may undergo.
In the course of revisiting the conflicting theories, there is a need
to reflect on the definition of development. What is development? Is it
related to higher education and how can that link, or lack of connection,
be explained for Africa. Furthermore, how has the debate on this subject
been addressed? Chaps. 2 and 3 outline various theories and approaches
to the relationship between development and higher education, both for
Africa and globally, and then examine how neglecting higher learning in
the continent has impacted on modernization.

1.2   Some Approaches to Development


The debate, both in Africa and outside, on why the continent is lagging
behind has led to opposing hypotheses. The contradictions result from
at least two theoretical frameworks for analysing development, or under-
development: Why are we not developing? Why is Africa not develop-
ing? The first question is usually asked by scholars and agencies who are
attempting to explain either the wealth or misery of the continent from an
endogenous perspective. The second question has increasingly been the
starting point of scholars and agencies who are interested in investigating
how Africa can shift from the status quo of poverty to economic growth
from an ­exogenous point of view.
Outside agencies’ research on development and poverty in Africa
seem to refute the proposal that higher learning of any kind can enable
African states to achieve growth. Instead, they address antecedents such
as history, geography, conflicts, corruption, politics and inappropri-
ate governance as the key areas upon which African authorities should
reflect if they want to develop, as if once these concerns are dealt with,
the continent would modernize and progress. Furthermore, Africa’s
failure to advance and flourish has often been justified on the basis of
these antecedent concerns.
However, our concern is to address education as the main constraint on
progress in Africa, based on the assumption that, once the overwhelming
majority of Africans have access to education, then economic development
PRELIMINARY DISCUSSION 3

is most likely to be attained through maximization of knowledge, and the


role of universities and universities then become essential. Although higher
education is often least indicated as a means for growth in Africa, in other
contexts it has been shown that progress is directly related to national states’
investment in education, and to the level at which citizens are literate.
Is there either (i) a valid and unanimous theory of analysis for mod-
ernization then or (ii) a unique form through which higher education
expansion, mission and objectives is thought of as a source of modernizing
African states? On the question of whether higher education is linked to
development, scholars such as Gould and Siitonen (2007), Chang (2010),
Agbo (2003) and Teferra and Altbach (2004) can serve as some of the
representatives of the two contradictory opinions. Chang (2010), for
instance, suggests that Africa’s failure to develop can be explained from a
range of frame references. We will consider five of these, and investigate
how the same theories can be counter-argued and challenged.
Chang’s first position is that, through colonization, many resources were
sacked from Africa and its labour force shifted to Europe and America, often
at a very low cost, and at no price at all in some instances. Furthermore,
colonization did not foster the establishment of stable and strong institutions
in Africa that would later be capable of empowering economic growth. This
was never on the agenda of the colonial masters in the view of Chang (2010).
In consequence, it becomes undeniable that education of any kind was
neglected in Africa from the beginning of colonization until the period of
independence. In addition, according to the western ideology of domi-
nation, the colonial powers had no interest in the economic growth of
Africa, apart from resources extraction, and this has resulted in the status
quo of the modern continent. It appears that the Europeans in Africa built
weak institutions that enabled them to settle while extracting resources in
order to develop their own states, an argument suggesting that some of
these European countries were able to achieve economic growth at the
expense of Africa. According to Chang, historical antecedents prevented
Africa from developing because, in order for the north (that is, Europe) to
attain development, the south (that is, Africa) had to underdevelop.
If historical antecedents can be used to justify the failure of Africa to
develop, particularly because of the lack of educational provision, might it
be possible to rectify the problem through investment in knowledge pro-
duction? Before responding to this question, I will consider the validity of
the arguments for justifying underdevelopment in Africa on the grounds
4 P. UETELA

of historical antecedents. Chang describes the level of underdevelopment


in Africa and attributes it to historical determinants as follows:

According to the World Bank, the average per capita income of subsaharan
Africa was estimated to be $952 in 2007. This is somewhat higher than the
$880 of south Asia (Afheganistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives,
Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri-Lanka), but lower than that of any other region
of the world. What is more, many people talk of Africa’s growth tragedy.
Unlike south Asia, whose growth rates have picked up since the 1980s,
Africa seems to be suffering from a chronic failure of economic growth.
Subsaharan Africa’s per capita income today, is more or less the same as what
it was in 1980. Even more worrying is the fact that lack of growth seems to
be due not mainly to poor policy choices (after all, like many other develop-
ing countries, countries in the region have implemented free-market reforms
since 1980s) but mainly to the handicaps handed down to them by nature
and history and thus extremely difficult, if not impressive to change. The list
of supposed structural handicaps that are holding Africa back is impressive.
(Chang, 2010, pp. 160–161, emphasis my own)

It seems that Chang blames underdevelopment in Africa on the influ-


ence of historical antecedents.
However, although cheap labour and other resources were employed
in Africa, it would be an overgeneralization to state that underdevel-
opment in the continent results from colonization. Again, we need to
­redefine what we mean by development and historical antecedents. Taking
some examples from beyond Africa that have also come under European
domination—or “first globalization” as some scholars have characterized
colonization—some of today’s Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD) giants, such as the USA, Australia and New
Zealand, are former colonies of the British. In addition, emerging econo-
mies, such as India in Asia, Brazil in Latin America and South Africa in
Africa, are also former colonies of European countries. Most of all the
non-African countries are today more developed than any country on the
African continent, except for South Africa and Nigeria which compete
globally with them in terms of gross domestic product (GDP).
Therefore, given the fact that other former colonies have been able to
modernize, the question for most African researchers is: Why are we not
developing, given that other states internationally have been able to rec-
oncile domination and progress? The argument for historical antecedents,
therefore, seems to be insufficient to account for Africa’s tragedy.
PRELIMINARY DISCUSSION 5

The second exogenous argument suggests that underdevelopment in


Africa is due to perpetual wars, and that African countries are most likely
to develop economiccally when the political conflicts that prevent the
establishment of higher learning institutions in some countries have been
resolved. This position, although relevant, also appears to be an insufficient
explanation. The twentieth century is often characterized as a period of war
and conflict in the West. Chronologically it saw World War I (1914–1918),
the Russian Revolution (1917), World War II (1939–1945), the Cold War
(approx. 1947–late 1980s), culminating in the fall of the Berlin Wall in
1989. Researchers think that these political, social and economic conflicts
led to the emergence, in the early 1990s, of the second era of globalization
and to the dominance of capitalism as an international paradigm.
An outstanding feature of these examples is the severe devastation suf-
fered during the two World Wars by Europe and another OECD giant,
Japan (especially through the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bomb attacks).
In the case of Europe, the hostilities resulted in the emigration of many
academics, especially those of Jewish origin, to the USA. As I will dis-
cuss in Chap. 4, the current international domination of the American
higher education system is partly a result of the emigration of Jewish
scholars, especially from Germany. The German academics strengthened
North American universities by introducing knowledge-based research
(inherited from the Humboldtian model), and shaping the dominance
of higher education institutions such as University of Harvard, California
Institute of Technology, University of Stanford, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and Princeton which continues to this day.
In addition, it was the USA that assisted in the reconstruction of Europe
Accurate (including its colonial masters) after World War II through the
European Recovery Program (or Marshall Plan). A similar strategy—the
Structural Adjustment Program—was applied in Africa in the 1980s,
although with less success than the earlier European initiative. Its failure to
empower growth in Africa has been attributed to weaker policies and the
lack of African human and intellectual capital of the type that is acquired
from higher education.
Although Chang posits wars and political instability as the main prob-
lems for Africa, there is empirical evidence to suggest that this is not the
full story. Some African states have been at peace for decades but still
struggle to progress. To offer some examples of former Portuguese colo-
nies, in Mozambique the civil war terminated in 1992 and in Angola in
2003, while Cape Verde and São Tomé have never engaged in civil conflict.
6 P. UETELA

One of the puzzling questions is why they are still struggling after many
years of peace, while others have been able to develop rapidly after wars?
It may not be entirely fair to compare the two scenarios—post-World War
II Western Europe and 1980s Africa—because the structural adjustment
plan that worked in Europe to revitalize its institutions was implemented
in a different social context and with different policies from the African
programme several decades later. Although it was thought initially that
taking a similar approach to the earlier European plan would enable the
advancement of African nations, this proved to be the opposite.
In simple terms, whereas in Europe the Structural Adjustment Program
was designed to reconstruct pre-existing institutions, in Africa it was meant to
initiate the empowerment of progress. Although political appeavals undoubt-
edly affected growth, political conflicts and instability also do not provide
adequate justification for Africa lagging behind. Furthermore, though
in Africa civil wars have been frequent in some countries, to the extent of
affecting higher education, the most devastating and greatest political unrest,
evidenced by the two World Wars, was seen in the West in the twentieth
century. Therefore, if Chang is correct in arguing that African underdevelop-
ment is completely explained through political conflicts, it would be logical
to expect Africa to be more developed than Europe where the greatest politi-
cal upheavals occurred at least in the first half of the twentieth century.
There is also the view that the political instability in Africa is driven
by the existence of natural resources which leads to the corruption of
its citizens, weak institutions and governments. The end result is then
the proliferation of poverty. One of the justifications for this hypoth-
esis is the current economic success of some Asian economies, such
as China, Taiwan and Korea, which had the same GDP as Nigeria,
Tanzania and Ghana in the 1980s. The Asian success story was attrib-
uted to constant hard work and knowledge creation, while the wealth
of Africa supposedly led to stagnation and laziness in the same period.
According to Chang’s reasoning, “higher education is a curse for
Africa” (Chang, 2010, p. 161).
Divergent cultural attitudes have also been blamed for Africa’s lack of
progress. It is much easier to achieve consensus on development policies
in a relatively homogeneous population than in one that contains diverse
attitudes and ideals. Mkandawira seems to comply with the view of diver-
sity by simply arguing that there are at least “53 state nations in Africa,
1000 languages, 7 climates, 1 billion inhabitants and 14 million ­mutually
contradictory proverbs” (Mkandawira, 2011). These statistics confirm
PRELIMINARY DISCUSSION 7

that Africa may be so diverse that designing mutually agreeable policies of


development through higher learning would be problematic. According
to some carefully undertaken studies, development may not be attained
unless the conflicting concerns relating to modernization are targeted. It
may be in this perspective that for some views, local agendas affect even
outside agencies that assist African countries to develop through aid and as
a result, Chang (2010) simply concludes that the road to African success
will be difficult to map from within the continent because “African culture
is bad for economic development” (p. 161).
In addition, African poverty cannot be explained by overpopulation,
diversification and differentiation. China is more populous than any coun-
try in Africa, including Nigeria which is the most populated state in the
continent. Despite increasing population, China has been able to grow
faster than any African country except South Africa which is in the same
category in terms of emerging economies.
What are the challenges of these theories? It appears that there is no direct
connection between the size and diversity of a population and its success or
failure to achieve economic development because some countries have been
able to balance population growth and differentiation with progress.
Furthermore, in spite of the diversity of languages and mutually contra-
dictory proverbs (Chang, 2010; Mkandawira, 2011), it is possible to find
collaborations between agencies and regional agreements, including some
in higher education. The African Union can serve as an example of efforts
to turn diversity into unity. Within the African Union there are eight
regional economic communities: Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), Common
Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Community of Sahel-
Saharan States (CEN SAD), East African Community (EAC), Economic
Community of Central African States (ECCAS), Economic Community
of West African States (ECOWAS), Intergovernmental Authority for
Development (IGAD) and Southern African Development Community
(SADC). Through these organizations, the unity, rather than the diver-
sity, of the African continent is visible and empowered. In addition, the
principle of ubuntu (communal thinking) does not perceive cultural
diversification to be problematic to development of economic growth.
The acknowledgement of existing communal life and collectivism among
African ethnic groups seems to have led to certain conclusions concerning
the existence of a common identity that generally describes all Africans, at
least in ethnophilosophy.
8 P. UETELA

Ethnophilosophers such as Mbiti (1999) have formulated the thesis that


one of the distinctions between Africans and Europeans/North Americans
rests upon the fact that have different perceptions of their identities. Africans
think that they exist because others exist: “I am because we are, and since we
are therefore I am” (Mbiti, 1999, p. 6). The Western perception ­presumes
that a sein (being) exists because he or she thinks, according to the maxim for-
mulated by Descartes: “cogito ergo sum”—“I think ­therefore I am” (Stumpf,
1988, p. 243). The Western attitude will therefore accept higher levels of
individual liberties and diversity compared with the ubuntu of African peo-
ple. However, a sense of community still shapes African identities within the
diverse contexts of its populations, so there is little evidence for the view
that Africa does not develop because of ethnic differentiation. However, the
question of why Africa has failed to modernize remains unsolved.
The African climate has also been proposed as one of the justifications
for the continent’s underdevelopment, as stated by Chang (2010) and
Mkandawira (2011). The underlying reasoning rests on the popular thesis
that the poor climates, ranging from extremely cold to tropical, make the
continent vulnerable to diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS and that these
impact on development. The question of whether climate may contribute to
the underdevelopment of Africa has been addressed by researchers.
As a matter of fact, Western countries also experience a range of cli-
mates—temperate, oceanic and Mediterranean—which, although dif-
ferent from the African typologies highlighted by Mkandawira, are not
always conducive to human survival. However, Europe has been able to
develop in spite of its weather conditions. The prime examples are the
Scandinavian countries of Norway, Finland and Sweden which have all
attained a high level of economic development despite hostile climates.
In reviewing all the above-mentioned theories, we see that most of
the arguments that are presented to explain African stagnation, including
higher education, can also be applied to the majority of today’s developed
countries. Thus, on the question of why Africa is not developing—or
why are we not developing—the picture so far presented illustrates the
complexity of the situation, and demonstrates that the evidence for one
position or its counter-argument is inconclusive at this stage. They are
all possible answers to one complex problem: What is the appropriate
formula for development in Africa?
An anonymous author once stated that whatever inhibits or has
inhibited Africa’s development is what has not yet been tried. This opin-
ion suggests that we need to redefine what we mean by development
PRELIMINARY DISCUSSION 9

in Africa, and that new approaches have to be invented. What if we


examine Africa’s failure to develop from the educational perspective?
Although the role of higher education in economic development
remains a dividing subject among scholars, research has identified key
underlying features of the relationship between higher education and
underdevelopment, and hence suggested that poverty in Africa can be
explained by the lack of adequate knowledge application. This seems
reasonable, considering that education at all levels is still underpro-
vided, especially higher learning which falls in the elitist category (at
only 5 % average participation).
Uetela and Obeng-Odoom (2015) on the course of social and eco-
nomic transformation in Africa, addressed the effects of weak partici-
pation in higher education and the resulting lack of strong human
capital. Although their research was limited to two countries, Ghana and
Mozambique, which may not be representatives of the entire continent,
the authors observed a strong correlation between the effects of weak
participation in higher education and the resulting lack of strong human
capital. The main conclusion they make is indeed outstanding. This is
the fact that, whatever effort is made by institutions in the struggle for
socio-economic transformation in those nations, growth can only be
achieved if there is adequate local knowledge to implement the policies
and programmes in that particular context. We set out to illustrate how
lack of appropriate education and knowledge forces some African states
to apply uncertain theories and non-contextualized economic principles
in their struggles for progress.
Despite the apparent necessity for knowledge, the dominant narra-
tives of socio-economic change have increasingly argued both for and
against universities in Mozambique, and elsewhere in Africa, as a means
of achieving growth. Thus, higher education has been characterized as
both a blessing and a curse, and consequently the best approach to devel-
opment remains a subject of disagreement because nothing that has been
proposed to date has been unanimously agreed. And that takes us back to
the recurrent redefinition of modernization as a social construct.
Today, there are an increasing number of higher education institu-
tions across Africa—something analogous to the post-World War II “baby
boom” in the West. This boom seems to have arisen because African states
are beginning to realize that more investment in higher education is essen-
tial for economic growth through knowledge. It has not escaped their
10 P. UETELA

attention that countries which are highly ranked by participation in higher


education and the quality of their institutions have also been successful in
attaining economic development.
However, these arguments have been challenged by sceptical observ-
ers from outside Africa. The first interrogation relates to what we mean
by development, which is problematic to define, and the second is how
development can be measured and achieved. With regards to the value
of higher education as a development tool, there is evidence for both
sides, depending on the perspective of the analysis being undertaken.
The main ­argument against higher education is justified from an out-
side perspective, both theoretically and empirically, in terms of expendi-
tures and returns on investment, leading the international community to
view higher education in Africa as a curse. However, local governments
view higher education as a means by which economic growth is to be
empowered, a strategy that has been maximized since the independence
of African countries. Investing in higher education continues to be pri-
oritized by most African leaders, either within Africa or in the diaspora.
Bloom and colleagues (2006) reported on the position of the United
Nations regarding universities in Africa as follows:

In a recent speech, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan argued: The uni-


versity must become a primary tool for Africa’s development in the new
century. Universities can help develop African expertise; they can enhance
the analysis of African problems; strengthen domestic institutions; serve as a
model environment for the practice of good governance, conflict resolution
and respect for human rights, and enable African academics to play an active
part in the global community of scholars. (Bloom et al., 2006, p. 3)

The arguments in favour of higher education, especially from African


voices, are further developed and discussed in Chap. 3, so the approaches
introduced to this point are not the only models that can be applied to
measure growth and define development. There have been multiple per-
spectives. Sen (1999), for instance, has suggested that development is
to be viewed in terms of liberty including political, economic and social,
which appears to re-question whether higher education can be the unique
contributing factor for economic growth.
Despite the apparent contradiction, Sen’s concept may be applicable to
theories of development in relation to Africa because the complexity of the
issues may imply that both convergent and divergent approaches may be
applicable, depending on the particular circumstances in the field.
PRELIMINARY DISCUSSION 11

I have earlier mentioned that the blessing and curse theories of invest-
ment in higher education have divided scholarly opinion on economic
growth. On the basis of a fair discussion of those theories, and through
examination of existing data, I hope to demonstrate that African countries
need higher education in order to develop.
Drawing evidence mainly from Mozambique, a country in the southern
part of Africa, as well as other contexts on the continent, I will show how
higher education may be both a blessing and a curse depending on the
degree to which states, governments and higher education systems are
able to optimize their plans and policies in order to achieve outcomes that
bring good returns on the investments made in the sector. However, the
way this debate has been conducted previously on the continent merits
careful examination.

1.3   The Problems of Development: Defining


the Focus in Line with Higher Education

As described above, the concept of development has been discussed in


diverse arenas and is a subject for debate. I will now examine the argu-
ments on how development has been linked with higher education.
When, in 2003, Agbo wrote his paper “Myths and realities of higher
education as a vehicle for nation building in developing countries: The
culture of the university and the new African diaspora”, his underlying
message was that Africa is not developing because of weak investment in
higher education.
He starts by explaining the complex meanings of development,
acknowledging that the concept of development is ambiguous and has a
range of significations which are often determined by the context in which
the term is being applied. Researchers often use development and growth
interchangeably, as well as social change, evolution, progress, advance-
ment and modernization. Bringing about fundamental changes in institu-
tional and social attitudes has also been described as development.
When development is linked to countries or regions it is usually
described as economic growth, and in this context it implies changes which
are specifically designed to improve overall well-being. Within this frame-
work, researchers tend to associate development with the social structures
and standards of developed countries that have resulted from investment
in education, science and technology. Others have seen this as a matter of
societal drift from traditional to more industrialized lifestyles. Therefore,
12 P. UETELA

development can be examined from all these perspectives: modernization,


continuous changes and experiences. Such changes and experiences vary
from region to region, as shown by empirical data that some regions have
experienced more changes and modernization than others. The scale of
development, and hence its definition, should take into account the social
context in which it takes place (Agbo, 2003). Research into development
needs to include all these approaches, because they are also relevant to the
question of the role of higher education in progress especially for Africa.
Other attempts to understand the complexities of development in the
African context have led researchers to fall into contradictory arguments,
even to the point of arguing that development does not exist. If this thesis
is carefully analysed its apparent contradiction simply confirms our earlier
argument that development is a social construct. Macamo (2005) is one
among those who deny the existence of something termed development
by stating flatly that “development does not exist” (p. 5). He argues that
the debate on development is supported by fallacies of logic, especially
with reference to developing countries. He maintains that previous efforts
by African politicians and scholars to formulate policies and politics that
would lead countries towards growth have been based on misunderstand-
ings and misinterpretations because they have viewed development as the
“phlogiston”—the fire within. The weakness of this approach can be seen
in the failure of the continent to achieve the goals that many countries set
themselves at independence.
Macamo’s criticism is that there are two key fallacies in this approach.
One is that development is understood and defined by Western attitudes
in terms of economy, society and politics. In simple terms, development is
an invention of the West to be applied in Africa. The second fallacy, as we
indicate in Chap. 2, is that countries which followed the prescriptions that
led to economic, social and political development in the West are most
likely to achieve the same conditions, and that those countries should be
an example to other African countries.
Throughout the book, the contradictory terminologies that describe
development are contextualized and the various perspectives of modern-
ization are discussed, enabling us to understand the disputed and complex
relationship between development and higher education. Three aspects of
development will be considered: political, economic and social. However,
I will concentrate on the economic and social aspects. Economic progress
will be grounded in how development is measured (Moyo, 2008; Sen,
1999), while social progress will be based on social construction theory
PRELIMINARY DISCUSSION 13

(Berger & Luckman, 1985). I start by expanding on how economic and


social growth have been explained, and then evaluate their impact on
higher education for Africa.
Sen (2012) has been credited with formulating a measure for the average
achievement of a given country, the Human Development Index (HDI),
which is a geometric methodological evaluation tool. When applied to
education, for instance, the HDI can measure the mean number of years
of schooling for adults aged 25 years and the expected years of schooling
for children of school age (HDI, 2014). For sub-Saharan Africa this index
has been considerably lower than for other regions. This might imply two
concerns, namely that African countries are not developing or that they are
cursed if they do develop through schooling as an index that assesses growth.
If the knowledge economy is pivotal for growth, as suggested by the
evidence of the Asian economies, then it is unsurprising that Africa has
not developed, considering its HDI conflicts with knowledge maximiza-
tion. Since the main interest of this book is higher education, Chap. 2
will attempt to formulate an HDI specifically for tertiary sector globally
in order to understand the modus operandi in Africa, with a focus on par-
ticular countries.
With regards to the sociological perspective, accepting the existence of
stages of development (see Chap. 2) seems to support a teleological view of
history—of movement towards a purpose—as proposed by Auguste Comte
and Karl Marx (Giddens, 1998). Whereas for Comte progress came from
either positivism (the view that scientific knowledge is essential to both under-
stand and interpret natural phenomena and progress of societies) or natural-
ism (the view that science and reasoning leads to the attainment of progress as
opposed to the theological explanations which dominated), Marx foresaw a
long period of transformation. I will now consider how either naturalism and
positivism or the long run of history might account for economic develop-
ment, and how it can be contextualized in the transformation of African states
and higher education through maximization of higher education institutions
which are centres of excellence and generation of scientific knowledge.
According to Giddens (1998), Comte argued, on empirical evidence,
that positivism based on science was the only mechanism that could
explain human development because theological explanations were insuf-
ficient to make sense of modern society. Furthermore, because positiv-
ism explains development in terms of order, which exists in humanity,
and because there is progress where there is order, development in social
theory has been defined as a matter of transformation and change, a means
Another random document with
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This sub-order has been established for the reception of the
curious genus Opilioacarus.
Fam. Opilioacaridae.—Mites with segmented abdomen, leg-like
palps, chelate chelicerae, and two pairs of eyes. There are four dorsal
abdominal stigmata. Four species of the sole genus Opilioacarus
have been recorded, O. segmentatus from Algeria, O. italicus from
Italy, O. arabicus from Arabia, and O. platensis[373] from South
America.
APPENDICES TO ARACHNIDA
I. and II.

TARDIGRADA AND PENTASTOMIDA

BY

ARTHUR E. SHIPLEY, M.A., F.R.S.

Fellow and Tutor of Christ’s College, Cambridge, and Reader in


Zoology in the University
CHAPTER XIX
TARDIGRADA

OCCURRENCE—ECDYSIS—STRUCTURE—DEVELOPMENT
—AFFINITIES—BIOLOGY—DESICCATION—PARASITES—
SYSTEMATIC

The animals dealt with in this chapter lead obscure lives, remote
from the world, and few but the specialist have any first-hand
acquaintance with them. Structurally they are thought to show
affinities with the Arachnida, but their connexion with this Phylum is
at best a remote one.
Tardigrades are amongst the most minute multicellular animals
which exist, and their small size—averaging from ⅓ to 1 mm. in
length—and retiring habits render them very inconspicuous, so that
as a rule they are overlooked; yet Max Schultze[374] asserts that
without any doubt they are the most widely distributed of all
segmented animals. They are found amongst moss, etc., growing in
gutters, on roofs, trees or in ditches, and in such numbers that
Schultze states that almost any piece of moss the size of a pea will, if
closely examined, yield some members of this group, but they are
very difficult to see. The genus Macrobiotus especially affects the
roots of moss growing on stones and old walls. M. macronyx lives
entirely in fresh water, and Lydella dujardini and Echiniscoides
sigismundi are marine; all other species are practically terrestrial,
though inhabiting very damp places.
In searching amongst the heather of the Scotch moors for the ova
and embryos of the Nematodes which infest the alimentary canal of
the grouse, I have recently adopted a method not, as far as I am
aware, in use before, and one which in every case has yielded a good
supply of Tardigrades otherwise so difficult to find. The method is to
soak the heather in water for some hours and then thoroughly shake
it, or to shake it gently in a rocking machine for some hours. The
sediment is allowed to settle, and is then removed with a pipette and
placed in a centrifugaliser. A few turns of the handle are sufficient to
concentrate at the bottom of the test-tubes a perfectly amazing
amount of cryptozoic animal life, and amongst other forms I have
never failed to find Tardigrades.
Many Tardigrades are very
transparent; their cells are large,
and arranged in a beautifully
symmetrical manner; and since
those of them that live in moss,
and at times undergo desiccation,
are readily thrown into a perfectly
motionless state, during which
they may be examined at leisure,
it is not surprising that these little
creatures have been a favourite
object for histological research.
One way to produce the above-
mentioned stillness is partly to
asphyxiate the animals by placing
them in water which has been
boiled, and covering the surface
of the water with a film of oil.
The whole body is enclosed in a
thin transparent cuticle, which
must be pierced by a needle if it
be desired to stain the tissues of
the interior. As a rule the cuticle
is of the same thickness all over
the body, but in the genus
Fig. 249.—Dorsal view of Echiniscus
Echiniscus the cuticle of the
testudo, C. Sch., × 200, showing the
four segments 1, 2, 3, 4. (From Doyère.) dorsal surface is arranged in
thickened plates, and these plates
are finely granulated. From time
to time the cuticle is cast, and this is a lengthy process, so that it is
not unusual to find a Tardigrade ensheathed in two cuticles, the
outer of which is being rubbed off. The Macrobioti lay their eggs in
their cast cuticle (Fig. 250). The end of each of the eight legs bears
forked claws of cuticular origin. The legs are not jointed except in the
genus Lydella, where two divisions are apparent.
Within the cuticle is the
epidermis, a single layer of cells
arranged in regular longitudinal
and transverse rows along the
upper and under surface, where
the cells are as uniformly
arranged and as rectangular as
bricks. The cells on the sides of
the body are polygonal, and not in
such definite rows. The nuclei
show the same diagrammatic
symmetry as the cells which
contain them, and lie in the same
relative position in neighbouring
cells. In a few places, such as the
end of each limb and around the
mouth and arms, the cells of the
epidermis are heaped up and
form a clump or ridge. In some
genera a deposit of pigment in the
epidermis, which increases as the
animal grows old, obscures the
internal structures. It is generally
brown, black, or red in colour.
The cuticle and epidermis
enclose a space in which the
various internal organs lie. This
space is traversed by numerous
symmetrically disposed muscle- Fig. 250.—Cast-off cuticle of
fibres, and contains a clear fluid— Macrobiotus tetradactylus, Gr., ×
the blood—which everywhere about 150, containing four eggs in
which the boring apparatus of the
bathes these organs. This fluid embryo can be distinguished. (From R.
evaporates when desiccation Greeff.)
takes place, and is soon replaced
after rain; it forms no coagulum
when reagents are added to it, and it probably differs but little from
water. Floating in it are numerous corpuscles, whose number
increases with age. In well-fed Tardigrades the corpuscles are packed
with food-reserves, often of the same colour—green or brown—as the
contents of the stomach, which
soon disappear when the little
creatures are starved.
The alimentary canal begins
with an oral cavity, which is in
many species surrounded by
chitinous rings. The number of
Fig. 251.—Echiniscus spinulosus, C.
these rings and their general
Sch., × about 200, seen from the side. arrangement are of systematic
(From Doyère.) importance. The oral cavity opens
behind into a fine tube lined with
chitin, very characteristic of the
Tardigrada, which has been termed the mouth-tube. By its side,
converging anteriorly, lie the two chitinous teeth, which may open
ventrally into the mouth-tube, as in Macrobiotus hufelandi and
Doyeria simplex, or may open directly into the oral cavity, as in
Echiniscus, Milnesium, and some species of Macrobiotus. In some of
the last named the tips of the teeth are hardened by a calcareous
deposit. The hinder end of each stylet or tooth is supported by a
second chitinous tooth-bearer,[375] and the movement of each is
controlled by three muscles, one of which, running forwards to the
mouth, helps to protrude the tooth, whilst the other two running
upwards and downwards to the sheath of the pharynx, direct in what
plane the tooth shall be moved.
The mouth-tube passes suddenly into the muscular sucking
pharynx, which is pierced by a continuation of its chitinous tube.
Roughly speaking, the pharynx is spherical; the great thickness of its
walls is due to radially arranged muscles which run from the
chitinous tube to a surrounding membrane. When the muscles
contract, the lumen of the tube is enlarged, and food, for the most
part liquid, is sucked in. Two large glands, composed of cells with
conspicuous nuclei, but with ill-defined cell outlines, pour their
contents into the mouth in close proximity to the exit of the teeth.
The secretion of the glands—often termed salivary glands—is said in
many cases to be poisonous.
The pharynx may be followed by a distinct oesophagus, or it may
pass almost immediately into the stomach, which consists of a layer
of six-sided cells arranged in very definite rows. In fully-fed
specimens these cells project into
the lumen with a well-rounded
contour. Posteriorly the stomach
contracts and passes into the
narrow rectum, which receives
anteriorly the products of the
excretory canals and the
reproductive organs, and thus
forms a cloaca. Its transversely
placed orifice lies between the last
pair of legs. The food of
Tardigrades is mainly the sap of
mosses and other humble plants,
the cell-walls of which are pierced
by the teeth of the little creatures.
The organs to which an
excretory function has been
attributed are a pair of lateral
caeca, which vary much in size
according as the possessor is well
or ill nourished. They recall the
Malpighian tubules of such Mites
as Tyroglyphus. Nothing
comparable in structure to
nephridia or to coxal glands has
been found. Fig. 252.—Macrobiotus schultzei, Gr.,
The muscles show a beautiful × 150. (Modified from Greeff.) a, The
symmetry. There are ventral, six inner papillae of the mouth; b, the
dorsal, and lateral bundles, and chitin-lined oesophagus; c, calcareous
others that move the limbs and spicule; d, muscle which moves the
spicule; e, muscular pharynx with
teeth, but the reader must be masticating plates; f, salivary glands; g,
referred to the works of Basse, stomach; h, ovary; i, median dorsal
Doyère,[376] and Plate[377] for the accessory gland; k, diverticula of
details of their arrangement. The rectum.
muscle-fibres are smooth.
The nervous system consists of a brain or supra-oesophageal
ganglion, whose structure was first elucidated by Plate, and a ventral
chain of four ganglia. Anteriorly the brain is rounded, and gives off a
nerve to the skin; posteriorly each
half divides into two lobes, an
inner and an outer. The latter
bears the eye-spot when this is
present. Just below this eye a
slender nerve passes straight to
the first ventral ganglion. The
brain is continued round the oral
cavity as a thick nerve-ring, the
ventral part of which forms the
sub-oesophageal ganglion, united
by two longitudinal commissures
Fig. 253.—Brain of Macrobiotus to the first ventral ganglion. Thus
hufelandi, C. Sch., × about 350. (From the brain has two channels of
Plate.) Seen from the side. ap, Lobe of communication between it and
brain bearing the eye; ce, supra- the ventral nerve-cord on each
oesophageal ganglion; d, tooth; Ga,
first ventral ganglion; ga’, sub-
side, one by means of the slender
oesophageal ganglion; k, thickening of nerve above mentioned, and one
the epidermis round the mouth; oc, through the sub-oesophageal
eye-spot; oe, oesophagus; op, nerve ganglion. The ventral chain is
running from the ocular lobe of the composed of four ganglia
brain to the first ventral ganglion; ph, connected together by widely
pharynx. divaricated commissures. Each
ganglion gives off three pairs of
nerves, two to the ventral musculature, and one to the dorsal. The
terminations of these nerves in the muscles are very clearly seen in
these transparent little creatures, though there is still much dispute
as to their exact nature.
The older writers considered the Tardigrada as hermaphrodites,
but Plate and others have conclusively shown that they are bisexual,
at any rate in the genus Macrobiotus. The males are, however, much
rarer than the females. The reproductive organs of both sexes are
alike. Both ovary and testis are unpaired structures opening into the
intestine, and each is provided with a dorsal accessory gland placed
near its orifice. In the ovary many of the eggs are not destined to be
fertilised, but serve as nourishment for the more successful ova
which survive.
No special circulatory or respiratory organs exist, and, as in many
other simple organisms, there is no connective tissue.
The segmentation of the egg in
M. macronyx is total and equal,
according to the observations of
von Erlanger.[378] A blastula,
followed by a gastrula, is formed.
The blastopore closes, but later
the anus appears at the same
spot. There are four pairs of
mesodermic diverticula which
give rise to the coelom and the
chief muscles. The reproductive
organs arise as an unpaired
diverticulum of the alimentary
canal, which also gives origin to
the Malpighian tubules. The
development is thus very
primitive and simple, and affords
no evidence of degeneration. Fig. 254.—Male reproductive organs of
With regard to their position in Macrobiotus hufelandi, C. Sch., ×
about 350. (From Plate.) a.ep,
the animal kingdom, writers on Epidermal thickening round anus; cl,
the Tardigrada are by no means cloaca; gl.d, accessory gland; gl.l,
agreed. O. F. Müller placed them Malpighian gland; st, stomach; te,
with the Mites; Schultze and testis; x, mother-cells of spermatozoa.
Ehrenberg near the Crustacea;
Dujardin and Doyère with the
Rotifers near the Annelids; and von Graff with the Myzostomidae
and the Pentastomida. Plate regards them as the lowest of all air-
breathing Arthropods, but he carefully guards himself against the
view that they retain the structure of the original Tracheates from
which later forms have been derived. He looks upon Tardigrades as a
side twig of the great Tracheate branch, but a twig which arises
nearer the base of the branch than any other existing forms. These
animals seem certainly to belong to the Arthropod phylum,
inasmuch as they are segmented, have feet ending in claws,
Malpighian tubules, and an entire absence of cilia. The second and
third of these features indicate a relationship with the Tracheate
groups; on the other hand there is an absence of paired sensory
appendages, and of mouth-parts. Von Erlanger has pointed out that
the Malpighian tubules, arising as they do from the mid-gut, are not
homologous with the Malpighian tubules of most Tracheates, and he
is inclined to place this group at the base or near the base of the
whole Arthropod phylum. They, however, show little resemblance to
any of the more primitive Crustacea. The matter must remain to a
large extent a matter of opinion, but there can be no doubt that the
Tardigrades show more marked affinities to the Arthropods than to
any other group of the animal kingdom.
Biology.—Spallanzani, who published in the year 1776 his
Opuscules de physique animale et végétale, was the first
satisfactorily to describe the phenomena of the desiccation of
Tardigrades, though the subject of the desiccation of Rotifers,
Nematodes, and Infusoria had attracted much notice, since
Leeuwenhoek had first drawn attention to it at the very beginning of
the century. In its natural state and in a damp atmosphere
Tardigrades live and move and have their being like other animals,
but if the surroundings dry up, or if one be isolated on a microscopic
slide and slowly allowed to dry, its movements cease, its body
shrinks, its skin becomes wrinkled, and at length it takes on the
appearance of a much weathered grain of sand in which no parts are
distinguishable. In this state, in which it may remain for years, its
only vital action must be respiration, and this must be reduced to a
minimum. When water is added it slowly revives, the body swells,
fills out, the legs project, and gradually it assumes its former plump
appearance. For a time it remains still, and is then in a very
favourable condition for observation, but soon it begins to move and
resumes its ordinary life which has been so curiously interrupted.
All Tardigrades have not this peculiar power of revivification—
anabiosis, Preyer calls it—it is confined to those species which live
amongst moss, and the process of desiccation must be slow and,
according to Lance,[379] the animal must be protected as much as
possible from direct contact with the air.
According to Plate, the Tardigrada are free from parasitic Metazoa,
which indeed could hardly find room in their minute bodies. They
are, however, freely attacked by Bacteria and other lowly vegetable
organisms, and these seem to flourish in the blood without
apparently producing any deleterious effects on the host. Plate also
records the occurrence of certain enigmatical spherical bodies which
were found in the blood or more usually in the cells of the stomach.
These bodies generally appeared when the Tardigrades were kept in
the same unchanged water for some weeks. Nothing certain is known
as to their nature or origin.
Systematic.—A good deal of work has recently been done by Mr.
James Murray on the Polar Tardigrades and on the Tardigrades of
Scotland, many of which have been collected by the staff of the Lake
Survey.[380] Over forty species have been described from North
Britain.
The following table of Classification is based on that drawn up by
Plate:—
Table of Genera.
I. The claws of the legs are simple, without a second hook. If there
are several on the same foot they are alike in structure and size.
A. The legs are short and broad, each with at least two claws.

2–4 claws Gen. 1. ECHINISCUS, C. Sch. (Fig. 249).

7–9 claws Sub-gen. 1a. ECHINISCOIDES, Plate.

B. The legs are long and slender; each bears only one small
claw.

Gen. 2. LYDELLA, Doy.

II. The claws of the legs are all or partly two- or three-hooked.
Frequently they are of different lengths.
A. There are no processes or palps around the mouth.
I. The muscular sucking pharynx follows closely on the
mouth-tube.
α. The oral armature consists on each side of a stout
tooth and a transversely placed support.

Gen. 3. MACROBIOTUS, C. Sch.


(Fig. 252).

β. The oral armature consists on each side of a stylet-


like tooth without support.

Gen. 4. DOYERIA, Plate.

II. The mouth-tube is separated from the muscular


sucking pharynx by a short oesophagus.

Gen. 5. DIPHASCON, Plate (Fig.


255).
B. Six short processes or palps surround the mouth, and
two others are placed a little farther back.

Gen. 6. MILNESIUM, Doy.

1. Genus ECHINISCUS (= EURYDIUM, Doy.).—The dorsal cuticle


is thick, and divided into a varying number of shields, which bear
thread- or spike-like projections. The anterior end forms a proboscis-
like extension of the body. Two red eye-spots. There are many
species, and the number has increased so rapidly in the last few years
that specialists are talking of splitting up the genus. E. arctomys,
Ehrb.; E. mutabilis, Murray; E. islandicus, Richters; E. gladiator,
Murray; E. wendti, Richters; E. reticulatus, Murray; E. oihonnae,
Richters; E. granulatus, Doy.; E. spitzbergensis, Scourfield;[381] E.
quadrispinosus, Richters; and E. muscicola, Plate, are all British.
More than one-half of these species are also Arctic, and E. arctomys
is in addition Antarctic. In fact, the group is a very cosmopolitan one.
The genus is also widely distributed vertically, specimens being
found in cities on the sea level and on mountains up to a height of
over 11,000 feet.
1a. Sub-genus ECHINISCOIDES differs from the preceding in the
number of the claws, the want of definition in the dorsal plates, and
in being marine. The single species E. sigismundi, M. Sch., is found
amongst algae in the North Sea (Ostend and Heligoland).
2. Genus LYDELLA.[382]—The long, thin legs of this genus have two
segments, and in other respects approach the Arthropod limb.
Marine. Plate suggests the name L. dujardini for the single species
known.
3. Genus MACROBIOTUS has a pigmented epidermis, but eye-
spots may be present or absent. The eggs are laid one at a time, or
many leave the body at once. They are either quite free or enclosed in
a cast-off cuticle. The genus is divided into many species and shows
signs of disruption. They mostly live amongst moss; but M.
macronyx, Doy., is said to live in fresh water. The following species
are recorded from North Britain: M. oberhäuseri, Doy.; M.
hufelandi, Schultze; M. zetlandicus, Murray; M. intermedius, Plate;
M. angusti, Murray; M. annulatus, Murray; M. tuberculatus, Plate;
M. sattleri, Richters; M. papillifer, Murray; M. coronifer, Richters;
M. crenulatus, Richters; M.
harmsworthi, Murray; M.
orcadensis, Murray; M.
islandicus, Richters; M. dispar,
Murray; M. ambiguus, Murray;
M. pullari, Murray; M. hastatus,
Murray; M. dubius, Murray; M.
echinogenitus, Richters; M.
ornatus, Richters; M. macronyx?,
Doy.
4. Genus DOYERIA.—The teeth
of this genus have no support,
and the large salivary glands of
the foregoing genus are absent; in
other respects Doyeria, with the
single species Doyeria simplex,
Plate, resembles Macrobiotus,
and is usually to be found in
consort with M. hufelandi, C. Sch.
5. Genus DIPHASCON
resembles M. oberhäuseri, Doy.,
but an oesophagus separates the
mouth-tube from the sucking
pharynx, and the oral armature is
weak. The following species are
British, the first named being
very cosmopolitan, being found at
both Poles, in Chili, Europe, and
Asia: D. chilenense, Plate; D.
Fig. 255.—Diphascon chilenense, Plate, scoticum, Murray; D. bullatum,
× about 100. (From Plate.) ce, Brain; k, Murray; D. angustatum, Murray;
thickening of the epidermis above the
mouth; o, egg; oe, oesophagus; p,?
D. oculatum, Murray; D.
salivary glands; ph, pharynx; sa, blood alpinum, Murray; D.
corpuscles; st, stomach. spitzbergense, Murray.
6. Genus MILNESIUM has a
soft oral armature, and the teeth
open straight into the mouth. A lens can usually be distinguished in
the eyes. Two species have been described, M. tardigradum, Doy.,
British, and M. alpigenum, Ehrb. Bruce and Richters consider that
these two species are identical.
CHAPTER XX
[383]
PENTASTOMIDA

OCCURRENCE—ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE—STRUCTURE
—DEVELOPMENT AND LIFE-HISTORY—SYSTEMATIC

Pentastomids are unpleasant-looking, fluke-like or worm-like


animals, which pass their adult lives in the nasal cavities, frontal
sinuses, and lungs of flesh-eating animals, such as the Carnivora,
Crocodiles, and Snakes; more rarely in Lizards, Birds, or Fishes.
From these retreats their eggs or larvae are sneezed out or coughed
up, or in some other way expelled from the body of their primary
host, and then if they are eaten, as they may well be if they fall on
grass, by some vegetable-feeding or omnivorous animal, they
undergo a further development. If uneaten the eggs die. When once
in the stomach of the second host, the egg-shell is dissolved and a
larva emerges (Fig. 260, p. 494), which bores through the stomach-
wall and comes to rest in a cyst in some of the neighbouring viscera.
Here, with occasional wanderings which may prove fatal to the host,
it matures, and should the second host be eaten by one of the first,
the encysted form escapes, makes its way to the nasal chambers or
lungs, and attaching itself by means of its two pairs of hooks, comes
to rest on some surface capable of affording nutriment. Having once
taken up its position the female seldom moves, but the males, which
are smaller than the females, are more active. They move about in
search of a mate. Further, should the host die, both sexes, after the
manner of parasites, attempt to leave the body. Like most animals
who live entirely in the dark they develop no pigment, and have a
whitish, blanched appearance.
The only species of Pentastomid which has any economic
importance is Linguatula taenioides of Lamarck, which is found in
the nose of the dog, and much more rarely in the same position in
the horse, mule, goat, sheep, and man. It is a comparatively rare
parasite, but occurred in about 10 per cent of the 630 dogs in which
it was sought at the laboratory of Alfort, near Paris, and in 5 out of
60 dogs examined at Toulouse. The symptoms caused by the
presence of these parasites are not usually very severe, though cases
have been recorded where they have caused asphyxia. The larval
stages occur in the rabbit, sheep, ox, deer, guinea-pig, hare, rat,
horse, camel, and man, and by their wandering through the tissues
may set up peritonitis and other troubles.
As in the Cestoda, which they so closely resemble in their life-
history, the nomenclature of the Pentastomids has been complicated
by their double life. For long the larval form of L. taenioides was
known by different names in different hosts, e.g. Pentastoma
denticulatum, Rud., when found in the goat, P. serratum, Fröhlich,
when found in the hare, P. emarginatum when found in the guinea-
pig, and so on. In the systematic section of this article some of the
species mentioned are known in the adult state, some in the larval,
and in only a few has the life-history been fully worked out.
Structure.[384]—The body of a Pentastomid is usually white,
though in the living condition it may be tinged red by the colour of
the blood upon which it lives. The anterior end, which bears the
mouth and the hooks (Fig. 256), has no rings; this has been termed
the cephalothorax. The rest of the body, sometimes called the
abdomen, is ringed, and each annulus is divided into an anterior half
dotted with the pores of certain epidermal glands and a hinder part
of the ring in which these are absent.
On the ventral surface of the cephalothorax, in the middle line, lies
the mouth, elevated on an oral papilla, and on each side of the mouth
are a pair of hooks whose bases are sunk in pits. The hooks can be
protruded from the pits, and serve as organs of attachment. Their
shape has some systematic value.
There are a pair of peculiar papillae which bear the openings of the
“hook-glands,” lying just in front of the pairs of hooks, and other
smaller papillae are arranged in pairs on the cephalothorax and
anterior annuli. The entire body is covered by a cuticle which is
tucked in at the several orifices. This is secreted by a continuous
layer of ectoderm cells. Some of these subcuticular cells are
aggregated together to form very definite glands opening through the
cuticle by pores which have somewhat unfortunately received the
name of stigmata. Spencer attributes to these glands a general
excretory function. There is, however, a very special pair of glands,
the hook-glands, which extend almost from one end to the other of
the body; anteriorly these two lateral glands unite and form the
head-gland (Fig. 257). From this
on each side three ducts pass, one
of which opens to the surface on
the primary papilla; the other two
ducts open at the base of the two
hooks which lie on each side of
the mouth. Leuckart has
suggested that these important
glands secrete some fluid like the
irritating saliva of a Mosquito
which induces an increased flow
of blood to the place where it is of
use to the parasite. Spencer,
however, regards the secretion as
having, like the secretion of the
so-called salivary cells of the
Leech, a retarding action on the
coagulation of the blood of the
host.
The muscles of Pentastomids
are striated. There is a circular
layer within the subcuticular
cells, and within this a
longitudinal layer and an oblique
layer which runs across the body-
cavity from the dorso-lateral
surface to the mid-ventral line, a Fig. 256.—Porocephalus annulatus,
primitive arrangement which Baird. A, Ventral view of head, × 6; B,
recalls the similar division of the ventral view of animal, × 2.
body-cavity into three chambers
in Peripatus and in many Chaetopods. Besides these there are
certain muscles which move the hooks and other structures.
The mouth opens into a pharynx which runs upwards and then
backwards to open into the oesophagus (Fig. 257). Certain muscles
attached to these parts enlarge their cavities, and thus give rise to a
sucking action by whose force the blood of the host is taken into the
alimentary canal. The oesophagus opens by a funnel-shaped valve
into the capacious stomach or mid-gut, which stretches through the
body to end in a short rectum or hind-gut. The anus is terminal.

Fig. 257.—Diagrammatic representation of the alimentary,


secretory, nervous, and reproductive systems of a male
Porocephalus teretiusculus, seen from the side. The nerves are
represented by solid black lines. (From W. Baldwin Spencer.)

1, Head-gland; 2, testis; 3, hook-gland; 4, hind-gut; 5, mid-gut; 6,


ejaculatory
duct; 7, vesicula seminalis; 8, vas deferens; 9, dilator-rod sac; 10,
cirrus-bulb;
11, cirrus-sac; 12, fore-gut; 13, oral papillae.

There appears to be no trace of circulatory or respiratory organs,


whilst the function usually exercised by the nephridia or Malpighian
tubules or by coxal glands, of removing waste nitrogenous matter,
seems, according to Spencer, to be transferred to the skin-glands.
The nervous system is aggregated into a large ventral ganglion
which lies behind the oesophagus. It gives off a narrow band devoid
of ganglion-cells, which encircles that tube. It also gives off eight
nerves supplying various parts, and is continued backward as a ninth
pair of prolongations which, running along the ventral surface, reach
almost to the end of the body (Fig. 257). The only sense-organs
known are certain paired papillae on the head, which is the portion
that most closely comes in contact with the tissues of the host.
Pentastomids are bisexual. The males are as a rule much less
numerous and considerably smaller than the females, although the
number of annuli may be greater.
The ovary consists of a single tube closed behind. This is supported
by a median mesentery. Anteriorly the ovary passes into a right and
left oviduct, which, traversing the large hook-gland, encircle the
alimentary canal and the two posterior nerves (Fig. 258). They then
unite, and at their point of union they receive the ducts of the two
spermathecae, usually found packed with spermatozoa. Having
received the orifices of the spermatheca, the united oviducts are
continued backward as the uterus, a highly-coiled tube in which the
fertilised eggs are stored. These are very numerous; Leuckart
estimated that a single female may contain half a million eggs. The
uterus opens to the exterior in the mid-ventral line a short distance—
in P. teretiusculus on the last ring but seven—in front of the terminal
anus. In L. taenioides the eggs begin to be laid in the mucus of the
nose some six months after the parasite has taken up its position.

Fig. 258.—Diagrammatic representation of the alimentary,


secretory, nervous, and reproductive systems of a female
Porocephalus teretiusculus, seen from the side. The nerves are
represented by solid black lines. (From W. Baldwin Spencer.)

1, Head-gland; 2, oviduct; 3, hook-gland; 4, mid-gut; 5, ovary; 6,


hind-gut; 7,
vagina; 8, uterus; 9, accessory gland; 10, spermatheca.

The testis is a single tube occupying in the male a position similar


to that of the ovary in the female. Anteriorly it opens into two
vesiculae seminales, which, like the oviducts, pierce the hook-glands
and encircle the alimentary canal (Fig. 257). Each vesicula passes
into a vas deferens with a cuticular lining. Each vas deferens also
receives the orifice of a muscular caecal ejaculatory duct, which,
crowded with mature spermatozoa, stretches back through the body.
Anteriorly the vas deferens passes into a cirrus-bulb, which is joined
by a cirrus-sac on one side and a dilator-rod sac on the other,
structures containing organs that assist in introducing the
spermatozoa into the female. The two tubes then unite, and having

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