The Animal Parasites of ManFantham, Harold Benjamin
Science
The Animal Parasites of Man
Fantham, Harold Benjamin
Medical parasitology
(4) The CERCARIÆ[266] are very different; typically they consist of the
anterior body and the oar-like tail at the posterior end (fig. 134).
The former, even to the genitalia, has the organization of the adult
digenetic Trematodes, and thus allows the easy recognition of at least
the characters of that large group to which the species in question
belongs. On the other hand, however, there are also organs that are
lacking in the adult form, such as, in many, the boring spine in the
oral sucker, or the eyes situated on the cerebral ganglion; moreover,
also, cutaneous glands (fig. 134), the secretion of which forms the
cyst membrane. The oar-like tail may be long or short (stumpy-tailed
cercaria) or entirely absent; its free end may be partly split (furcate
cercaria), or split to its base (_bucephalus_); in various forms also
the anterior end of the tail is hollow, and has enclosed within it the
anterior body, which is otherwise free. The size also of the cercaria
belonging to the different species is very diverse; in addition
to forms swimming in the water that have the appearance of minute
milky-white bodies, there are forms which measure as much as 6 mm. in
length.
[266] The cercaria is the characteristic larval stage of the
Trematodes, and corresponds to a cysticercus or cysticercoid, though
there is the important difference that the cercaria has an enteric
cavity. According to some observers the enteron is represented by the
frontal sucker of some Cestodes, and by the rostellum of the majority
of others.
The sporocyst and redia are regarded as intercalated stages, _viz._,
as cercariæ exhibiting _pædogenesis_, _i.e._, development of young by
a parthenogenetic process from individuals (_i.e._, cercariæ) not yet
adult.
The encysted cercariæ (fig. 135) are globular or oval, and are
surrounded by a homogeneous membrane, which may be striated or contain
granules. The tail is always cast off when encystment occurs, and
organs peculiar to the cercaria stage (boring papilla, eyes) almost
entirely disappear. On the other hand, the genitalia appear or become
more or less highly developed, in extreme cases to such an extent that
they become functional, and after autocopulation the creatures produce
ova within the cysts.
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