The Animal Parasites of ManFantham, Harold Benjamin
Science
The Animal Parasites of Man
Fantham, Harold Benjamin
Medical parasitology
The ventral sucker is situated at the level of the junction of the
cone with the body, _viz._, at the level of the “shoulder,” and is
large and powerful. The cuticle is covered with strong spines; the
gut cæca run in the mid-line to the hind end, and are provided with
numerous long lateral and fewer and shorter median branches. The
ovary lies on one side in front of the transverse vitelline duct;
the testes lie obliquely one behind the other. The uterus, in the
shape of a rosette, lies in front of the genitalia. Laurer’s canal
is present; the vesicula seminalis lies in the cirrus pouch; the ova
are large, not very numerous, and only develop after they have been
deposited. Parasites of the biliary ducts of herbivorous animals.
*Fasciola hepatica*, L., 1758.
Syn.: _Distomum hepaticum_, Retz., 1786; _Fasciola Humana_, Gmel.,
1789; _Distomum caviæ_, Sons., 1890; _Cladocœlium hepaticum_, Stoss.,
1892.
Length 20 to 30 mm., breadth 8 to 13 mm., cephalic cone 4 to 5 mm.
in length and sharply differentiated from the body by a shoulder on
each side. Spines in alternating transverse rows and extending on
the ventral surface to the posterior border of the testes, and on
the dorsal surface not quite so far. The spines are smaller on the
cephalic cone than on the posterior part of the body, where they are
discernible with the naked eye. The suckers are hemispherical, and
near each other; the oral sucker is about 1 mm. and the ventral sucker
about 1·6 mm. in diameter. The pharynx, which includes almost the
entire œsophagus, measures 0·7 mm. in length and 0·4 mm. in breadth.
The intestine bifurcates at the limit of the cephalic cone and the
branches are even here furnished with diverticula directed outwardly.
The ovary is ramified and situated in front of the transverse vitelline
duct, usually on the right side; the shell gland lies near the ovary
in the median line; posterior to the transverse vitelline ducts are
the greatly ramified testes, which occupy the greater portion of the
posterior part of the body, with the exception of the lateral and
posterior border; the long vasa efferentia only unite as they enter the
cirrus pouch. The vitellaria occupy the sides of the posterior part of
the body, commencing at the level of the ventral sucker and uniting
behind the testes. The ova are yellowish-brown, oval, operculated,
130 µ to 145 µ in length, 70 µ to 90 µ in breadth (average size 132 µ
by 70 µ).
[Illustration: FIG. 139.--_Fasciola hepatica_, L. From a specimen that
is not yet mature, showing the gut and its branches. 5/1.]
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