DICROCGELIUM 173 



are united to the vas deferens, which after a short course passes over 

 into the angularly bent seminal vesicle ; after taking up the prostatic 

 glands it becomes united with the metraterm, and the common 

 passage discharges into the genital cavity. The latter is some- 

 what smaller than the ventral sucker, lies to the side close 

 behind it, and carries a not entirely closed ring of from 75 to 

 80 chitinous rods (0*02 mm. in length). The vitellaria on 

 either side consist of about fourteen acini. The uterus is 

 spread almost throughout the entire posterior part of the body. 

 The eggs have thick shells and measure 0*03 : 0*017 mm. ; they 

 contain a miracidium ciliated on all sides and with a rudimentary 

 intestinal sac. 



This species was discovered in 1851 by Bilharz in the intestine 

 of a boy who died in Cairo ; a second discovery was only 

 made in 1891 and communicated by R. Blanchard, so that it 

 appeared as if the species were very scarce. According to the 

 reports of Looss, this is, however, not the case, but the species 

 easily escapes notice on account of its small size. Looss found 

 it in Alexandria twice in nine autopsies, and once in Cairo, 

 and has recently stated that in man "it is not at all uncommon 

 to meet with the parasite in cadavers, and the eggs of the worm 

 in the stools of the patients." The parasites occupy the central 

 third of the small intestine. 



The same species, according to Looss, frequently occurs in 

 Egypt in dogs, next in cats, and has also been found in the fox, 

 as well as once in Milvus parasiticus ; Janson also reports this 

 species from the intestine of the dog in Japan. 



LITERATURE. 



SIEBOLD, C. TH. v. Beitr. z. Helm. hum. (Z. f. w. Zool., 1852, iv., p. 52.) 

 BLANCHARD, R. Note prel. sur le Dist. heteroph. (C. R. soc. biol., Paris, 1891 [9], 



iii., p. 792.) 

 Looss, A. Ueb. d. Bau v. Dist. fraternum, n. sp. Cassel, 1894. 



Not. z. Helm. Aeg. I. (C. f. B., P. u. L, 1896 [i], xx., p. 836.) 



Weit. Beitr. z. Kenntn. d. Trem.-Fna. Aeg. (Zool. Jahrb. Syst., 1899, part xii., 



P- 699-) 



SANDWITH, F. M. Dist. heteroph. in a living patient. (The Lancet, 1899, ii., No. 14, 

 p. 888.) 



Gen. 7. Dicroccelium, Dag. 



Medium-sized Fasciolidae, with leaf-shaped bodies, pointed posteriorly 

 and anteriorly. Cuticle without spines ; the suckers near each other ; 

 powerful ventral sucker. Alimentary canal with pharynx, short oeso- 

 phagus and long intestinal branches, which do not usually extend to 

 the posterior end. The genital pore is usually close behind the pharynx ; 



