DESCRIPTIONS OF FAMILIES, GENERA 

 AND SPECIES 



Family Glossiphonidae. 



Leeches of medium or small size ; generally rather short, broad 

 and much flattened, rarely slender and elongated. No distinct clitel- 

 lum. Caudal sucker usually large and flat ; oral sucker rather small 

 and, except in a few cases, scarcely expanded. Complete somites 

 of middle region usually of three rings, rarely of 2, 5 or 6. Eyes 

 1-4 pairs, situated in a longitudinal row close to the median line; 

 the first pair often compound, the others simple. Dorsum often 

 studded with cutaneous papillae in addition to metameric sensillae. 

 Mouth a small pore in the oral sucker. Pharynx a slender, pro- 

 trnsible proboscis without jaws or teeth. Salivary glands present. 

 Stomach with from one to ten pairs of lateral, simple or branched 

 caeca. Intestine with four pairs of caeca. Genital orifices separated 

 by one to four rings, the 2 in somite XII and the $ in XII or be- 

 tween XI and XII. Testes sacs usually six, rarely nine pairs; sperm 

 ducts divided into a very slender vas deferens and a large epididimis 

 and ductus ejaculatorius, the latter of which opens into a small 

 median atrium without a penis. Ovisacs a pair of slender con- 

 voluted tubules opening together at the female orifice without a 

 vagina. Fertilization by means of horny spermatophores attaches 

 to the integument from which the spermatozoa penetrate the tis- 

 sues to the ovisacs. Eggs and young borne on the ventral surface 

 of the parent. Strictly fresh water. Tortoise and snail leeches, 

 which feed on snails, small worms, etc. or suck the blood of tor- 

 toises, frogs or fishes, rarely fixed parasites of the latter. Creepers, 

 mostly poor swimmers. 



Genus Glossiphonia Johnston. 



Moderately depressed or elongated and nearly terete. Eyes 

 1-3 pairs, all simple. Cutaneous papillae few or none, never strictly 

 median. Pharyngeal salivary glands diffuse; gastric caeca 1-7 pairs, 

 simple or slightly branched. Sperm ducts forming a pair of long, 

 open loops extending through several segments. Chiefly free-living 

 or attached to invertebrates. 



