162 PARASITOLOGY. 
with two suckers, oral and ventral. At the bottom 
of the oral sucker is placed the mouth, which com- 
municates with the intestines. by means of an oesoph- 
agus. The intestines consist of two ramifying 
branches which permeate the whole body. The 
ventral sucker lies about one-sixth of an inch behind 
the oral one. The fluke is brown in color and is a 
hermaphrodite; the penis projects in front of the 
ventral sucker, always recurved; the vulva is small 
and situated at the side or a little behind the male 
orifice. 
Fig. 63—DisToMa 
HEPATICUM, 
The specimen from 
vhich this drawing was 
made was placed be- 
tween two glass slides 
with rubber bands 
around each end, giv- 
ing specimen gentle 
pressure, then kept im- 
mersed in alcohol one 
week, then mounted in 
Canada balsam. 
a, Intestines. 
b. Oral sucker. 
c, ventral sucker. 
d, Uterus. 
Life History.—The fluke is ovip- 
arous ; the eggs are ovoid in shape 
and brown in color; they are laid 
in the bile ducts and through the 
hepatic duct find their way to the 
intestinal tract, then to the ground 
through the feces; if the ova fall 
in dry places they soon perish, if in 
damp or marshy places they hatch 
in from five to six weeks; at this 
stage the whole body of the em- 
bryo is covered with cilia, which 
enables it to move about in the 
water. At one end isa lancet-like 
projection which can be thrust out 
or withdrawn; by means of this 
apparatus it bores into the second 
host; if it does not meet one in a 
day or two it dies; if it meets a 
water snail it penetrates it and be- 
comes lodged in the respiratory 
cavity and begins its metamorphosis into the larval 
