Parasites of the Liver. 335 



The free sporocysts pass out with the bile into the duodenum 

 and are expelled in the faeces, and undergo development in the 

 damp earth or in water. Thus the parasite comes to abound in 

 the soil of the rabbit warren and the resulting malady becomes a 

 deadly enzootic. The enormous development, of the sporozoa in 

 the rabbit is further explained by Morot, on the ground that this 

 animal is in the habit of swallowing the fresh balls of faeces and 

 subjecting them to a second digestion. 



EIMERIA. FALCIFORMIS IN THE RABBIT'S LIVER. 



This is another coccidium which has been known as infesting 

 the intestinal epithelium of the mouse, and has been found by 

 Eimer and Rivolti in the liver of the rabbit. It is distinguished from 

 the coccidium oviforme, by the fact that the contents of the cy.st, 

 are, in the process of development, converted into a single sporo- 

 blast instead of two. Its effects are comparable to those of the 

 coccidium oviforme. 



Lesions. These appear as small yellowish white tumors vary- 

 ing in .size from a wheat grain to a pea, or even a hazel-nut, pro- 

 jecting from the surface of the liver. Incision shows that these 

 tumors have a dense outer covering of the thickened walls of the 

 biliary ducts, containing adherent masses of the hypertrophied 

 and infested epithelium with free epithelium in proce.ss of fatty 

 degeneration or distended by the sporocysts. Free sporocysts are 

 also abundant not only in the thick pultaceous or cheesy contents 

 of the tumors but in the bile. Most of these are ovoid, but 

 others are rounded, with in many cases a dark colored centre, 

 and bear a resemblance to blood globules. 



Symptoms. In mild attacks no very marked symptoms are 

 shown, the rabbit surviving and even maintaining fair condition 

 in spite of the coccidia. In the more severe attacks there is a 

 gradual loss of appetite, and of liveliness, a progressive emacia- 

 tion, encreasing pallor of the mucous membranes, with a pro- 

 nounced icteric tinge, harshness and dryness of the fur, diarrhoea, 

 and ascites. A microscopic examination of the faeces or of the 

 sediment from the water in which they have been washed will 

 detect the sporocysts. The animal falls into a condition of 

 marasmus and dies in about three months. 



In England, where the disease was discovered sixty years ago 



