FASCIOLA HEPATICA. 159 



spread out so as to occupy at least one half of the interior of the 

 animal. 



The female organs are not less complicated. The vaginal outlet 



is placed a httle to the left of the middle line, immediately above 



the margin of the ventral sucker. According to Kuchenmeister, 



it has a common opening with the penis, but this error has been 



corrected by Simonds, and even by Kuchenmeister himself in a 



passage which he quotes from Mehlis. The vagina is probably 



capable of very great dilation, but in its ordinary condition it is 



much narrower than the extremity of the intromittent organ ; the 



aperture is so narrow, indeed, that it appears to be only capable 



of giving exit to a single ovum at a time. At a short distance 



from the orifice it widens out to form the true uterus, or uterine 



canal, which here consists of a long tube coiled upon itself, and 



containing in its interior a large number of brownish yellow eggs. 



From the ventral aspect this folded tube is easUy recognized by 



the naked eye, forming a conspicuous brown-coloured rosette, 



which is placed directly below and behind the ventral sucker. 



Towards the vaginal end the uterine tube looks more highly 



coloured than at its ovid^cal extremity, in consequence of the 



contained eggs being more completely developed in this situation. 



This is owing also to the circumstance that great numbers of the 



eggs are collected together at one spot, distending the tube very 



considerably. The breadth of the canal will thus be found to vary 



from -^" to ^" in transverse diameter. Towards the ovarian end 



of the canal the uterus becomes rather suddenly narrowed into a 



short oviduct, in which the eggs are seen lying, incompletely 



developed and very pale-coloured. This duct communicates in front 



with the ovary, a heart-shaped organ, which receives at its broad 



or lower end the united extremities of two other ducts, which meet 



and anastomose at this point. These two ducts are the primary, 



main, vitelhgene canals, and, from their dark-coloured contents, 



are usually very well marked and visible to the naked eye. They 



form together a continuous transverse line of demarcation, which 



