as cercariae. This further development makes still a third gen- 
eration. The cercariae pass from the body of the snail into the 
water and attach themselves to blades of grass (see Plate I. F.) 
or such plants as may occur in or about any standing water; or, 
during a time of high water, they may be carried out on the 
range and. when the water recedes, left on the grass some dis- 
tance away ; or, again, they may be washed from the higher levels 
to fields below. On becoming attached to the blades of grass or 
the stems of other plants, the cercariae become encysted, or dor- 
mant again, and so remain for an indefinite period, until swal- 
lowed with the grass or other forage plant eaten by the stock. 
Local infection has been traced to the feeding to cattle of a much- 
prized forage plant known as hono-hono (Commelina nudiflora), 
which grows abundantly about water-courses throughout the 
Islands. In the stomach of cattle or other animals eating plants 
thus infested with the encysted cercariae, the cyst or covering is 
destroyed and the undeveloped liver-fluke, becoming active again. 
seeks the liver of the host through either the gall-ducts or portal 
veins, and develops into the adult fluke, already mentioned, thus 
completing the life-cycle. 
1 he immense number of eggs and the large increase of each 
intermediate generation would mean an increase of the adult 
fluke almost beyond numbers, were it not for the small chance 
any one individual has of reaching maturity. In the first place, 
few indeed of the eggs in the faecal matter find their way to 
water in which they may hatch into the second stage. Again, 
not all of the resulting ciliated embryos in the water succeed in 
finding the particular fresh-water snails which are their special 
hosts. Failure to find the proper snail results in extermination. 
Finally, not all of the encysted undeveloped flukes on the blades 
of grass are eaten by stock. However, it can be plainly seen that 
where conditions are favorable, that is, where standing water 
abounds where the snails are present and about which fluke- 
infested stock are feeding, the liver-fluke disease can readily 
become epizootic. 
Symptoms of the disease in cattle: — "The first symptoms are 
generally overlooked, the disease not attracting attention until 
the appetite is diminished, rumination (chewing the cud) be- 
comes irregular, the animals become hidebound, and the coat dull 
and staring. The staring coat is due to the contraction of the 
muscles of the hair follicles. The visible mucous membranes be- 
