196 
A. A. SANDOSHAM 
Length of body 
Maximum width of bocfy ... 
Length of head organ 
Maximum width of head organ . . . 
Diameter of ventral sucker 
Distance from V.S. to posterior end 
Length of tail stem 
Width of tail stem ... 
Length of furcus ... 
Maximum width of furcus 
0.24-0.26 
0.07-0.08 
0.068-0.069 
0.05-0.053 
0.018-0.022 
0.08-0.09 
0.28-0.29 
0.035-0.036 
0.18-0.19 
0.017-0.019 
Experimental Studies 
The cercariae were examined carefully to make sure there were no brevifurcous forms of 
Schistosoma spindale variety. Since some of the dermatitis-producing Schistosome cercariae 
have been shown to be of avian origin in other countries, an attempt was made to infect two 
chickens by pipetting the cercariae-containing water into their auxiliary folds. The skin showed 
numerous red spots in both birds. No eggs were present during the subsequent examination 
of the stools of these birds. One chicken died three weeks after the exposure to infection and 
the other was killed one month after the experiment was commenced. Both showed no flukes 
in their lungs, liver, mesenteric vessels or the venous plexus of the submucosa of the intestines. 
Dissection of Snails 
A few of the snails that extruded only these furcocercous cercariae were dissected and 
sporocysts containing these cercariae with pigmented eye spots were obtained in the liver. 
There were no rediae present in any of the snails. The sporocysts (fig. 8) were elongated 
bodies about 3 mm long with an irregularly constricted outline. 
Discussion 
The morphology of the cercariae serves to exclude the human Schistosomes and S. spindale 
from our consideration. 
This species falls obviously into the category of non-human furcocercous cercariae generally 
referred to as the “ Elvae ” group, several members of which have been shown experimentally 
STUD. INST. MED. RES. 
