8 
ruminants, more particularly sheep, and are said to be bi¬ 
sexual, having both male and female organs of generation in 
one creature, and being able to propagate their species by 
the deposition of 
OVA OR EGGS, 
which, on examination by the aid of the microscope, are found 
to be small oval shaped bodies, averaging about i-i8oth part 
of an inch in length and i-300th part of an inch in breadth, 
covered by a hard shell of a 3^ellowish, brown colour, and 
furnished at one end with a small cap or lid, and containing 
internally masses of granular matter, from which the embryo 
of the future fluke is developed. The breeding propensities 
of the liver fluke are almost beyond all comprehension, and 
the number of eggs produced by one single fluke is perfectly 
astounding, being computed by some to reach hundreds of 
thousands. Mr. Thomas, of the Oxford University Museum, 
in his report in the Royal Society’s Journal, alread} 7 referred 
to, says that “ in one case he obtained 7,400,000 eggs from 
the gallbladder of a well rotted sheep ; the liverc ontained 
200 flukes, which gave an average of 37,000 eggs to each 
fluke.” Well may our grazing lands be tainted and flocks 
decimated. The eggs are deposited by the flukes in the 
bile, and carried by that fluid into the intestinal canal, and 
dropped with the excrement on to the ground to undergo 
various transmutations out of the body. Professor Simonds 
and others have conducted experiments with the view of 
testing the vitality of the ova, and what length of time the 
internal granular matter would lie latent before showing signs 
of gestation ; when it was observed that in some the process 
commenced very early, while in others no change was noticed 
for a considerable period, thus showing that these small 
