W. A. Harding 
169 
however, which can extend to a length of nearly six inches. The 
largest example I have met with measured :—contracted, at rest, 
40 mm. long and 15 mm. wide. Fully extended, 147 mm. long and 
7 mm. wide. 
Distribution, Food, etc. This well-known leech occurs throughout 
the greater part of Europe and its range extends, according to Blanchard 
(1893 a, p. 25 ; 1893 i, p. 3) into Transcaucasia and Syria. 
In England, Scotland and Ireland it is common, chiefly in the mud 
at the bottom of sluggish streams and ponds. It leaves the water volun¬ 
tarily in order to deposit its cocoons and probably also in pursuit of its 
prey. 
Haemopis sanguisuga is carnivorous, devouring piecemeal earth¬ 
worms and, according to several authorities, molluscs, aquatic larvae, 
tadpoles, and small or wounded fish and frogs. It attacks Herpobdella, 
Trocheta and, under the influence of hunger, even members of its own 
species; Bbrard counted it among the enemies of Hirudo medicinalis. 
Probably as Dalyell states, “ few animal substances are rejected ” by this 
voracious species. 
The blunt teeth of this leech cannot pierce the human skin. Its 
character as a blood-sucker appears to be due to confusion with Hirudo 
medicinalis and Limnatis nilotica, and to the same cause must be 
attributed its alleged habit of lurking in drinking places and crawling 
into the mouths and nasal apertures of horses and cattle. Early writers 
frequently refer to the “horse-leech or bloodsucker” when the medi¬ 
cinal leech is intended (e.g. Burton : Anatomy of Melancholy, Pt. 2, 
S. 5, Mem. 3, s. 1). 
The term “ horse-leech ” or “ cattle-leech ” has been applied to 
more than one species of Limnatis, in which the above habit is strongly 
developed. Limnatis nilotica, the only other “ horse-leech ” found in 
Europe, occurs in Italy and Spain and is frequent in North Africa and 
parts of Western A.sia. This dangerous parasite is sometimes inadver¬ 
tently swallowed by human beings and by cattle 1 . 
Varieties. A number of colour-varieties of this species have been 
described, the most important of which, such as H. ornata, de Filippi 
(1837), are dependent on the amount of persistence shown by the 
primitive dorsal geometrical pattern seen in young individuals. 
1 A description of accidents of this nature, together with a note on this leech, have 
already appeared in the pages of this Journal. [Masterman, Parasitology, I. p. 186 ; 
Harding, ibid. p. 282.] 
