TREMATODA
CHARACTERS OF TREMATODES—HABITS AND STRUCTURE OF TREMATODA ECTOPARASITICA (MONOGENEA)—LIFE-HISTORIES OF POLYSTOMUM INTEGERRIMUM, DIPLOZOON PARADOXUM, AND GYRODACTYLUS ELEGANS—TREMATODA ENDOPARASITICA (DIGENEA)—OCCURRENCE AND HABITS OF DIGENEA—LIFE-HISTORY OF DISTOMUM MACROSTOMUM—DISTOMUM HEPATICUM AND ITS EFFECTS—BILHARZIA HAEMATOBIA—BISEXUAL TREMATODES—TABLE OF HOSTS—CLASSIFICATION.
From the Turbellaria we now pass on to a consideration of the second great subdivision of the Platyhelminthes, the Trematodes or "flukes," of which the "liver-fluke" is the best known, since it is one of the most dangerous parasites that infest domestic animals.
It has been pointed out that the Polyclads, Triclads, and Rhabdocoels are carnivorous, and that in each of these groups sporadic cases of parasitism occur. In other words, when the prey is much larger than the Turbellarian, the latter tends to become a parasite, and we can trace the development of the parasitic habit from the gradual association of Turbellaria with Ascidians, Crustacea, Molluscs, and Polyzoa merely for protective purposes, through the adoption, not only of the body of the host for shelter, but of its flesh for food; though it is only in some Rhabdocoels (Graffilla, etc.) that there exists a degeneration corresponding to the easier mode of nutrition and simpler life. The Trematodes,[[70]] however, are wholly parasitic, either on the outer surface, the gills, or internal organs of their host, which is almost always a Vertebrate. Some Trematodes lodge in the mouth; others wander down the oesophagus into the stomach or intestine, where they fix themselves to the mucous membrane. Again, others work their way into the digestive glands by the ducts, and thus become further and further removed from the external world, and more adapted to live in the particular organs of that host in which they best flourish. The most important result of the adoption of this internal habitat by endoparasitic Trematodes is, however, seen in their life-history. If a liver-fluke were to deposit its million or so of eggs in the bile-ducts of the sheep, and these were to develop in situ, the host could not withstand the increased drain upon its vital resources, and host and parasites would perish together. Hence it is clear that the infection of a second host by Trematodes is highly necessary, whether they be ectoparasitic, in which case the infection is easily effected, when two hosts are in contact, by the adult worms, as well as when they are apart, by free-swimming larvae. In endoparasitic Trematodes it is brought about by the migration of the young to the outer world, their entrance into a, usually, Invertebrate host and their asexual multiplication within it, and the capture and deglutition of this "intermediate host" by the final Vertebrate one. Within the latter the immature parasites find out the organ in which their parents flourished, and here they too grow and attain maturity. The chances of any one egg of an endoparasitic Trematode producing eventually an adult are, therefore, far less favourable than in the case of an ectoparasitic form. In other words, while the former must lay a great number of small eggs, the latter need only deposit a (comparatively) few large ones, and this fact has a corresponding influence on the structure of the genitalia in the two cases. The Digenea, which employ two hosts in a lifetime, have accordingly a different generative mechanism from that of the Monogenea. The great need of the latter is a powerful apparatus for adhering to the surface of the body of its host; while the adaptations which the endoparasite requires are, in addition, (1) protection against the solvent action of the glands of its host, (2) the power of firm adhesion to a smooth internal surface, and (3) the ability not only to produce a large quantity of spermatozoa and ova, but in the absence of a fellow-parasite, to fertilise its own ova; and we find these conditions abundantly satisfied.
Trematoda monogenea (ectoparasitica).
There are four subdivisions of the Monogenea:—
I. Temnocephalidae, with four to twelve tentacles, and one sucker posteriorly (Fig. 20).
II. Tristomatidae, with two lateral, anteriorly-placed suckers. Oral suckers are absent, a large posterior sucker is constant, and is often armed with hooks (Fig. 22, C).
III. Polystomatidae, with, usually, two oral suckers and a posteriorly-placed adhesive disc armed with suckers and hooks (Figs. 23 and 24).
IV. Gyrodactylidae (Fig. 29).