Order 3.—Polycladida, a central gut with lateral cæca. Development direct or through metamorphosis. They live in fresh and salt water or on land; very seldom as parasites.
Class II.—Trematoda (Sucking Worms[254]). [Usually known as Flukes.—F. V. T.] Flat worms, living as ecto- or endoparasites, that are only ciliated in the larval condition, and in their adult state are covered with a cuticle, the matrix cells of which lie in the parenchyma. They have either one, a few, or several suckers,[255] and frequently also possess chitinous fixation and adhesive organs. The intestine is single, but generally bifurcated, and not uncommonly there are transverse anastomoses between the forks or diverticula on them. Excretory organs double, with two orifices at the anterior extremity or a single one at the posterior end. Development takes place by a metamorphosis or alternation of generations (p. [283]). These worms are almost always hermaphroditic, with two or more female and one male sexual orifice. They live, almost without exception, as parasites on vertebrate animals, but the intermediate generations are passed in molluscs.
Class III.—Cestoda (Tapeworms). Endoparasitic flat worms without an alimentary canal. The larval stages are rarely ciliated, but are usually provided with six spines; the adult worm is covered with a cuticle, the matrix cells of which are embedded in the parenchyma. The body consists of a single segment (Cestodaria) or a chain of segments, in which case it consists of the scolex and the segments containing the sexual organs (proglottides) (Cestodes s. str.). The scolex is provided with various adhesive and fixation organs, and there are calcareous corpuscles in the parenchyma. Excretory organs symmetrical, opening at the posterior end. These worms are always hermaphroditic, and then possess one or two female and one male sexual orifice. During development a larval intermediate stage (“measle”) occurs and almost always in a different host to that in which the adult sexual worm lives. The adult stage is parasitic in vertebrate animals; but the larval stage may occur in invertebrates.
Class II. TREMATODA, Rud.
These worms are usually leaf- or tongue-shaped, but also barrel-shaped or conical; they vary from 0·1 mm. to almost 1 m.[256] in length; most of them, however, are small (5 mm. to 15 mm.). The surface on which the orifice of the uterus and the male sexual opening are situated is termed the ventral surface; the oral aperture, which also acts as anus, is always at the anterior end in the sub-order Prostomata (p. [230]), but in the sub-order Gasterostomata it is ventral.
Suckers are always present and occur in varying numbers and positions at the anterior extremities as well as on the ventral surface, and occasionally on the lateral margin and on the dorsum; the beginning of the intestine (mouth) is always surrounded by a sucker in the Prostomata.
In or near the suckers there may be chitinous hooks, claws or claspers, or the surface of the body is more or less covered with spines, scales or prickles; in one genus (Rhopalias) there are projectile tentacles beset with spines on the sides of the anterior part of the body.
The body of adult Trematodes is covered by a homogeneous layer of varying thickness, which either lies directly over the external layer (basement membrane) of the parenchyma, or over the muscles embedded in the parenchyma. This investing membrane (cuticle) arises from pear-shaped or spindle-shaped cells arranged singly or in groups (which lie between or internal to the diagonal muscles), and is connected with them by processes; these cells one may regard as epithelial cells which have sunk down, or possibly as parenchymatous cells. An epithelium of one layer is also found on the body of young stages, but it disappears during growth, and only occasionally do its nuclei persist until adult life. In its place we then find the cuticle, which, moreover, extends into all the body openings more or less deeply.
It is thus a debatable point whether the “investing layer” of flukes is a cuticle—that is, consists of modified epithelial cells—or whether it is a basement membrane, i.e., compressed and modified connective tissue cells; in this latter case the true epidermis and cuticle have been cast off. In the former case the epidermal cells are the pear-shaped cells referred to above. According to recent authors it consists of two parts, an outer true cuticle and an inner basement membrane. There are also unicellular cuticular glands, lying isolated or in groups, which are termed cephalic, abdominal, or dorsal glands according to the position of their orifice.