At the autopsy of two Mahommedans who died in Calcutta, McConnell found a large number of Distomata in the thickened and dilated bile-ducts. The worms were lancet-shaped, covered with spines, and measured 9·5 to 12·7 mm. in length and 2·5 mm. in breadth. The two suckers lie very close to one another, the anterior one being larger than the ventral; the genital pore opens immediately in front of the ventral sucker; pharynx spherical; intestinal cæca extending far back. At the commencement of the posterior third of the body the two testes, somewhat apart, the anterior one roundish, the posterior one distinctly lobed. The transverse and slightly lobed ovary in front of the bifurcation of the Y-shaped excretory bladder, whence the uterus, in convolutions barely spreading beyond the central field, extends to the pore; the vitellaria in the lateral areas commence behind the ventral sucker and extend to the testes. Cirrus pouch absent. Eggs oval, 34 µ by 21 µ.
Genus. Clonorchis, Looss, 1907.
Structure as in Opisthorchis, distinguished, however, by the branched testes situated one behind the other, the branches of which ventrally encroach upon the gut forks; dorsal to the testes the S-shaped excretory bladder, the main branches of which, arising at the level of the bifurcation of the gut, open into the bladder below its anterior end. Parasitic in the bile-ducts of mammals and man.
Fig. 157.—Metorchis conjunctus,[272] (Syn.: Distomum conjunctum, Cobb., nec Lew. and Cunn., nec McConn.): from Canis fulvus. Vs., ventral sucker; I., intestine; Vsc. vitellaria; Ex., excretory bladder; T., testes; O., ovary; Ms., oral sucker; Ph., pharynx; Ut., uterus. (After Cobbold.)
Fig. 158.—Clonorchis sinensis. C.L., Laurer’s canal; Dst., vitellaria; Ex., excretory bladder; H., testes; K., ovary; R.s., receptaculum seminis; Vd., terminal section of vas deferens. Magnified 4 1/2 times. (After Looss.)
Clonorchis sinensis, Cobbold, 1875.