Abstract
Limnaea stagnalis collected from three sources in the vicinity of Winches Farm Field Station of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine were found to be shedding furcocercous cereariæ. On emergence from the snail, the cercariæ swam freely for a short time with either the head- or tail-end forward and then attached themselves to the side of a beaker nearest the light. The cercariæ were apharyngeal, possessed a pair of eyespots and had six pairs of flame cells in the body and one pair at the base of the tail. The posterior part of the body was taken up by five pairs of penetration glands, the two anterior pairs having coarsely granular and the three posterior pairs having finely granular contents. In its behaviour and morphological characters the cercaria is identical with that described as C. ocellata by Rees1 and Taylor and Bayliss2, who have given a detailed description of the cercaria which will not be repeated here. At one site (Verulamium Lake) a small percentage of Limnaea ovata were occasionally found to be shedding this cercaria. In both hosts the sporocysts were located in the digestive gland.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
References
Rees, F. G., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1, 1 (1932).
Taylor, E. L., and Bayliss, H. A., Trans. Roy. Soc. Trop. Med. and Hyg., 24, 2, 219 (1930).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
ROBINSON, D. Avian Schistosomes in Hertfordshire. Nature 190, 827 (1961). https://doi.org/10.1038/190827a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/190827a0
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.