On the Route of Emergence of the Cercariae of Schistosoma mansoni from Australorbis glabratus

Abstract

Although the literature contains many references to the entrance of schistosome miracidia into the snail host and their subsequent development into sporocysts and mature cercariae, there is comparatively little information available about the way these cercariae leave the snail. But the findings of Kendall and McCullough (1951) concerning the emergence of Fasciola hepatica cercariae from Limnaea truncatula, which resulted from the sectioning of infected snails, indicated that this method might also yield new information about the cercariae of S. mansoni; so at the suggestion of Professor Buckley the writer undertook the present investigation.