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Parasitic Autotomy of the Host as a mode of liberation of Coelomic Parasites from the Body of the Earthworm

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

D. Keilin
D. Keilin
Affiliation:
(From the Molteno Institute for Research in Parasitology, University of Cambridge.)
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Extract

The various suggestions concerning the mode of spreading of Monocystid Gregarines parasitic in earthworms have been already summarised by Minchin (1903), Hesse (1909) and more recently by Bhatia (1924). The last named author seemed to find that the spores from the vesicula seminalis may escape during copulation with the seminal fluid, may be transferred to the receptacula seminis to appear finally inside the cocoon of the earthworm. This observation has led him to suppose that the earthworm may become infected before it emerges from the cocoon. He does not, however, consider this mode of infection as the principal one, but accepts the general view that the majority of spores are set free only after the death of the worm and the complete disintegration of its body.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 17 , Issue 2 , May 1925 , pp. 170 - 172
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1925

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References

Bhatia, B. L. (1924). Preliminary note on the mode of infection of earthworms by Monocystid parasites. Journ. Royal Micr. Soc. 187–189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giard, A. (1897). Sur l'autotomie parasitaire et ses rapports avec l'autotomie gonophorique et la schizogonie. C. R. Soc. Biol. XLIX, 380.Google Scholar
Hesse, E. (1909). Contribution à l'étude des Monocystidées des Oligochètes. Arch. Zool. Expérim. 5e série, III, 27–301.Google Scholar
Marenzeller, (1895). Zoologische Ergebnisse V. Denkschr. der Math. Naturw. Akad. Wien, LXIII, 134–136 and Anat. Anzeig. XVIII, quoted by Giard.Google Scholar
Minchin, E. A. (1903). An Introduction to the Study of Protozoa, London.Google Scholar