THE BLOOD-SUCKING LEECHES.

1351

%e of .i

kfr-h , ! le results of the investigation was, that the animal called in Fiance horse-I’GI'orat ."bich had been particularly charged with causing painful wounds, could nott. xi). 'p| le human skin, the teeth of the animal being quite blunt, ( Journ. de Pharm.hivj,,. '? horse-leech referred to, the reporters declared to be Hcemopis sanguisorba,* J > but Blainville says it is Hcemopis nigra.

C ilr —1. Sanguisuga officinalis, Savigny . Hirudo provincialis

di, Jn l a ’ Mem. della Reale Accad. di Torino, xxv. 282 ; Sanguisuga mcri-^ ^ Risso, Hist. Nat. de l’Europe merid. iv. 428 ; the Green Leech. —St'eenish 0 r blackish-green, with six rusty red, bandlike [lougitu-’i’l l0s , s Ripes. Belly olive -green, unspotted (Brandt).—South of Europe .bq r( ,]j brought to England come from Bourdeaux, Lisbon , and Ham-

luiii-Tandon (Monogr. de lafam. des Hirud. p. 112) admits three varieties:—

8. ]) Hlsa ] hands interrupted at intervals,v. hands reduced to blackish spots.

Isa * bands united by transverse ones.

2. S

nisUGA medicinalis, Savigny .f hsty * or Speckled Leech.—Back

Hirudo medicinalis, Linn. L. D.greenish or olive-green, with six

hey 1( M longitudinal stripes, which are mostly spotted with black,iq s j z ^ reeu ish-yellow, spotted with black (Brandt .)—Spots very variablehum ‘, ail( l number; in some cases they are but few; in others are soVe| iii)u° US as t '° f° rm the almost prevailing tint of the belly, the infer-tile HQ rt ^ )aces appearing like greenish yellow spots.—Europe , especially

Northern parts. A native of England, but rare. Imported from Ham-v arietics of this leech have been described and figured.

>ES"

,) -— - — __.... One of the most re-

uG'beii these is the flesh-coloured medicinal leech (Sanguisuga medicinalis carnea)• Post *^ R't'hez of Paris . The anterior half of its body is flesh-coloured ; while"’■t|| oliy riH1 half’ s of the usual colour. The spotted or piebald leech is flesh-coloured^ 6-green spots (see Brandt and Ratzehurg, Med. Zool.)

aie on ty species employed in medicine in this country,lollop Ulve been described and figured by Brandt {Med. Zool. ii). The' Re (j ^ * s a s b°rt sketch of the anatomy of the medicinal leech:—

* S tlirtm, UTANEous System of the animal consists of a transparent epidermis (which

'.ft* r. , , .... ,. , ....•. The latter

lh e o ’ .'ymensea cellular tissue, composeu, accoruing to nranui, of globules.

Insists (1 r' 1 bom the body every four or five days) and the curium. 1i. 6 thp . co,1 densed cellular tissue, composed, according to Brandt, of

Pylcrinis, it shews the partitions into rings. It contains a number of globules

Uti

$ j . « ^

of t j VVlt * 1 a pigment, varying* in colour in different places, and which is thec *s as . 16 c °Lurs presented by the surface of the animal.

(Sr of S t t ,tCtl - that the predominant or base colour is, in part at least, owing to the{,'■(1. Zee j S0 '' * u which the animals are found. Dr. J. R. Johnson (Treat, on the* ast <niB l ' P* 42, 1816) says, “ Mr. Baker, a man of some intelligence, residing int| l,!l "titi e s T ^l ? n< ^ " h° f° r the last twenty years has been in the habit of collecting largef t a re |i | eebes for sale, informs ine that at the Black River, near Glastonbury,jpdislj c ac y, from the peat being of that colour ; at Cook’s Corner, they are of a‘uT. Ite,..?*’ ,r T U, . e ml P eat ; while at Auler Moor, where, from a deficiency of peat,b ^he Jj rate bie clay, they are yellow.”

Pc ° | iinrelf CU !' A ! 1 ^ YSTEM has he en elaborately described by Brandt, but can scarcely

'it,

6u] (i A ,re h e nded without the aid of dm6tllg] l * klngitudillnllv. :illd nblinliel

twings. The muscles of the trunk are arranged> an I ■ff’fodinally, and obliquely: of these, the circular fibres are the most ex-ihe longitudinal ones the most internal.