Studies on the lymph system of digenetic trematodes

Abstract

A survey is made of the literature pertaining to lymph systems of the various groups of trematodes in which they occur, together with descriptions of the lymph systems in several forms not previously studied. The author reports the presence of a lymph system in two families, Cyclocoelidae and Heronimidae, which heretofore were considered to be without such organs, and the significance of this characteristic feature of certain trematodes is discussed as bearing on the problem of the evolution of monostomes, amphistomes, and other distomes. The gross morphology and the histology of the structural units of the system are described for Paramphistomum stunkardi, an amphistome from a fish, and for Diplodiscus temporatus, an amphistome from an amphibian, together with observations on the ramifications and structural components of the system in Cotylophoron cotylophorum. Various theoretical considerations concerning the development, function, and taxonomic and phylogenetic significance are treated on the basis of the morphology of the system and its resemblance to certain components of the vascular system of higher forms. The lymph system in trematodes is the natural starting‐point in any study of the phylogenetic development of vascular systems.