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Leeches are characterized by the fact that they have no lateral appendages, but are furnished with a sucker or disc at one end or at both extremeties.

Leech

Leeches are characterized by the fact that they have no lateral appendages, but are furnished with a…

Leeches are characterized by the fact that they have no lateral appendages, but are furnished with a sucker or disc at one end or at both extremeties. This is the anterior extremity showing the sucker.

Leech

Leeches are characterized by the fact that they have no lateral appendages, but are furnished with a…

"The animals belonging to this order, of which the <em>Common Leech</em> is a familiar example, are characterized by the total deficiency of any lateral appendages, their motions being effected by undulations of the body while swimming, or by the alternate attachment of the sucking discs with which the two extremities of their bodies are usually furnished." &mdash; Goodrich, 1859

Leech

"The animals belonging to this order, of which the Common Leech is a familiar example, are…

A class of suctorial worms found in bodies of water, marshes, and other moist places. There are many species, most of which inhabit fresh-water ponds, but they are also found in marine waters.

Leech

A class of suctorial worms found in bodies of water, marshes, and other moist places. There are many…

The skate leech is a parasite on skates, rays, and sharks, and makes ugly wounds.

Skate Leech

The skate leech is a parasite on skates, rays, and sharks, and makes ugly wounds.

The medicinal leech is a leech used in bloodletting. It lives in fresh water, and is common in Germany, Bohemia, and Russia. Its diet consists of the blood of vertebrates, to which the leech attaches itself by its suckers. Of these, one is posterior and imperforate, the other anterior, with the mouth in the center. Within the mouth lie three triangular tooth-plates, by means of which a small triradiate incision is made in the skin of the animal attacked. This done, the leech proceeds to fill its crop, which extends almost from end to end of the body, and has eleven lateral pockets. When these have become distended with blood, the leech drops from its temporary host, and the slow process of digestion begins. Leeches usually move by attaching alternately the anterior and posterior suckers, somewhat after the fashion of a 'looping caterpillar', but they can also swim by movements of the whole body. The eggs are laid in cocoons in damp earth.

Medicinal Leech

The medicinal leech is a leech used in bloodletting. It lives in fresh water, and is common in Germany,…