Dr. Kassai Tibor - Dr. Murai Éva szerk.: Parasitologia Hungarica 9. (Budapest, 1976)
in species identification due to their great variability. From the figures and descriptions given by several authors (JAGERSKIÖLD, 1898; CIUREA, 1933; MOROZOW, 1952; YOSHIMURA, 1965; KAMIYA et al. 1975) even the shape of the body does not seem to be a reliable feature. Therefore the distinction of these two species can be based solely upon the measurements of the eggs. Fig. 1: Cryptocotyle jejunum (Nicoll, 1907) - ventral view. Fig. 2: Cryptocotyle jejunum (Nicoll, 1907) - dorsal view. C. jejunum usually lives in the intestine of fish-eating birds, but it occurs also in carnivores and in fish-eating rodents (Ondatra). The recovery of this species in a dog in Hungary raises the question of the origin of the infection, being the first intermediate host of this parasite a marine snail, and the second one a marine fish species (Gobius melanostomus) (ROTSCHILD, 1938; CIUREA, 1933). Similarly, marine snails and marine fish species are known to be the intermediate hosts of the two other species of the genus Cryptocotyle , i.e. C. concavum and C. lingua (STUNKARD, 1931). Definitive hosts are infected by ingesting the metacercariae living in the skin of the fishes. The dog which harboured the C. jejunum specimens of the present study was originated from a region of Hungary where marine fishes (from the Black Sea) were apparently nonaccessible. It is therefore presumed that the dog become infected either through a fresh-water fish or by the ingestion of, a bird harbouring adult specimens of C. jejunum .
