An automatic method for recording the emergence of cercariae of Schistosoma mansoni from the snail Biomphalaria glabrata.

In order to study the pattern of emergence of trematode larvae from the snail hosts (S. mansoni from B. glabrata) an automatic apparatus was developed. This apparatus allows the snails, each suspended by a thread, to be transported at intervals of at least half an hour into different beakers into which the cercariae are shed. This "eclosion clock" is essentially a carriage driven on perlon wheels along steel bars.