Summary
1. The sites occupied by adult helminths in the alimentary tracts of vertebrates, the events leading to the establishment of the helminths in these sites and some of the factors involved in extensions or changes of site have been described and discussed in an attempt to summarize the present state of knowledge and stimulate more research into the ecology of helminths in the tract.
2. In an attempt to reduce confusion and ambiguity in the future literature on the ecology of helminths, definitions have been proposed for the terms site, emigration and migration.
3. Since it has been assumed that the distribution and survival of some species of helminth in the tract are related to phases of digestive activity or inactivity, the morphology, histology and physiology of the alimentary tract of vertebrates have been considered with emphasis on events and features which appear to be of significance to helminths.
4. Many phases of a helminth's association with its host appear to be related to the host's intestinal motility.
5. Digestion in vertebrates is considered to be an ordered sequence of events producing different conditions in different parts of the tract. These conditions, however, are not entirely predictable; digestion is affected by the nature of the diet, the feeding routine and the psychosomatic state of the animal in question.
6. An accurate description of a helminth's site is fundamental to our understanding of its ecology. The description should include information about (I) the helminth's linear distribution, (2) the helminth's radial distribution, (3) the length of time which passed between the death of the host and finding the parasites, (4) the time of day when the search was made, (5) the stage of digestion in progress on the death of the host, (6) the season of the year when the parasites were observed, (7) the parasite's reproductive state and (8) the worm burden and the other species of parasite present in the host's alimentary tract.
7. Special care must be taken when describing the site of a cestode because of the nature of the strobila and the degrees of independent existence shown by the proglot‐tids of certain species.
8. The distribution of sites occupied by the adults of 252 species of helminth in the alimentary tract of vertebrates is given in Tables 2–6, and some sites are illustrated diagrammatically in Figs. 36–57. The sites given in the tables should be accepted with caution, for not all the authors recognized the need for information of the type proposed in paragraph 6 above.
9. The adult stages of most species of Acanthocephala and of most species of Cestoda are confined to the lumen and paramucosal lumen of the small intestines of their hosts. Their mode of feeding and dependence on their hosts' digestive processes fit in with their observed distribution. Acanthocephalans and cestodes are likely to be competitors because their restriction to the small intestine and their feeding behaviour suggest that they may have similar ecological niches.
10. The adult stages of Nematoda ca...