In this lab and all the labs to follow, there will be slides for you to examine. "But why," you wonder, "should I look at slides when I can just find pictures of these organisms on the internet?" I'll let you in on a parasitology secret: photographs do not capture all of the nuance, detail, and beauty of the parasites. Photographs are one-dimensional, but parasites are three-dimensional; that is to say, photographs can only bring a single plane into focus, but because parasites are 3D, there are many other planes where interesting stuff is going on. When you focus on a microscope slide, you can bring the deepest plane into focus, and then the next deepest, and so on to the shallowest plane, and in that way, what you see (and what you draw) is better than a photograph.

You are welcome to take photos of what you see in lab if it helps you learn, understand, and remember. But I require all students to draw, draw, draw because it is the best way to truly see the parasites. There is something about the act of your hand making a drawing that lets your eye see more than it otherwise would. Try it for yourself and you'll notice things that you've never seen before!

Slides to examine:

Eggs
Miracidiae
Sporocysts
Rediae (note pharynx and short gut)
Cercariae
Metacercariae
Adult of Platynosoumum fastosum, Dicrocoelium dendriticum (incorrectly labeled as D. lanceatum), Clonorchis sinensis, Heterophyes heterophyes, or Gastrothylax elongatus