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Leech (Any individual)

any individual of the suctorial order Hirudinea, of which the best known examples are the horseleech and the medicinal lech, under which name two species are commonly employed: H. medicinalis, chiefly imported from Germany, Bohemia, and Russia; and the Hungarian leech (H. officinalis). Greenish-olive to dark green. The body is composed of from 90 to 100 rings, and furnished with a discal and caudal sucker. The anterior sucker is small, the mouth furnished with three semicircular toothed jaws meeting in a point. They are not fit for medical purposes before the age of 12 or 18 months. They inhabit pools and marshy places; and in the S. of France they are bred in large marshes chiefly for the continental market. Leeches are employed for the local extraction of blood.