The status of the medicinal leech Hirudo medicinalis in Europe and especially in the British isles

In spite of reports to the contrary, an analysis of 206 recent records for the years 1952 to 1982 shows that the medicinal leech Hirudo medicinalis Linnaeus is still present at one or more localities in 23 European countries (Albania, Austria, Britain, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, German Democratic Republic, German Federal Republic, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Rumania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, USSR and Yugoslavia). Its status is uncertain in Belgium, Portugal and European Turkey. It has disappeared from some localities in Britain but has been recently recorded at several others. It never occurred naturally in Iceland. Ireland is the only European country in which it once occurred but is now absent.