During the past two or three years the writer has had an opportunity of making observations on certain plants which are new hosts of the stem eelworm, Anguillulina dipsaci. In the present paper four such plants are dealt with, three of which are cultivated garden plants and one a common weed. Of the garden plants, one is a useful food plant, namely the parsnip (Pastinaca sativa L.) and the other two are Primulas, namely Primula pulverulenta Duthie and P. polyantha Mill, (polyanthus primrose). The weed is swine-cress or wart-cress (Coronopus Ruellii All., syn. Senebeira Coronopus Poir.)

The material listed here was obtained by Dr. W. K. Blackie and Mr. W. A. McDonald during a helminthological expedition from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to Southern Rhodesia in 1930–31. The writer is indebted to Professor R. T. Leiper for the privilege of examining and reporting on this collection of parasites. The domestic animals in question are sheep, goat, pig and cattle and although they appear to have produced no forms new to science, it is believed that the publication of this collection, inasmuch as it appears to be the only one of its kind from Southern Rhodesia, is a contribution to our knowledge of an important parasitic group.

Looss created the genus Philophthalmus in 1899 for flukes infesting the eyes of birds. Twelve species of trematodes have been recorded from the eyes of avian hosts in different parts of the world, but hitherto none has been described from India. The following account deals with the description of two new species of Philophthalmus which were recovered from birds of prey in Hyderabad.

The cyst wall of Microphallus madrasensis resisted 6 N and 11·3 N hydrochloric acids (HCL) 36 N concentrated sulphuric acid (H2S04) and 0·35 M sodium hypochlorite. It was partially dissolved in 0·6 M sodium azide and completely dissolved in 16 N nitric acid (HNO3). An HCl hydrolysate of the cyst wall contained 10 amino acids viz. alanine, leucine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, lysine, histidine. phenylalanine. tyrosine. cystine and proline. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed the presence of a fast moving fraction which stained with periodic acid-Schiffs (PAS) reagent and toluidine blue was noticed in tris-glycine buffer soluble and methanol water soluble substances present in the cyst wall. Triton X-100 soluble substances present in the cyst wall revealed the presence of two slow-moving fractions stained only with PAS, and also a fast-moving fraction stained only with toluidine blue. Sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) soluble substances in the cyst wall revealed the presence of two fast-moving fractions which stained with PAS and toluidine blue. The slow-moving fractions are protein-bound carbohydrates. The fast-moving fractions obtained after fractionation with SDS are acid mucopolysaccharides or nucleoproteins whereas the single fraction (Triton X-100 soluble substances) which stained with toluidine blue appears to be a carbohydrate-free protein. The cyst wall of M. madrasensis also consisted of phospholipids and neutral lipids.

In February, 1958, Dr. Paulian, of Paris, asked the senior author to study his collection of free-living marine Nematodes, collected at Kerguelen Island. The visit of the junior author enabled us to study this material in collaboration; this was the more interesting since she had already made extensive studies of free-living marine Nematodes of the antarctic region (dredged from between 150° E to 40° E by the British Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition). Moreover, we had access to the recent monograph of Wieser (1958) on the Enoploidea of Chile.

The planorbid snail Helicorbis coenosus (Benson) has been found experimentally to serve as the intermediate host of Gastrodiscoides hominis.

The cercaria of G. hominis is described. It is characterized by the presence of a pair of well-developed oral pouches, an alimentary tract having an oesophagus with a muscular bulb and two simple intestinal caeca, an excretory system with a cross-connection between the two main trunks and a reproductive system represented by rudimentary cell groups arranged in a manner similar to that found in the adult fluke.

Scheloribates laevigatus (Koch, 1836) and Scliehribates fimbriatiis (Thor, 1930), predominant species of oribatids in soil of Bombay region, were experimentally exposed to infection by uniform suspensions of eggs of Moniezia expansa and M. benedeni. The percentages of mites infected and the average number of cysticercoids developing were observed in 12 sets of experiments. The mites were more readily infected with eggs of M. expansa than with those of M. benedeni. S. laevigatus were infected with M. expansa and Jess with M. benedeni than S.fimbriatus.

This communication reports incidental observations on Toxascaris leonina infections in a beagle breeding colony. Regular faecal monitoring demonstrated that T. leonina was endemic in the adult dam population within this colony. Small numbers of T. leonina eggs were also detected in the faeces of weaned pups from eight weeks of age possibly produced by a patent infection. This would mean a pre-patent period for T. leonina of 56 days or less. Worm counts on 10 pups showed that 60% of pups had acquired a T. leonina infection by 12 weeks of age. Since prenatal and lactogenic transmission do not occur and as the pups were kept in an environment which reduced chances of infection with T. leonina and there was no apparent source of paratenic hosts, the source of infection must have been embryonated T. leonina eggs from the whelping environment. These observations on T. leonina demonstrate that, if pups are exposed to an infected environment, patent infections may be seen in a younger age group than is normally associated with T. leonina infections.

Echinostoma revolutum eggs recovered from naturally infected wild Canada geese (Branta canadensis) were cold stored (4–6°C) for up to 72 weeks. Successful hatching followed incubation for from 6 to 8 days at an optimum temperature of between 25 and 30°C. A partial life cycle from adult worm to metacercarial encystment in Lymnaea tomentosa snails was completed in the laboratory. Snails were infected both by free miracidia and by ingestment of unhatched embryonated eggs. Infection was equally successful in environmental temperature ranges from 10 to 25°C, and at challenge levels of 2, 5 or 10 embryonated eggs per snail. Exposure to 10 eggs was lethal. Ingestion by snails of embryonated eggs with successful infection at 10°C suggests that embryonated eggs may be used to infect wild snails when the environmental water temperature has reached 10°C.

Bigalkenema curvispiculum sp. nov. is described from specimens collected from the abomasa of Aepyceros melampus, Damaliscus korrigum, Connochaetes taurinus, Gazella granti and G. thomsonii in Serengeti, Tanzania and Gazella thomsonii in Kenya. It differs from the other species of the genus in the shape and appearance of the spicules, their distinct branching, and the inward curving of the two main divisions of the dorsal ray.

The female of Kobusinema banagiense is redescribed and this species is reported for the first time from Alcelaphns bnselaphus jacksoni in Uganda.

Physaloptera bispiculata (Nematoda: Spiruroidaea) is a parasite of Nectomys squamipes (Rodentia: Cricetidae), a water rat that only occurs in Brazil. Naturally infected rodents were captured in the municipality of Rio Bonito, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Adult P. bispiculata worms were collected, prepared and analysed by light and scanning electron microscopy. Under scanning electron microscopy, several eggs were seen glued by cement to the cloacal aperture. Light microscopy revealed that some male worms had an uncountable number of embryonated eggs in the ejaculatory duct, cloaca and also in the posterior portion of the intestine. The probable explanation is that the eggs developing in the female uterus are pumped by the female or sucked by the male to the cloacal opening and from this point to the intestine and ejaculatory duct. The male probably does not have the ability to expel the eggs and for this reason a large number were found in these organs. On the other hand, this could be an important adaptation for the parasite, i.e. male worms expelled by the host can carry a large number of eggs and spread them to intermediate hosts when ingested by these hosts. As far as we know this is the first record of a physalopterid nematode harbouring eggs in the cloacal region, ejaculatory duct or intestine.

The physiological responses of well-nourished rats to primary infection with the intestinal nematode Nippostrongylus brasiliensis were examined. Infected rats fed ad libitum were compared with uninfected control rats fed ad lib. and also with uninfected rats which were pair-fed to the infected rats. Following infection with N. brasiliensis rat food intake was reduced from day 2 post infection (pi) and there were two periods of minimal food intake (day 2 to 3 and 8 to 9 pi). The water intake of infected rats was only reduced on days 2, 3 and 9 pi and not to the same extent as food intake. Muscle catabolism in infected rats was more severe than could be explained on the basis of their food intake reduction. The rectal temperature and rate of oxygen consumption per g body-weight of rats was not significantly altered by the infection. Host responses to N. brasiliensis are compared with those seen in microbial infections and some of them are found to be considerably different.

A number of male and female specimens were available for study. They were collected by my colleague Mr. J. McClelland who very kindly made them available for study.

Description: The worm is very small with the largest diameter at the cephalic end and tapers down posteriorly and rather markedly so in the female worm (Fig. 4). The cuticle has fine striations. The bivalve buccal capsule has a number of longitudinal ridges of varying lengths. The number of these ridges are different for the male and female. The head is slightly tilted ventrad. There is a pair of tridents. The ventral trident is small and indistinctly branched. The dorsal trident is large and clearly trifid. The posterior part of the buccal capsule ends in six small projections (Fig. 1).

The blue mussel Mytilus edulis is described as second intermediate host for Echinostephilla patellae from the common limpet Patella vulgata. Mussels were infected with metacercariae of E. patellae under laboratory conditions. Average infection rates increased with increasing temperature, whereas numbers of cercariae, to which individual mussels were exposed, had no effect on relative infection success. The round to slightly oval metacercariae with an average cyst diameter of 208 μm (range 186–243 μm) encysted exclusively in the foot tissue of M. edulis. Morphologically similar metacercariae were found in naturally infected mussels at sites where parasitized P. vulgata and M. edulis are sympatric. This is the first report of E. patellae in blue mussels. The detection of M. edulis being a second intermediate host is of particular interest with regard to the abundance of the parasite and host organisms in intertidal rocky shore ecosystems. The potential role of the common limpet P. vulgata as an alternative secondary host is discussed.

In April 1934 Mr. W. E. H. Hodson, Advisory Entomologist, Reading University, sent the writer a portion of narcissus bulb exhibiting disease symptoms. The bulb was a trumpet daffodil, of the variety “Sir Watkin,” from a stock which had been growing in the Isles of Scilly for 40 years or more and had probably never been hot-water treated. It contained a number of nematodes belonging to the genus Aphelenchoides which differed in certain anatomical features from other members of this genus. Good specimens of the worm were not very numerous or favourable for detailed investigation but some measurements and drawings were made at the time and it was hoped that at a later date further and better supplies of the organism would become available. In July 1934 the same species of nematode was found in a portion of diseased narcissus bulb sent to the writer by Mr. L. N. Staniland, Advisory Entomologist, Seale-Hayne Agricultural College, Newton Abbot, when the same peculiarities of structure and appearance were again noted and found to be constant.

Worm egg counts have shown that after the end of June infestations of pathogenic significance occur in a considerable percentage of Scottish hill lambs. On the West Coast, however, heavy infestations do not occur until August, when the egg counts in other areas are rising again after falling for a few weeks in July.

Identification of larvae from faeces cultures confirm that Ostertagia spp. are the first cause of high worm egg counts, followed in August by Trichostrongylus spp., then by H. contortus and C. ovina, and finally by B. trigonocephalum. Nematodirus spp. may be sufficiently numerous in a few districts to be of pathogenic importance in June and July.

The hermaphroditic Trematodes from the blood vessels of the turtles are included under the Family Spirorcbidae and represent several genera differing from each other in several features, including the general topography of the genital organs. It originally contained only two genera—Spirorchis and Hapalotrema, differing from each other in the number of suckers, the relative position of the genital glands and the number of testes. Owing to these unique differences between them they were referred by Stunkard (1921) to two subfamilies—Spirorchinae and Hapalotreminae. The work prior to 1923 is summed up by Stunkard (1923) in a brilliant memoir, where, besides describing two new genera, one under each of the two subfamilies, from North American turtles, he has clearly elucidated some important points of systematic nature. Subsequently, the same author has considerably added to our knowledge of the group in several memoirs mentioned in the list of references at the end of the present communication.

Six species of strigeoid trematodes are reported from Malaysia. One new genus and 3 new species are described: Apatemon (Apatemon) jamesi sp. n. (Strigeidae); cercaria Cotylurus sullivani sp. n. (Strigeidae); Neodiplostomum (Neodiplostomum) sp. (Diplostomatidae); Fibricola ramachandrani (Diplostomatidae); Pseudoscolopacitrema otteri gen. n. et sp. n. (Diplostomatidae); and cercaria Cyathocotyle malayi sp. n. (Cyathocotylidae). The life cycles of A. jamesi and C. malayi have also been investigated.

Parasites represent a great, unknown component of animal biodiversity. Recent efforts have begun to uncover patterns of infection by helminth parasites in several Neotropical lizards. The present study reports, for the first time, levels of helminth infection in a population of the flat lizard Tropidurus semitaeniatus. One hundred and thirty-nine lizards were examined and evidence of five intestinal helminth species was found, comprising four species of nematodes, one species of cestode and an unidentified encysted larval nematode. The most frequently occurring species was the intestinal nematode Parapharyngodon alvarengai, which did not exhibit differences in prevalence and intensity of infection relative to host sex or age/body size. Furthermore, helminth species richness was not related to host body size.

The migration and distribution of Ancylostoma caninum larvae in the tissues of chickens, infected orally with 1,000 larvae, were studied. Larval yield at necropsy from different organs after digestion with artificial gastric juice revealed a 62·9% recovery four hours after inoculation, followed by a sharp decline to 5·4% at 72 hours. Larvae were found in the heart within four hours, the lungs within eight hours and the liver within 12 to 18 hours but no larvae were recovered from the spleen, kidney or brain. Migration in the muscles of head, neck, thorax and abdomen was detected at 12 hours and was maximal at 36 hours. The establishment of patent infection in the definitive host was studied by feeding infected chicks to hookworm-free pups (one chick/pup) 48 hours, 7 days and 14 days after infection. The mean worm burden at necropsy was highest (15) in the pups fed with chicks 48 hours after infection and was three and nil in the other groups respectively.