Whilst engaged in the study of the life-histories of certain Nematode parasites of domestic animals, I have had the opportunity of examining the alimentary tracts of a number of sheep and lambs obtained from various localities in England during the last 12 months, and have thus been able to collect and identify a considerable number of the parasitic Nematodes which are found so abundantly in this situation.

During investigations at the Bussey Institution on the rôle played by certain dipterous larvae in experimentally induced myiasis, with the object if possible of clearing a little of the doubt with which so much of the question is shrouded, the need of good diagnostic characters for these larvae was brought forcibly to my attention.

In no part of India, perhaps, are ampler opportunities available for the study of tropical diseases than in the Presidency of Madras. This will be borne out by the fact that quite recently the interesting discovery was made in the Madras Veterinary College Hospital of the existence in these parts of two distinct parasites, causing the protozoal biliary fever among horses. I propose in the course of this article to chronicle the details of my observations with regard to this discovery, feeling sure that they will be read by all Veterinarians with interest, though they may probably arouse a feeling of melancholy among lovers of horse flesh. There is no disguising the fact, that through lack of facilities for prosecuting the study of tropical diseases in Madras the Veterinary Profession has been greatly handicapped. It is therefore with no little satisfaction that we hail the announcement made by Sir Harold Stuart, member of the Executive Council of the Government, at a recent public function in Madras, that at no distant date there would be a fully equipped School of Tropical Medicine in the City.

This investigation was commenced by one of us (J. A. I.) in 1910 and carried on for three and a half years. Our purpose was to determine as accurately as possible the percentage of appendices operated on for appendicitis which contained intestinal parasites. The results of a study of 100 unselected cases are given below.

Since the appearance of the papers by Hadwen and myself dealing with the subject of “Tick Paralysis”, I have had my attention drawn to two interesting papers. The reference to the first paper, by Borthwick (1905), was found whilst compiling Part II of the Bibliography of the Ixodoidea, and secondly, I am indebted to the author, Dr I. U. Temple, of Pendleton, Oregon, for sending me a copy of his valuable contribution. The latter appeared in a journal which will scarcely be accessible to European readers, and I therefore have no hesitation in reprinting the greater part of it below.

In a paper published with Warburton in 1909 (Parasitology, ii. 70–76, Figs. 17–26), I described and figured a number of abnormalities observed in ticks of which the most remarkable were two specimens, Boophilus decoloratus ♂ and Rhipicephalus sanguineus ♂ (Figs. 22, 25 and 26), showing two ani together with a duplication of the adanal shields; in the Rhipicephalus duplication was more pronounced in that a subcircular spiracle was present posteriorly in the median line; the Boophilus exhibited two caudal spines. The other specimens figured were Hyalomma aegyptium ♂ and Boophilus australis ♂ (Figs. 18 and 21) which showed underdeveloped adanal plates on the right side. All of these specimens were found attached to a host.

In Ticks (Part ii. p. 314) various cases are cited by me in which Ixodes in the larval, nymphal and adult stages have been found lodged beneath the skin of the host: Dubreuilh (1838), Van Beneden (1883) and Blanchard (1891) record cases in man where ticks were found either in a pustule or in cysts beneath the skin. In Blanchard's case a living I. ricinus (♀), 8 mm. in length, was excised from the patient, in whom it caused a subcutaneous tumour about the size of a nut which had appeared some weeks before. Mégnin (1867 and 1892) found (?) ricinus nymphs beneath the scabs covering pustules on the legs of a horse at Versailles. Kossel, Schütz, Weber and Miessner (1903) state that ricinus nymphs and larvae occasionally bore themselves beneath the skin of cattle.

Whilst engaged in rearing a number of bed-bugs, the variation recorded below was observed in an individual that had just moulted from the first to the second nymphal stage. As such an abnormality does not appear to have been previously described, it seemed worth while to place it on record.

In the course of an investigation into the tapeworms of poultry, I came across a minute form (Amoebotaenia sphenoides von Linstow) hitherto unrecorded from this country, and incompletely described from the few specimens examined by other workers. Its economic importance remains to be ascertained but, pending a complete experimental treatment of its life-history, I submit an account of its anatomy.

In these days of close research into the activities and the anatomy of various insects, it is surprising that the structure of the common, indeed almost ubiquitous, Bed Bug, Acanthia (Cimex) lectularia, has so long escaped the thorough investigation which is called for by the standards of modern science.