40 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



on the ftontal margin of the dorsal shield, by another in the gastrical 

 region, and by a third on the third joint of the antenna. It is probably 

 one of the Sergestidse, and an interesting annectant form. 



Annulata. 



Cocoons of Earthworm.* — K. Foot and E. C. Strobell find that 

 Allolobophora foctida forms cocoons apart from any copulatory process. 

 Ten were formed by one isolated worm. Earlier observations by the 

 authors related to cocoons formed during copulation. It is plain that 

 there are two methods. The paper includes some notes on the sperma- 

 thecas and the spermatophores. 



Nematoh.elminth.es . 



Intermediate Host of Filaria immitis.f — T. L. Bancroft makes a 

 preliminary communication on this large threadworm of the dog, where 

 the adult usually inhabits the right ventricle of the heart and the 

 pulmonary artery, while the young forms swim about in the blood in 

 large numbers. Cobbold taught that an intermediary host is necessary 

 to 'transmit the parasite from dog to dog, but efforts to find the inter- 

 mediate host have not been rewarded with definite results. 



Bancroft finds that the host is the " house mosquito " {Culex skusii 

 Giles), which is also the host of Filaria nocturna, and probably also of 

 the malarial parasite. 



The sexually mature worms {F. nocturna in man, F. immitis in dog) 

 produce embryos which swim in the blood ; the mosquito is infected with 

 these ; the embryos develop first in the Malpighian tubules and then in 

 the gut of the insect ; in about three weeks they are capable of entering 

 their final hosts if they get a chance ; if the infected mosquito bite man 

 or dog, the filarite pass in by the puncture and grow to sexual maturity, 

 which probably takes about a year. 



Vinegar Eel in Human Bladder.} — C. W. Stiles and W. A. Frank- 

 land record an extraordinary case in which Anguillula aceti was found 

 in the bladder of a young woman suffering from Bright's disease. The 

 occurrence of the parasites was abundant for 34 days, and the worms 

 throve in the urine for a couple of months. It seems likely that infection 

 occurred through the urethra as the result of vaginal douches with vinegar. 



Platyhelminth.es. 



Parasitic Worms as Aids in Zoogeographical Investigation^ — 

 H. von Ihering seeks to show that some very useful hints as to the 

 zoogeographical distribution of mammals and birds may be obtained 

 from a study of their helminth parasites. 



Mammals and birds, during their wanderings, are not freed from 

 their "worms," whose intermediate hosts are very widely distributed. 

 They gain new parasites as they wander, but they retain their older 

 guests. Thus, in South America, holarctic helminths are not found in 



* Biol. Bull., iii. (1902) pp. 206-13 (3 figs.). 



t Journ. R. Soc. N. S. Wales, xxxv. (1901, published 1902) pp. 41-6. 

 1 Bull. U.S. Department Agriculture, No. 35, 1902, pp. 35-10 (1 pi.). 

 § Zool. Anzeig., xxvi. (1902) pp. 42-51. 



