308 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



only. The eggs of A. lumhricoides were found to develop in fgeces 

 of man and pig freely exposed to air. No development was observed 

 in contaminated water, but some may develop in tap-water. Develop- 

 ment also occurs on the surface of moist clayey earth. The author 

 doubts v.'hether the importance of human Ascariasis is sufficiently 

 recognized. J. A. T. 



Acanthocephala of North American Birds.— H. J. Van Cleave 

 {Trans. Amer. Micr. Soc, 191<s, 37, 19-47, 5 pis.) deals with new 

 species of Gorynosoma, Plagiorhynchus, and Folymorphus, and with 

 a number of systematic points. A key is given to all described 

 species of Acanthocephala from North American birds. Among North 

 American birds the occurrence of two different species within the same 

 host-individual has not been recorded. There is no positive case on 

 record of the occurrence of two different genera of Acanthocephala withia 

 the same species of North American bird. J. A. T. 



Platyhelminthes. 



Trematode Larva from Buccinum undatum. — Marie Y. Lebour 

 {Journ. Marine Biol. Assoc, 1918, 11, 514-8, 7 figs.) describes from the 

 digestive gland of this Gastropod a sporocyst and cercaria which are 

 almost certainly stages of Zoogo7ius viviparus (Olsson). The life-history 

 of this species, common in the intestine of fishes, is so far unknown. 

 From the structure of the cercaria (a Cotylocercous type), which is able 

 to use the posterior end of its body as a sucker-hke organ, it is probable 

 that the intermediate host is an actively swimming animal, as in all 

 probability the sucker is used by the cercaria for fixing the hind end of 

 its body whilst the free part waves about in order to catch a host. The 

 stylet on the head and its glands opening beside it show that the cercaria 

 bores into its host. Notes are made on a number of immature and 

 adult Trematodes found in young fishes. J. A. T. 



Life-history of Distoma luteum sp. n. — J. D. F. Gilchrist 

 {Parasitology, 1918, 10, 311-9) found in Fhysa tropica, in S. Africa, 

 the redige and cercarise of Distoma luteum sp. n., which he found as an 

 adult in the alimentary canal of frogs. Several other Trematode stages 

 were found, but the S. African host of the liver-fluke remains uncertain, 

 Limnsea trimcatula being at the most very rare. A description is 

 given of the eggs, redige, cercarise, cysts, and adults of D. luteum. 



J. A. T. 



Trematodes of Queensland Reptiles and Frogs. — W. Nicoll 

 {Parasitology, 1918, 10, 368-74, 1 pi.) describes Brachysaccus juvenilis 

 sp. n., from the intestine of burrowing frogs {Chiroleptes hrevipalmatiis) ; 

 Sigmapera cincta n. g. et sp. n. from fresh- water turtles {Emydura latis- 

 ternuni) — a minute form, hardly over 1 mm. in length, with a character- 

 istic Y-shaped excretory vesicle ; Lecithochirium dillanei sp. n., from a 

 sea-snake ; and some other forms. J. A. T. 



