THE KANSAS UNIVERSITY 

 SCIENCE BULLETIN. 



Vol. VII, No. 4] JANUARY, 1913. l^'^^")^ ^^'"^^ 



XVII, f<0 4 



SOME TREMATODES OF KANSAS SNAKES. 



BY H. E. CROW. 



Plate XIX. 



(Contribution from the Zoological Laboratory, No. 203.) 



Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. 



INTRODUCTION. 



DURING the summer of 1911, as a member of the State 

 Biological Survey, I had the opportunity of examining 

 a large number of snakes, frogs, turtles, fish, etc., for parasitic 

 worms. All of the forms were more or less infested, so quite 

 a number of worms were procured. Some of these have been 

 studied with the object of determining the distinctive charac- 

 teristics and the placing of them in their respective systematic 

 position. Lack of time has prevented the presentation of 

 more than three species in this paper. All three worms were 

 found in snakes, and are new to science. 



The worms were placed directly into 70 per cent alcohol. 

 This causes a very slight shrinkage, but they stain well in any 

 stain and clear perfectly. Borax carmine was used with best 

 results in staining both whole mounts and sections. Hsema- 

 lum, picrocarmine and Wright's blood stain were also used 

 with varying results. Specimens mounted in glycerine 

 showed the various ducts Very distinctly. 



These worms diff'er in some respects, but they are so closely 

 related that there can be no doubt they belong to the same 

 genus. While they all differ in some minor points from the 

 type specimen, they surely belong to the genus Renifer, char- 

 acterized by Pratt as follows : 



Small distomes, with body more or less elliptical and covered with 

 minute spines or scales. Mouth subterminal; acetabulum somewhat 



Received for publication September 23, 1912. 



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