/4 SUMMARY OF CURllENT RESEARCHKS RKLATING TO 



])Ositiun of the post-cervica! papillae, the position of the excretory pore, 

 the structure of the ovijector, the shape of the ova, the disposition of 

 the genital papillae) is with the Acuardise, near Physaloptera. 



Nematodes from Gill-chambers of Land-crabs.*— H. A. Baylis 

 describes two minute Nematodes- — Monhy>itera /vilsoni sp. n. (from 

 GecarcinuH rurieola) and M. carcinkola (from the same crab and from 

 Gardisoma guanhvmi). The worms belong to a genus the species of 

 which are commonly found free in earth or in fresh-water. Both the 

 forms, as found in the crabs, appear to be either hermaphrodite or par- 

 thenogenetic, and at first sight seem to be all females. They are evidently 

 not specially adapted for a " parasitic " mode of life, inasmuch as the 

 number of young produced by one female is comparatively small, and 

 these young are apparently hatched from tbe egg before birth. 



Worm Nodules in Australian Cattle. f— J. F. McEachran and 

 Gerald F. Hill have studied the occurrence of Onchocerca yihsoni in the 

 northern territory of Australia. Local cattle may become infected a 

 few months after birth. Well-de\eloped nodules may be found in 

 calves. Cattle from Victoria, where worm nodules are rarely, if ever, 

 present, may become infected witliin six months if they graze with 

 infected cattle. Some housed calves to which biting and flying insects 

 had ready access, and whicli were not far removed from infected cows, 

 were not affected during seven to eight months' exposure. This suggests 

 that the intermediary host is not a biting or flying insect. Ordinary 

 skin parasites which do not travel far, e.g. the buffalo louse, Haemato- 

 pinus tuierculatus, may also be excluded. The pens of the calves were 

 floored with concrete, and the calves had no chance of lying on or near 

 the ground where infected cows had previously lain. This is taken to 

 indicate that part of the life-history of the parasite (in an intermediary 

 host) is spent on the ground. The authors cannot accept tlie suggestion 

 of Cleland that Slomoxys calcitrans and Culicelsa vigilax act as inter- 

 mediary hosts. 



Onchocerciasis outside Australia. |—Georgina Sweet has investi- 

 gated the occurrence of species of Onchocerca and allied worms in cattle 

 and related animals in many countries. A new species, 0. indica, is 

 described from Indian cattle. It overlaps in some respects 0. yibsofii 

 and 0. yutturosa, but differs in the association in the male worm of a 

 certain range of length of the larger spicule, intermediate between those 

 two species, with a greater number of differently arranged anal papillge 

 than is found in either of them. It differs from 0. gibsoni further in 

 the thicker head of the male, the thinner head and tail of the female, 

 and the generally longer oesophagus in both. 



The limitations of these species appear to be geographical rather 

 than otherwise, thus 0. yutturosa is characteristic of Northern Africa, 

 presuma]:»ly in Bos taunts ; 0. indica is found in />. indicus in the 



* Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., xvi. (1915) pp. 414-21 (5 figs.). 



+ Published by the Commonwealth of Australia. 8 pp., no date (received 

 October, 1915). 



X Published by the Commonwealth of Australia. 63 pp. (i2 figs), no date 

 (received October, 1915). 



