474 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Contribution to Study of Parasitic Fauna of West of Scotland.* 

 John Ritchie, jun., has made a study of parasites found ^yithiJl a 

 radius of four miles around Beith in North Ayrshire. His list includes 

 Trichodina stein it, an epizoic Infusorian on Planar ia gonocephaJa ; larval 

 forms of Polymorplnis minutus encysted in Gammarus puJex ; the 

 Rotifer Embata {C'alUcUna) parasitica on the appendag^es of the same 

 Crustacean ; the Trematodes Bunodera tuciopercse and JStephanophiala 

 laureata from the intestine of the trout ; Echinorhijnchus truttae, 

 Acanthocephalus lucii, and Neorhyiichus rutili from the trout ; the 

 Cestode Schistocephalus f/asterostei in fifteen out of twenty sticklebacks 

 examined ; Gorgodera cygnoides and Folgstomum integerrimum from the 

 frog's bladder, Haplometra cylindracea from the lung, Pkurogenes 

 claviger and Opisthoglyphe rastellus from the large intestine ; Acantho- 

 cephalus ranse from the intestine of frog, toad, and newt ; the Trematode 

 Catatropis verrucosa from the caeca and adjoining part of the intestine 

 in the widgeon ; in the same bird Polgmorphus minutus, the Acantho- 

 cephalan whose larval stages were found in Gammarus p)uhx ; Taenia 

 Jilamentosa in the intestine of the mole. 



Incertee Sedis. 



Larvae of Lingula and Pelagodiscus.t— J. H. Ashworth describes 

 the larvfe of Lingula anatina and Pelagodiscus (Discinisca) atlanticus 

 collected from the pumped water on board ship on voyages to and from 

 Australia. The larvae of Lingula were obtained from the Red Sea and 

 Indian Ocean, and those of Pelagodiscus off Cape Comorin in the 

 Indian Ocean. 



The larvae of Lingula have transparent valves without calcareous 

 matter ; the posterior and neighbouring lateral margins of the valves 

 are yellowish brown, and in these regions the zone just within the 

 margin is a bright green colour ; the mantle margin is usually 

 brownish, especially posteriorly ; the basal half of the tentacle, 

 particularly on the dorsal side, and the distal portions of the cirri, are 

 yellowish brown ; there is yellow pigment at the postero-lateral margins 

 of the mouth ; the " liver "-lobes are lemon-yellow, and near their 

 periphery a small amount of brown pigment is present. 



The author describes larvre with 8-10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 or 15 

 pairs of cirri ; and compares them with those previously descril:)ed, and 

 with Brooks's larvas of Glottidia audeharti. The evidence available in 

 regard to the southern end of the Red Sea indicates that there is a 

 succession of spawnings extending at least over the period from the 

 beginning of March to the early part of September. 



The larvse of Polagodiscus showed chitinous transparent unequal 

 valves, connected only by muscles and the body-wall. The edges show 

 some yellowish brown colour. The mantle is for the most part colour- 

 less, but has a little yellowish brown pigment. Over most of its extent 



* Glasgow Naturalist, vii. (1916) pp. 33-42. 



t Trans. E. Soc. Edinburgh, li. (1915) pp. 45-69 (2 pis.). 



