52 SUMMARY OF CUHRENT llESEARCIIES RELATING TO 



European Clinostomum.* — Joan Ciurea reports the occurrence of 

 larvae of Clinostomum compJanatum Rud. in perch taken from fish-ponds 

 of the lower Danube. The adult Trematodes are known in the mouth- 

 cavity, pharynx, and gullet of water-birds, such as herons, in Europe, 

 but the larvte have not been hitherto found except in America. It can 

 now be said that the adult Trematode found in Ardea cinerea has its 

 larval stages in Percafluviattlis. 



Excretory Apparatus of Cercariae. f — R. Dollfus describes the 

 excretory system, which he calls nephridial, in Cercaria pectlnata (allied 

 to Steringoporus) and in Gi/mnophaUiis somaterise, both found parasitic 

 in Donax vittatus. A large canal gives off fine canals, which divide into 

 two, each ending in a terminal dilatation. This dilatation is an 

 elongated funnel, capped by a kidney-shaped cell with a big nucleus, 

 and with a bunch of cilia (the " vibratile flame ") projecting into the 

 canal. The author finds that there is no anastomosis among the canals, 

 and that there is no direct communication between the cavity of the 

 funnel and the parenchyma. 



Source of Human Liver-fluke in Japan. | — H. Kobayashi has studied 

 the life-history of Clonorchis endemicus (Balz), = Distomum spathulatum 

 Leuckart. He found cysts in various fishes, and when kittens were fed 

 with the flesh they became infected with the flukes. Some infected 

 flesh of Pseiulorashora parva was forced down the gullet of several guinea- 

 pigs and rabbits, and after several days their liver was found to be infested 

 by many distomes of the identical kind. 



The encysted fish distome is found in the whole muscle and sub- 

 cutaneous tissues of the host. The cysts are commonest in Leucogohio 

 guntheri and Pseudornshoraparva, but seven other hosts are noted. It is 

 very probable that the fishes are only the secondary intermediate hosts. 

 Their mode of infection must be investigated. The species in question 

 may be distinguished from others that occur in the liver of the cat by the 

 absence of spines on the surface of the adult, by the ramification of the 

 testes, and by the continuous vitellaria. 



North American Turbellaria.§ — L. von Graff points out that in 1906 

 there were known, from the United States, only two certain and two un- 

 certain species of Acoela (out of a total of 43), only 22 certain and 9 

 uncertain species of Rhabdocoela (out of a total of 323), and only three 

 uncertain species of Alloeocoila (out of a total of 77). He set himself in 

 1907 to remedy this obviously defective knowledge, and he now deals with 

 a large number of American species, many of which are new to science, in- 

 cluding the new genera Anaperus, ChiJdia, WoodslioUa, Euxinia, and 

 Myrmeciplana. 



Triclads from Central Asia.|l — H. H. Seidl describes four new 

 species of Sorocelis from Issyk-Kul and Balchasch, in Central x\sia. The 



* Centralbl. Bakt. Parasitenk., Ix. (1911) pp. 354-8 (1 pi.). 



t C.R. Soc. Biol., Ixxi. (I'Jll) pp. 422-5 (4 figs.) 



j Annot. Zool. Japon., vii. (1911) pp. 271-7 (1 j)!.). 



§ Zeitschr. wiss. Zool., xcix. (1911) pp. 1-108 (6 pis. and 6 figs.). 



II Zeitschr. wiss. Zool., xlviii. (1911) pp. 31-67 (3 pis.). 



