58 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Refractive Body of Spermatozoon in Ascaris canis. — A. C. Walton 

 (Proc, Amer. Acad. Arts and Sci., 1916, 52, 255-66, 2 pis.). The 

 " refractive body " of the spermatozoon is formed in the vas deferens 

 by a fusion of the " refringent vesicles " of the spermatocytic stages. 

 These "refringent vesicles" are formed from the cytoplasm of the 

 spermatocytes through the action of small extruded granules of karyo- 

 chromatin, the " karychondria " of Wildman. The " refractive body '* 

 in Ascaris canis takes no part in the fertilization of the egg other than 

 as a source of food supply to the spermatozoon between the time of 

 copulation and the time of " insemination " (surely an incorrect use of 

 the word, instead of fertilization). Plastochondria, the so-called mito- 

 chondria, which cluster round the nucleus of the spermatozoon, are not 

 plasma-bearers of hereditary factors. They are partly of plastosomal 

 and partly of karyochondrial origin, being formed in the " refringent 

 granules." J. A. T. 



Hew Nematode from a Baboon. — C. H. TuEADaoLD {Parasitologijy 

 1920, 12, 113-34, 2 pis.). A description of Loapapionis sp. n., occur- 

 ring in larval and adult conditions in subcutaneous tissues and some 

 other regions of Fapio cynocephalus from French Guinea. The inter- 

 mediate host is unknown. The larvae, unlike those of the human 

 parasite Loa loa, show no diurnal periodicity. Some adults show 

 bacterial disease. There is evidence of both traumatic and toxic action 

 on baboons. The ova and larvae are described, and a number of struc- 

 tural features are elucidated. The so-called excretory and genital cells 

 of the larvae, as described by Rodenwalt, are frequently not individualized 

 at all ; their outline, when present, may be double or incomplete ; no 

 chromatin or nucleus could be seen. Hanson's *' buccal apparatus ** 

 would seem to be nothing more than an optical illusion. J. A. T. 



Flatyhelminthes. 



Swiss Helminths.— 0. Fuhrmann (Revue Suisse Zoologie, 1919, 

 27, 353-76, 1 pi., 11 figs.). An account of Notocotylus seineti^^.n., 

 an interesting form from the caeca of Querquednla querquedida ; Davainea 

 urogalli (Modeer) ; D. tdraonensis sp. n. from Tetrao urogalli ; and 

 D.progloitina Dav., which is probably the same as B, varians. J. A. T.- 



Pigmentation of a Polyclad.— W. J. Crozier {Proc. Amer. Acad. 

 Arts and Sci., 1917, 52, 725-9, 1 pi.). In a Polyclad Turbellarian 

 belonging to the genus Pseudoceros, found in association with various 

 Tunicates, e.g. Ectinascidia, there is a parallel between the coloration of 

 the Turbellarian and that of the Tunicate. At least a good fraction of 

 the colour is due directly to the food in the alimentary canal ; and it 

 seems practically certain that the three colour varieties studied are 

 " physiological varieties " (or modificational forms) of one species, feed- 

 ing on different hosts. The readiness with which these Polyclads return 

 to their own particular kind of Tunicate is interesting. J. A. T. 



New Trematode from Little Brown Bat. — Ernest Carroll 

 Faust {Trans. Amer. Microc. Soc, 1919, 38, 209, 1 pi., 1 fig.). A new 



