A PLEA FOR VERMIAN PAR.VSITOLOGICAL RE- 

 SEARCH, WITH REFERENCE TO SOUTH AFRICAN 

 DOMESTIC AND NATIVE ANIMALS. 



By CoERT Smit Grobbelaar, M.A. 



One of the main objects of this paper is to draw attention 

 to our ignorance of the nature and Hfe-histories of the numerous 

 parasitic worms of South Africa, in the hope that I may enhst 

 sym])athetic co-operation with respect to the collection of ma- 

 terial that will serve as a basis for systematic investigation. 

 One engaged in University teaching labours under great difficul- 

 ties owing to the inaccessibility to most of the representatives of 

 these vermian parasites ; and. as I have for some time past 

 taken a special interest in the Flatworm parasites, more par- 

 ticularly the Trematodes, I am anxious to get all the assistance 

 possible. Many of the forms are definitely known to be of great 

 economic importance, and possibly many unknown forms are 

 equally important. There is, therefore, a necessity for a com- 

 plete survey of the South African forms, not merely in domes- 

 ticated but also in all our native animals. 



Naturally such a general investigation must, as has been the 

 case in the past, be carried out within the walls of a University 

 or University College, since purely Governmental institutions 

 are merely called upon to investigate the cause of some wide- 

 spread or disastrous epidemic, and hence, the broad scientific 

 l>urview of the group remains untouched. Further, it is to the 

 Uni\ersity that w^e must look for stich comprehensive inves- 

 tigations, and, in turn, the University investigator with limited 

 time at his disposal for research work mtist look to otitside 

 scientific men for help in collecting. Our purely Governmental 

 institutions — and here I have more particularly in mind our 

 Agricultural Colleges — have with respect to vermian jjarasito- 

 logy to the present day confined themselves, and will in all pro- 

 bability in future confine themselves, to the instruction and circu- 

 lation only of such work as has been done by the University 

 scientific investigator. 



At this stage of the educational life of South .\frica we 

 are about to emerge on University lines, and have every reason 

 to believe that more attention will be paid in the training of 

 students to original work, especially in their later years. We 

 may, therefore, reasonably hope to have within the various Uni- 

 versities a band of young workers who can do much towards elu- 

 cidating manv problems amongst which j^arasitism should rank 

 foremost in importance. 



At the present day the number of known forms is very 

 limited. Among Trematodes and Cestrodes the only recorded 

 forms are : — 



nistomiini laiiccolatitni. Bilharzia hcrmaiohia, Tcciiia solium, 

 T. saginata, T. cxpansa. T. ciDiurtis. T. echlnococciis, T. 



ca)inium.* 



Taken from Gilchrist's " South African Zoology. 



