( = E. europaea) and is indicated also fronn Chelonia mydas (L, ) and Caretta 

 caretta (L,. ). The indications to the two last species are clearly erroneous, 

 although they are repeated with persistence in all subsequent references 

 (Sproston, 1946, page352 ). Thus, in 1822, under the name of Polystoma 

 mydae some sort of a worm was described (without drawings) from the 

 nasal cavity of Halichelis atra =? Caretta caretta and (or) ? Chelonia mydas , 

 Kuhl and Hasselt 1822. This species was made synonymous with P. 

 ocellatus by Diesing (Diesing, 1850) without any basis. Apparently P. mydae , 

 which was not described until now in detail and not encountered by anyone 

 later, actually parasitizes Cheloniidae, but in the first place it has no 

 relation to jP. ocellatus and in the second place its generic affiliation is still 

 unknown; it is more probable that it is a representative of the genus Poly- 

 stomoides. Thus, P. ocellatus should be considered as parasitizing only 

 one host. As for P. coronatus, the question about its hosts is more complex. 

 It is undoubtedly widely distributed on representatives of Testudinidae and 

 found on Chelydridae close to them, being related to the same superfamily p. 281 

 of Cryptodera. In addition to that, this species was indicated for Trionychidae-- 

 Amyda ferox (Schm. ) and A. spinifera (Le Sueur). The indications pertaining 

 to these hosts seem incorrect to us and they cannot be taken into consideration. 

 The following considerations serve as a basis for this. P. coronatus was 

 described in 1888 from the eastern part of the United States and at first 

 "turtle" was indicated as the host. Later this species was described 

 several times among different species of genera of turtles related to 

 Testudinidae. During the revision of Polystonaatidae in 1939, Price made 

 a number of others synonymous with this species, among them P^ opacum 

 Stunkard, 1916 from Amyda ferox (Schn. ) and Malaclemmys lesueurii (Gray) 

 and P. digitatum MacCallum, 1918, from Aspidonectes (=Amyda) spinifera 

 (Le Sueur). In such a fashion, in addition to Testudinidae two more species 

 of Trionychidae were found to be hosts of P. coronatus . The basis for 

 making the species which were mentioned above synonymous was the personal 

 acquaintanceship of Price with the preparations from the collection of the 

 United States National Museum and Stunkard. P. opacum in these materials 

 was represented by one specimen (cotype) from Malaclemmys lesueuri i which 

 turned out to be identical with the customary (typical, nobis) P. coronatus,' 

 however, this was not a sufficient reason for making this species synony- 

 mous because the basic host of P. opacum is another species--Amyda ferox. 

 Until reexamination of materials from this host it is scarcely in order to 

 inake this species synonymous. The affair of P. digitatum is more complex. 

 Price had in his possession 13 specimens of this species of which three were 

 cotypes, all from the basic host, i. e. Amyda ferox. From the work of Price 

 it appears that the number of hooks of the genital armature among these 

 individuals fluctuated greatly Thus, one specimen of the worm had 17, another- - 

 22, the subsequent ones 31, 32, 37, 38 hooks, 3 samples with 24 hooks and 

 4- -with 23« Such huge variability in the number of hooks of the copulatory 

 organ is an impossible thing and we are firmly convinced that here certain 

 errors occur, particularly --the combining of a number Of forms of Poly- 

 atomoides into one species. If one should tabulate all the data reproduced on tills 



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