124 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 83 



worms; and (3) a predominance of Acanthocephala as common 

 adult parasites. Twenty-five species of parasites were identified, 

 but 15 of these are larval or immature stages. Of the 10 adults 

 found, 9 are described as new, whereas of the 15 immature forms 11 

 are described as new, although some of them may prove to be the 

 larvae of already described adult forms. 



The flukes are conspicuous by their sparseness. Only one im- 

 mature and two adult flukes were found. This is clearly correlated 

 with the almost complete absence of gastropods in the bay; only 

 one form, a species of Littorina^ was found, and this in only one 

 small portion of the bay. The immature fluke found is a gaster- 

 ostome, which in all probability utilizes a bivalve as an intermedi- 

 ate host. 



The tapeworms are represented by two adult and six larval forms. 

 The two adults are both species of Proteocephalus^ and both found 

 in Lepisosteus. Four of the larvae (three tetrarhynchids and one 

 Scolex) are larval forms of fish parasites, while two (a Glosso- 

 cercus and a cysticercoid) are probably the larvae of bird parasites. 



The nematodes are represented by only three adult forms, all 

 of which are rare, and by eight immature forms, all but two of 

 which belong to the Anisakinae. Most of these forms were found 

 repeatedly in certain hosts, and seemed to be fairly closely limited 

 to these hosts, but two of them, Rhaphidascans anchoviellae and 

 C ontracaecum colUeri^ were found in several different hosts. A pe- 

 culiar hostal distribution was noted in the two species of Gontra- 

 caecum found. One of these, C. collieri, was found commonly in 

 Gyprlnodon variegatus, and once each in Sciaenops ocellatus and 

 Paralichthys lethostigmus but never in Fundulus; the other, G. 

 robustum,, was found commonly in Mugil cephalus and fairly fre- 

 quently in Fundulus^ but not in Gyprlnodon. 



The Acanthocephala are the commonest adult parasites of fishes 

 in Galveston Bay. The three adult species found were all fairly 

 common in their respective hosts ; they were the only adult parasites 

 that one could depend upon finding in repeated examinations of par- 

 ticular hosts. In addition to the adult forms, one immature form, 

 which probably reaches maturity in a bird, was found. 



Table 1 gives a list of the hosts examined and the parasites found. 



