HETERODERA RAD1CICOLA. 399 



Whilst on active service I warned the Defence Department of 

 the existence of suitable hosts for the Egyptian form of bilharzia 

 disease in the Durban suburbs, where troops from Egypt were 

 continually arriving. In 1919-1920 I posted to Dr. E. C. Faust 

 Physopsis africana from these pools infested with the Egyptian 

 parasite, Schistosoma mansoni. Dr. Annie Porter found both 

 Physopsis and Planorbis pfeifferi in these pools infested with it. 

 In June of this year I came across the first case of Egyptian 

 schistosomiasis in a boy of twelve who had contracted this intract- 

 able disease along with infection with Schistosoma haematobium 

 through bathing in the pools at Mayville and Sydenham in 1920. 



The disease is therefore endemic in South Africa, and has 

 probably been introduced b/ troops returning from Egypt. Fortu- 

 nately I have been able to show that the parasite in Natal can 

 be destroyed by ipecacuanha as readily as it has been proved to 

 be in Egypt. 



A STUDY OF THE LIFE-HISTORY AND METHODS 



OF CONTROL OF THE ROOT GALL NEMATODE, 



HETERODERA RADICICOLA (GREEF MULLER), IN 



SOUTH AFRICA. 



BY 



J. Sandground, M.Sc. 



Lecturer in Zoology, University of the, Witwatersrand, 

 Johannesburg . 



With Plates TV, VII, VIII. 



Head Jul,, 13, 1921. 



Introduction. 



The nematode, II ' ete roil era radicicola, described in this paper, 

 is a parasite of many plants of economic importance. While much 

 work has been done in other countries, more especially in connec- 

 tion with control measures, a number of interesting points in 

 connection with the life-history of the worm needed elucidation. 

 The present paper is an attempt to describe H et erode ra radicicola 

 as it occurs in South Africa, and to make the account as complete 

 as possible so that the parasite may be compared and contrasted 

 with H. schachtii, the sugar beet nematode of Europe, and U. 

 radicicola, as described by workers in Europe and elsewhere. 

 //. radicicola causes swellings or galls on roots which are some- 

 times termed "eelworm" disease. 



Material and Methods. 



The material for my first observations on the parasite con- 

 sisted of tomato plants growing in the experiment grounds of the 

 Division of Entomology at Rosebank, Cape Peninsula. Infected 



