RESEARCHEvS IN HELMINTHOLOGY AND PARASITOLOGY. 183 

 [May, 1884. No. 527. See Bibliography.] 



Pentastonmm proboscidcum. — Prof. Leidy exhibited specimens of 

 this parasite, presented to him b}^ Mr. Norman Spang, of Etna, Pa., 

 who recently obtained them in Florida from the lung of a large 

 rattlesnake, Crotahis adamanteus. They are cylindrical incurved, 

 annulated, largest and rounded at the head, tapering behind, and 

 becoming again larger and rounded at the end, and terminating 

 ventrally in a short conical point. There are six of them, with the 

 following measurements : 9 lines long by 1^2 lines at the head ; 13 

 lines by i]^. lines ; 24 by 2^ ; 28 by 2JE^ ; 30 by 3, and 31 by 3. 

 The species was first found by Humboldt in Crotalus horridus. It 

 is common in the Boa constrictor, in which Prof. Leidy had also ob- 

 served it several times. It has likewise been found in a number of 

 other serpents. Other species occur in different mammals, includ- 

 ing man, reptiles, and fishes. These singular parasites are regarded 

 as the most degraded form of arachnida, in the mature stage being 

 reduced to a worm-like, limbless body. 



[October, 1884. No. 528. See Bibliography.] 



Organisms in Ice. — Prof. L,eidy stated that a member had placed 

 in his hands for examination a vial of water obtained from melting 

 ice which is used for cooling drinking water. From time to time, 

 among some sediment taken from a water-cooler, the gentleman 

 had observed what he supposed to be living worms, which he sus- 

 pected were introduced with the water into the cooler and not with 

 the ice. Upon melting some of the ice alone the worms were still 

 observed, and the water submitted for examination was some that 

 was thus obtained. Prof. Leidy was surprised to find a number of 

 worms among some flocculent sediment, mainly consisting of vegetal 

 hairs and other debris. Besides the worms, there were also imma- 

 ture Anguillulas and a number of Rotifer vulgaris, all living. It 

 would appear that these animals had all been contained in the ice 

 and had been liberated on melting. It was an unexpected source 

 of contamination of our drinking water that Prof. Leidy had pre- 

 viously supposed to be very improbable. The little worms he was 

 not familiar with. 



They belong to the family of Lumbricidse and probably may be 

 an undescribed species of Liinibriculus. They are white, or color- 

 less, from 4 to 6 millimeters long by a third of a millimeter in thick- 

 ness. The body is divided into thirty segments, bearing podal 

 spines, which form four rows, with three in each fasciculus, and 



