82 Records of the Indian Museum. [Voiv. XIX, 



A point of interest revealed by the above record is the curious 

 fact that it was only in adult specimens of Bufo nielanostictus 

 that examples of the worm were found : in the case of the three 

 immature examples examined on June nth, and the young a* 

 examined on June 2ist, no trace of the Trematode was discovered, 

 although in all cases the intestinal contents showed a rich protozoan 

 fauna and in one of the small immature examples several young 

 Nematode worms were present in the large intestine. It appears 

 probable, therefore, either that infection with this parasite 

 occurs late in life or, as seems to me to be more probable, 

 that the period of infection is an annual one and had occurred 

 some time prior to the month of June, and that in consequence 

 specimens of B. nielanostictus that had been hatched in May or 

 June — after the annual period of infection — were found to be free 

 from the parasite. That the period of infection is not only an 

 annual one but is moreover one of short duration is indicated by 

 the fact that a further series of 5 adult examples of this toad 

 caught in the museum compound in January, 1920 were found to 

 be free from the parasite. 



The anatomical locality", in which the worms were obtained 

 by me, was in ever3^ case the upper portion of the small intestine. 

 Liihe in his original description states that the worms were found 

 " in the greater part of the small intestine, and especially in the 

 upper part." I never found a single example in the large intes- 

 tine. In every case the worms were adhering to the mucous 

 membrane b}'^ means of their oral suckers but when the intestine 

 was slit up and spread out in water, they quickly relaxed their hold 

 and dropped to the bottom of the dish. 



External Characters. 



The body of the worm is capable of a considerable degree of 

 extension and contjaction and its shape varies accordingly^ It is 

 always more or less compressed and flattened dorso-ventrally and 

 when fully contracted, or after fixation in Schaudin's fluid, its 

 outline is an elongate oval with both ends bluntly rounded and 

 the lateral margins roughly parallel with each other. When in this 

 condition, my specimens agree with the original description (Liihe, 

 1901, p. 71), but during the process of extension in the living 

 specimens the anterior region of the body lying in front of the 

 acetabulum becomes narrow and somewhat tapered, whereas the 

 posterior part situated behind the acetabulum undergoes consider- 

 ably less change in shape, probably on account of the dense coils 

 of the uterus contained in it. In this extended state the outline 

 of the body is bottle-shaped. 



The examples examined by me show a much greater range of 

 measurement than is given by Liihe, who states that the length is 

 i|- — 2 mm. and the greatest breadth 0*55 — 0*90 mm. In Table 11 

 I have given the measurements of a series of individuals : in 

 each case the worm had been fixed in Schaudin's fluid and was 

 in consequence in a contracted state ; every example contained 



