XXIX. THE POvSSIBLE OCCURRENCE OF 

 SCHISTOSOMA JAPONICUM, katsurada 



IN INDIA. 



By R. B. Seymour Sewell, F.A.S.B., Capt. I. M.S., Surgeon- 

 Naturalist to the Marine Survey of India and Offg. Superintendent, 

 Zoological Survey of India. 



(With Plate XXV). 



During the past few months I have been engaged in investiga- 

 tions directly or indirectl}' connected with the introduction into 

 India of the African and Mesopotamian forms of the human-infect- 

 ing Schistosomes. These investigations are a continuation and 

 elaboration of those begun by Mr. S. W, Kemp ; ' in the course of 

 them I have undertaken the systematic examination of large 

 numbers of freshwater molluscs in various parts of India and have 

 discovered numerous cercariae hitherto unknown. Most of these 

 belong to groups that have little interest to others than zoologists, 

 but quite recently I have discovered in one of the tanks in the 

 Calcutta area a cercaria that is a true Schistosome and that seems 

 likely to have considerable practical importance from a medical 

 point of view. I have therefore decided, having found it possible 

 to give a full description, not to delay publication of my results in 

 this respect. 



The cercaria is, as far as it is possible to judge from the very 

 detailed description and clear figures published by Cort,* and 

 the further particulars given by Faust ^, morphologically indis- 

 tinguishable from that of Schistosoma japonicum, Katsurada, a 

 very important parasite of man in China and Japan. 



Cercariae Indicae xxx. 



This type appears to be a true Schistosome and is almost 

 identical, if not absolutely so, with Sch. japonicum. The cercaria 

 is a small one and is a feeble swimmer, as viewed in a watch glass. 

 It appears to move tail first, dragging the body behind it, by vigor- 



^ Kemp and Gravely, Ind. jfourn. Med. Res. (in the press). 



* Cort, W. VV. " The cercaria of the Japanese blood-fluke, Schistosoma 

 Japonicum, Katsurada." Univ. Californ. Piibl. Zool., Vol. X\MII, No. 17, pp. 

 485-507. 3 figures in text : Berkeley, 19 19. 



'^ Faust, E. C. " Notes on South African cercariae. Journ. of Parasito- 

 logy, Vol. V, No. 4, p. 164: Urbana, 1919. 



