14 MR. MORTON ALLPORT ON THE (Jan. 13, 
turn out to be but one of two phases of the same female, the para- 
sitic, in contradistinction to the non-parasitic, form, having the power 
of reproducing agamogenetically. Probably it will eventually ap- 
pear that other worms known to us only in the female condition are 
forms of this character. Provisionally I place Spherularia and 
Acanthocheilonema in this category ; and should my conception of 
their parthenogenetic relations be ultimately proven correct, we shall 
have arrived at the solution of many difficult problems which have 
been put forward by writers and investigators. For example, as 
regards the Guinea-worms, Prof. Bastian very naturally asks, 
“* Why are females only discovered in the human body ?”’ and again, 
‘Is there one species of Dracunculus only, or are there many, corre- 
sponding with different species of microscopic Filaride?” If my 
interpretation of the facts be correct, these aud suchlike questions 
are at once satisfactorily answered. If, as Carter supposes, Urolabes 
palustris be the progenitor of Dracunculus medinensis, there can be 
no impropriety in asserting a similar genetic relation for many allied 
forms. Not merely may we look to such antecedents in favour of 
the species already mentioned, but I have little hesitation in 
claiming a corresponding origin for the so-called “‘Loa”’ (Dracunculus 
loa, T. 8. C.), which infests the eyes of Negroes of the Angola coast— 
and for the Filaria (Dracunculus ethiopicus, Dies.) of Valenciennes, 
found in the cellular tissue of the extremities and abdomen of a 
Carnivore from Cordofan (felis guttata). Both of the above are 
known to science only in the female state ; and the same may be said 
of many other filarine species whose origin, migratory habits, and 
final destinations necessarily remain, in the present state of our 
knowledge, a mere matter of conjecture. In conclusion, therefore, 
let me repeat that I regard Acanthocheilonema as a parthenogenetic 
female whose embryos probably gain access to the outer world by 
first entering the intestinal canal of the “ host,”’ ultimately passing 
out by the natural passages. In the free state, like Rhabditis, they 
probably give rise to a new progeny by the ordinary sexual process, 
all or part of this progeny becoming parasitic and parthenogenetic 
females. 
3. Brief History of the Introduction of Salmon (Salmo salar) 
and other Salmonide to the Waters of Tasmania. By 
Morton Atuport, F.Z.S., F.L.8. 
In the year 1841 the late Mr. Frederick Chalmers, of Brighton in 
Tasmania, who was then Master of a vessel trading from London, 
applied to Dr. Mackenzie, of Kinellan, by Dingwall, Ross-shire, 
Scotland, with a view to obtaining Salmon-fry for transport to Tas- 
mania. The fry were not obtained in time for the departure of the 
vessel, as appears by letters published in the ‘ Proceedings’ of the 
Royal Society of Tasmania (vol. i. p. 281); aud this abortive attempt 
would scarcely be worth recording but for the curious fact that even 
