2 Franklin D. Barker and George W. Covey 



As in other phases of parasitology more has been done on the 

 parasites of turtles in Europe than in the United States and 

 Canada. For this reason and at the suggestion of Professor 

 Barker I began this investigation of the parasites of the painted 

 terrapin, Chryseniys marginata Agassiz. 



TECHNIQUE 



In the fall of 191 1, sixteen turtles were secured from Lake 

 Emily, a small lake near St. Peter, Minnesota. These turtles 

 furnished the parasitic material for this study. The alimentary 

 tract exclusive of the esophagus, the urinary bladder, the lungs 

 and the liver were the organs to which special attention was 

 given, and all were found to harbor parasites with the exception 

 of the liver. The stomach and intestine were opened from end to 

 end and allowed to lie in normal salt solution from five to ten 

 minutes, in which time most of the trematodes loosened their hold 

 and fell to the bottom of the dish. The others, which were too 

 small to be seen on the surface of the intestine, were removed by 

 gently stripping the intestine from end to end between the thumb 

 and forefinger. The nematodes were easily seen and removed 

 with a pipette or small forceps. The intestines and stomachs of 

 turtles number V, VII and IX were negative with respect to 

 trematodes, while nematodes were invariably present in the 

 pyloric end of the stomach or the duodenum or both. 



In examining the liver, the gall-bladder was first opened and 

 carefully inspected, but in no case contained parasites. The bile 

 ducts were so small that they could be examined only by teasing 

 the organ into fine pieces, thus producing a large amount of 

 sediment which was difficult to get rid of, but no trematodes were 

 found. 



In no case did the urinary, bladder contain more than one 

 trematode which was of a large type, distinct from those found in 

 the intestine, but resembling, superficially at least, those found in 

 the lung. The bladders were negative except those of turtles 

 Nos. II, III, IX, X and XIII. The lungs were all negative 

 except those of turtle No. V, from which four trematodes were 

 obtained. 



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