636 
press. He also reported that he had in prepara- 
tion a list of the names of all hookworms. 
The secretary read the following communication 
from Dr. Fritz Zschokke: 
Gordius aquaticus L. as a Parasite of Man. 
A two and one half year old boy at Dorentingen, 
a village near Solluthorn (Switzerland), passed 
per anum a male Gordius aquaticus L. about 17 
centimeters long, together with several specimens 
of Oxyuris. After passage, the worm lived three 
days free in water. According to the attending 
physician, the patient was subject to nervous 
troubles, which disappeared immediately upon the 
remoyal of the parasite. Symptoms involving the 
intestinal canal were present only to a slight 
extent. 
Up to 1906, 9 authentic cases of the occurrence 
of Gordius in man were known. These occurred 
in Italy (3), France (3), North America (1), 
Bavaria (1) and Austria (1). To these must now 
be added the case reported from Switzerland. 
Most of the carriers of the parasites are boys and 
young people from two and a half to twenty-two 
years old. Systematically, the gordius forms 
found in human beings belong to the species: 
Gordius aquaticus L., G. villoti Rosa, Paragordius 
varius Leidy, P. tricuspidatus L., Parachordodes 
tolosanus Duj., P. pustulosus Baird and P. viola- 
ceous Baird. 
The duration of the pseudoparasitie infection 
of the human intestinal canal by Gordius may 
extend over months; it is accompanied by the 
symptoms of a more or less clearly indicated hel- 
minthiasis which disappear with the discharge of 
the parasite by mouth or anus of the host indi- 
vidual. 
Probably the infection takes place through the 
ingestion in drinking water of the free-living 
worms which have already passed through their 
parasitic developmental stage in insect larve and 
predaceous insects. Also, the patient at Doren- 
tingen had the habit of drinking from a watering 
trough. 
Gordius in the adult state is well fitted for a 
parasitic mode of living. Its strong chitinous 
covering protects the worm against the digestive 
fluids of the host. It is in a high degree insensi- 
tive to considerable variation of temperature, and 
also, as G. V. Bunge has shown, to the absence of 
oxygen. 
Dr. Ransom presented the following note: 
Cysticerct in American Sheep, Reindeer and Cattle. 
Federal meat inspectors are frequently finding 
SCIENCE 
[N.S. Vou. XXXV. No. 903 
sheep infested with cysticerci in the heart and 
voluntary muscles. These cysticerci closely re- 
semble Cysticercus cellulose, which is said to 
occur occasionally in sheep, and they have been 
provisionally identified as such. The question as 
to their identity is now under further investiga- 
tion, since it seems unlikely that so many cases of 
infestation would occur in sheep, especially in view 
of the fact that Cysticercus cellulose is compara- 
tively rare in this country in hogs, the usual host. 
Specimens of muscle cysticerci from Alaskan 
reindeer have recently been received by the Bureau 
of Animal Industry from Dr. D. S. Neuman, of 
Nome, Alaska, who reports that they are very 
common. These cysticerci have been provisionally 
identified as the cysti¢erci of Tenia krabbei, a 
tapeworm of the dog, although in some respects 
they do not correspond to the available descrip- 
tions of the cysticereus of that tapeworm. 
There have also been some unusually high per- 
centages of infestation of cattle with Cysticercus 
bovis. Three lots of cattle of 251, 70 and 201 
head, originating in the same locality, had 25, 41 
and 39 head, respectively, infested with this 
parasite. : 
Dr. Garrison reported that in an examination of 
a slide of some old human feces he had found an 
egg of Fasciola, apparently F. hepatica, together 
with a number of other parasite eggs, including a 
lateral-spined Schistosomum egg. He noted that 
Ashford has reported finding this egg in human 
feces in Porto Rico. 
In comment, Dr. Stiles reported that he had an 
adult specimen of Fasciola from man in Porto 
Rico. The Fasciola from sheep in Porto Rico 
appears to be a quite distinct species on compar- 
ison with the European specimens, but a compari- 
son with American specimens seems to furnish a 
complete series of gradations between the typical 
Porto Rican and the European forms. Dr. Stiles 
noted that cases had been reported from Porto 
Rico of death from asphyxiation as a result of 
Fasciola attaching in the throat following the 
eating of raw liver. The prompt production of 
yomiting will carry out the flukes and save the 
patient. There is a total of 26 to 28 cases of 
infection of man with Fasciola, most of the cases 
being discovered on postmortem. 
Dr. Garrison presented a report on the termin- 
ology of parasitic diseases, and the remainder of 
the evening was spent in a discussion of his paper. 
Mavprice C. Hatt, 
Secretary 
