258 



SCIENCE. 



[X. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 581. 



5° north of the equator to at least 10° 

 south, and various observers say that in 

 certain regions nearly every inhabitant suf- 

 fers from it. This is recorded for the 

 Ogowe River by Miss Mary Kingsley, the 

 well-known African traveler. 



How far it may penetrate into the in- 

 terior of the continent is as yet unknown. 

 Certain it is, however, that cases occur 

 more than 120 miles from the coast, while 

 a recent paper records its presence in a 

 post-mortem made in Kassai, approxi- 

 mately 600 miles from the coast on one of 

 the chief tributaries of the Congo. 



The occurrence of Filaria loa in negro 

 slaves, in travelers, in government officials 

 and in missionaries points out distinctly 

 the certainty with which any kind of inter- 

 course between nations and geographic 

 areas tends to transfer to new races and 

 territories the diseases of the old. In- 

 creased means of communication and grow- 

 ing freedom of movement contribute clear- 

 ly to the spread of maladies and call for 

 better means to check their advance into 

 new regions. It is not to be doubted that 

 some of the persons who brought F. loa 

 into the United States now harbor its em- 

 bryos in the blood. Though we know 

 nothing precise of its life history, the possi- 

 bility lies close at hand that some blood- 

 sucking insect may furnish these embryos 

 proper conditions for further development 

 and may thus bring about the introduction 

 of a new disease into our territory. Such 

 cases as these of F. loa show clearly the 

 gradual spread of disease through national 

 intercourse. 



A New Bothriocephalid Parasite of Man: 

 Henry B. Ward, University of Nebraska. 

 The specimens were obtained from a 

 child six years of age, born and brought 

 up in the prairie region. The report of 

 the mother that the child had been found 

 some months ago chewing a piece of raw 



fish probably serves to explain the mode 

 of infection. The specimens do not belong 

 to the common bothriocephalid found in 

 man (DibothriocephalKs latus), but to an- 

 other species apparently undescribed as 

 yet. A complete account of the anatomy 

 of the species will be published later, to- 

 gether with a discussion of its relationship. 



An American Species of Lumbriculus 

 Gruhe: Prank Smith, University of Illi- 

 nois. 



The species, Lumbriculus variegatus 

 (Miiller) is the best known representative 

 of the family Lumbriculidse and is the only 

 recognized member of its genus. It has 

 thus far been found only in Europe. Re- 

 cent papers by Wenig and Hesse have ex- 

 tended our knowledge of the reproductive 

 organs of that species and have lessened 

 the supposed differences between it and 

 Thinodrilus inconstans Smith, described in 

 1895 from Illinois specimens. After a 

 further study of these specimens, the writer 

 is convinced that the Illinois specimens 

 should be included in the genus Lumbric- 

 ulus. The details of structure and com- 

 parison on which this conclusion is based 

 appear in the paper which will soon be 

 published in the Bulletin of the Illinois 

 State Laboratory of Natural History. 



A Mendelian Character in Cattle: W. J. 

 Spillman, U. S. Department of Agricul- 

 ture. 



The data presented indicate that in 

 crosses between polled and horned cattle 

 the inheritance of the horn-producing 

 character is in accordance with Mendel's 

 well-known law of segregation of character 

 pairs. The paper was based on the prog- 

 eny of seven polled bulls bred to horned 

 cows. The polled character is dominant, 

 though the hybrids frequently have 'scurs' 

 — imperfectly developed horns. 



