Febbuaby 3, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



197 



The insect has no natural enemies excepting 

 frogs and toads. Birds do not appear to relish 

 them. No insect enemies are known, or have yet 

 been discovered; and fungus diseases that attack 

 similar larvae in the east have failed to become 

 established when introduced from the eastern 

 part of the country. D. E. Lantz, 



Secretary 



THE HELMINTHOLOGICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON 



The first meeting of the socieiy was held in 

 the rooms of the zoological division of the Public 

 Health and Marine Hospital Service on October 8, 

 1910, Dr. Stiles acting as host, Dr. Garrison as 

 chairman. Mr. Hall was elected secretary for the 

 year. 



Dr. Pfender noted the publication of a recent 

 article recording the finding of Necator anieri- 

 canus in New Guinea for the first time. 



Dr. Garrison exhibited specimens of Davainea 

 madagascariensis from man and read a paper, to 

 be published in the Philippine Journal of Science, 

 dealing with the case and describing the speci- 

 mens. The material, consisting of one complete 

 and four incomplete and headless specimens, was 

 collected from an adult male native in the Philip- 

 pines. It is the first ease from this locality and 

 the tenth recorded case. This case indicates a 

 more or less general distribution of the parasite 

 throughout the tropics. Cases occur in children 

 and adults and the lack of records from any host 

 save man since the parasite was first found in 

 1867 indicates that man is the normal host. So 

 far the parasite has been recorded only from coast 

 regions, but this may be due to inadequate in- 

 vestigation in the interior. Dr. Garrison's de- 

 scription of the anatomy was illustrated by pho- 



Dr. Stiles gave a talk on the International 

 Zoological Congress at Gratz. He discussed the 

 newly elected international committee on medical 

 zoology and noted the following plans which the 

 committee had taken up: the agreement on na- 

 tional repositories for collections dealing with 

 medical zoology and for the deposition of type 

 material; a working agreement between this com- 

 mittee and the Commission on Zoological Nomen- 

 clature to determine and fix upon the correct 

 names of the parasites of man and later of those 

 of domesticated and the more important wild 

 animals; the securing of material from the vari- 

 ous groups for the use of specialists; the location 

 of existing collections and especially type speci- 

 mens; the securing of better recognition of zool- 



ogy in medical schools where work in tropical 

 medicine is done, and the issuing of a model syl- 

 labus for such a zoological course; the collection 

 of methods of technique; and the selection of cor- 

 responding members with a view to promoting 

 harmony and cooperation and avoiding dissension 

 and unwarranted criticism in zoological circles. 



The second regular meeting of the society was 

 held in the rooms of the zoological division of 

 the Hygienic Laboratory, December 1, 1910, Dr. 

 Stiles acting as host, Dr. Kansom as chairman. 



Dr. Stiles presented an abstract of an unpub- 

 lished paper on rural sanitation, with special 

 reference to the disposal of fteces. A proper dis- 

 posal of faeces is the greatest single factor in 

 combating zoo-parasitic diseases. Where the in- 

 stallation of a sewer system is not feasible, the 

 dry disposal method has been considered the best. 

 In this the faeces are covered with dirt or lime. 

 The system depends on the cooperation of all of 

 the members of the community for its success, 

 and this fact constitutes one of the greatest 

 objections to it. Children and the majority of 

 the southern negroes can not be depended on to 

 cooperate. The unsatisfactory character of this 

 system being evident, efforts have been made to 

 devise a satisfactory wet system. Many tests had 

 given unsatisfactory results, but the wet system 

 devised and described by Lumsden, Roberts and 

 Stiles seems to have overcome the final objections. 

 The paper dealt also with the objections to the 

 dry system as they had been worked out at Wil- 

 mington, N. C. Some of the findings were as 

 follows : ( 1 ) The sand under and around dry 

 system privies is not safe five months after the 

 last use of the privy. Sand which had been dried 

 out twice showed two encysted larvae on the 

 one hundred and fifty-first day. Life was not 

 demonstrated by movement, but the specimens 

 were histologically perfect and could not have 

 been dead more than a day or two if they were 

 dead. (2) After four months the infection may 

 be greatly reduced and in some cases perhaps 

 entirely eliminated. (3) After five months in 

 sand, and after drying out twice, live Ascaris 

 eggs may be found after all the hookworm eggs 

 and embryos have perished. Ascaris eggs were 

 found apparently alive after 156 days. (4) Hook- 

 worm eggs were identifiable after 151 days. (5) 

 When faecal material is subjected to water decom- 

 position for 70 days, most of the hookworm eggs 

 die, but some are still alive. (6) No hookworm 

 eggs were found alive after about four to five 

 months in faeces and water. (7) It is probable 



