974 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. 860 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



THE HELMINTHOLOGICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON 



The fifth regular meeting of the society was 

 held in the rooms of the zoological division of 

 the Public Health and Marine Hospital Service 

 on March 14, 1911, Dr. Stiles acting as host and 

 Dr. Eansom as chairman. The following foreign 

 corresponding members were elected: Eaphael 

 Blanchard, Max Braun, Otto Fuhrmann, I. Ijima, 

 L. A. Jagerskiold, S. J. Johnston, Robert T. 

 Leiper, Otto von Linstow, Arthur Looss, Max 

 Luehe, Sir Patrick Manson, Francesco Montieelli, 

 L. G. Neumann, George H. F. Nuttall, Corrado 

 Parona, Edoardo Perroncito, Theodor Pintner, 

 Alcide Eailliet, Arthur E. Shiplej' and Fritz 

 Zschokke. 



Dr. Garrison gave a summary of a report by 

 Surgeon C. S. Butler, U. S. Navy, and himself 

 upon the parasites found at autopsy upon dogs, 

 cats and rats at the U. S. Medical School during 

 the past year. Twelve dogs, ten cats and ten 

 rats {Mus decumanus) were examined with the 

 following results: 



Dogs — Filaria (species undetermined), two in- 

 fections; Ascaris canis, five infections; Tricliuris 

 depressiusculus, one infection; Ancylostoma can- 

 inum, five infections; Twnia pisiformis, three in- 

 fections; Dipylidium caninum, six infections. 



Cats — Ascaris canis, eight infections; Tcenia 

 teniceformis, two infections; Dipylidium caninum, 

 six infections. 



Eats — Trypanosoma lewisi, one infection; Tri- 

 chinella spiralis, one infection; Trichosoma he- 

 paticum, four infections; Trichosoma crassicauda, 

 seven infections (two bladders not examined) ; 

 HeteraMs spumosa, eight infections; Hymenolepis 

 nana, one infection (in white rat) ; U. diminuta, 

 five infections; Cysticercus fasciolaris, eight in- 

 fections. 



In addition, the examination of about twenty 

 cock-roaches showed infections with Amceba hlattCB 

 and numerous ciliates and flagellates. No grega- 

 rines were found. 



Dr. StOes called attention to the desirability of 

 using fresh material for parasite study in class 

 work. 



The secretary read a short note by Mr. Crawley 

 on Trypanosoma americanum. This parasite has 

 been found in dried smears of eentrifuged bovine 

 blood. This is of interest, since the trypanosome 

 has hitherto been found only in bouillon cultures 

 of the blood. The morphology of the organism 

 as found m the fresh blood is the same as that of 

 specimens appearing in culture tubes. 



Mr. Hall presented a paper entitled ' ' The 

 Limitations of Fecal Examination as a Means 

 of Determining Existing Parasitism of the Di- 

 gestive Tract." Certain writers have claimed a 

 relation between the number of parasites present 

 in any host and the number of eggs in a given 

 amount of fasces from that host. This does not 

 appear to be a general truth with wide applica- 

 tion. Besides the element of chance in the detec- 

 tion of eggs, there are certain conditions which 

 permit of parasitism of the digestive tract with- 

 out eggs in the feces to indicate it. Some of 

 these conditions are: (1) Infections with nema- 

 todes, usually light, where only males are present; 

 (2) recent infections, at times heavy, in which 

 the infecting larvre of any species have not yet 

 reached the egg-producing stage; (3) interruption 

 of egg-production, as by breaking of strobila in 

 tapeworms, or cessation of egg-production, as in 

 the case of barren nematodes; (4) irregularity 

 of passage of eggs from the host, due to purging, 

 passage of mucus, diarrhoea, use of thymol or 

 alcohol, etc. Consecutive and careful examina- 

 tions of the fseces of a given animal show days 

 when eggs of various kinds are abundant and 

 days when they are scarce or missing. This would 

 be particularly true or cestodes. Negative exam- 

 inations must be considered doubtful and must be 

 checked at intervals if infection is suspected. 



Dr. Stiles presented a paper entitled ' ' A Com- 

 parison of New England and Southern Mills with 

 Reference to Natural Advantages and the Pres- 

 ence of Parasitic Diseases. ' ' 



The sixth regular meeting of the society was 

 held in the rooms of the zoological division of the 

 Public Health and Marine Hospital Service on 

 April 11, 1911, Dr. Stiles acting as host and 

 Dr. Garrison as chairman. 



The following American corresponding mem- 

 bers were elected: F. D. Barker, Cooper Curtice, 

 C. A. Kofoid, E. Linton, W. S. Nickerson, H. S. 

 Pratt, Allen J. Smith, L. D. Swingle, A. E. Ver- 

 rUl, H. B. Ward, Creighton Wellman, D. G. Wil- 

 lets and E. T. Young. 



Dr. Stiles presented a note on a case of poison- 

 ing by the Portuguese man-of-war. The poison- 

 ing had been attributed to the fish which com- 

 monly accompanies this coelenterate. This was an 

 error, as the stings were due to the jellyfish itself. 

 These stings were very painful and persisted for 

 some time in spite of treatment. The subject of 

 poisoning by jellyfish is one that has not received 

 adequate study. 



