November 7, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



673 



"third chick received 53 worms between July 

 19 and July 28. When these chicks were 

 killed September 5, twenty adult HeteraMs 

 ■were found in the first, six in the second and 

 two in the third. Eight other chicks, from 

 .the same cage and killed at the same time, 

 ■which had been kept under identical condi- 

 tions, except that no earthworms were fed to 

 them, did not show a single HeteraMs present. 

 There appears to be no escape from the con- 

 clusion that Helodrilus in some way may 

 serve as an intermediate host for this nema- 

 ■tode. The experiment does not show the na- 

 ture of the transmission. Whether it is a case 

 ■of true parasitism or is simply an association 

 remains to be proved. It may be that the eggs 

 of HeteraMs simply cling to the more or less 

 slimy surface of the earthworm and are trans- 

 mitted in this way. Favoring this view is the 

 probability that young chicks can become in- 

 fected through eating eggs scattered in the 

 feces of older chickens. However, the fact that 

 small nematodes are frequently found in the 

 nephridia of certain earthworms might fur- 

 nish another suggestive hypothesis. What- 

 ever the exact nature of transmission, the 

 results are interesting. A hen and four 

 young fowls, taken at random from the barn- 

 yard where the earthworms were found, were 

 killed and examined for HeteraMs. Nema- 

 todes were present in only two of these. Some 

 of the fowls had the habit of going to the 

 field instead of scratching and wallowing 

 around the manure heap and this perhaps ex- 

 plains why more were not infected. Then the 

 chances are small that any one chick would 

 obtain a large number of earthworms, though 

 the latter were only a short distance below the 

 surface. In any case feeding Helodrilus 

 under the conditions described was an efficient 

 means of transmitting the HeteraMs to young 

 -chicks. John W. Scott 



University of Wyoming, 

 September 25, 1913 



A NEW SPECIES OF MOROPUS (m. HOLLANDI) FROM 



THE BASE OF THE MIDDLE MIOCENE OF 



WESTERN NEBRASKA 



While studying the material representing 



the Chalicotheres in the Carnegie Museum in 

 connection with the revision of the super- 

 family Chalicotheroidea, which is about to be 

 published, the writer has found that a quantity 

 of material representing a specimen from the 

 Upper Harrison Beds of western Nebraska 

 (Middle Miocene) is undoubtedly referable to a 

 new species, which he desires to name in honor 

 of Dr. W. J. Holland, the Director of the 

 Carnegie Museum. 



M or opus Hollandi sp. nov. 



Type Specimen. — Eadius, ulna, and portion 

 of fore foot, femur, tibia, fragment of fibula, 

 and portions of both hind feet. No. 1424, 

 Carnegie Museum Collection. This material 

 was discovered in 1901 and partially described 

 by O. A. Peterson {Ann. Car. Mus., Vol. IV., 

 pp. 60-61, 1906) as M. elatus. 



Specific Characters. — Limbs slenderer than, 

 in M. elatus Marsh or M. petersoni Holland. 

 Third trochanter of femur somewhat less 

 developed than in the latter species; facet for 

 the trapezium on the scaphoid much reduced, 

 or wanting; facet for trapezium on Mc. II 

 wanting; metacarpals proportionally long and 

 slender; proximal and median phalanges of 

 second digit of manus more compressed later- 

 ally than in M. elatus or M. petersoni. The 

 animal was larger than a tapir, but consider- 

 ably smaller than M. elatus Marsh, which was 

 as large as a rhinoceros. 



A more detailed description of this species 

 will appear in the work to which reference has 

 been made, the first part of which has gone to 

 the printer. O. A. Peterson 



Carnegie Museum, 

 October 8, 1913. 



THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 



ROCHESTER MEETING 



II 



BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY SECTION 



Carl L. Alsberg, Chairman 

 I. K. Phelps, Secretary 

 T. B. Aldrich: On the Presence of Histidine-HTce 

 Bodies in the Pituitary Gland (Posterior Lobe). 

 (Preliminary communieation. ) 

 From the Eesearch Laboratory of Parke, Davis 

 & Co.j Detroit, Mich. Employing Pauly's diazo- 



