594 SUMMAKY OF CURBENT EESEAECHES RELATING TO 



is probably of generic importance. The microscopic study of the peculiari- 

 ties of the cuticle is, as the author showed in 1873, a very important aid to 

 the discrimination of the species, and this has been recognized by later 

 writers, and especially by Oerley ; the author points out the care which is 

 to be taken in making use of this method of investigation. 



Under Gordius aquaticus the names of eight other " species " are included. 

 Its variability may be judged of from this fact alone. This species is very 

 fully dealt with in a useful and exhaustive manner. Of G. alpestris the 

 author has only as yet been able to obtain male specimens. In G. tolosanus 

 the epidermis presents both specific and sexual characters, for in the males 

 the large hemispherical areolae have a large pore at their summit. This 

 species has been once found in the human intestine. The species is most 

 often found free at the end of the month of June. G. affinis is based on a 

 single female specimen, but its cuticular characters are sufficient to distin- 

 guish it. Some additions and corrections are made to Baird's description 

 of G. pusfulosus. G. gemmatus is the sole representative of a distinct group 

 of the genus. G. violaceus has probably often been confounded with 

 G. aquaticus. It is an error to suppose that the trilobate character of the 

 hinder extremity of G. gratianojpolensis is a good specific mark of distinction. 

 G. houvieri, from an unknown locality, is distinguished from the indigenous 

 forms by its large size. 



Filaria inermis.* — Prof. B. Grassi gives a description of a new species 

 of Filaria which has been found in man, the horse, and the ass. The female, 

 which alone is knovp^n, is about 16 cm. long, and appears to be much broader 

 (475 /a) than thick. The specific name of inermis is due to the absence of 

 teeth. The first example was found in a woman in the province of Catania, 

 and was sexually immature. A specimen was found in the eye of the ass. 

 Other examples were found in the eye of a man, and in horses (organ ?), in 

 Mailand. According to the system of Molin, this new si^ecies falls into the 

 section Acheilostomi, and appears to be allied to Filaria perforans, which 

 differs from it by having the posterior extremity " valde attenuata." The 

 author thinks that the F. peritonsei hominis of Babes is identical with his 

 species. 



Muscular Fibres of Echinorhynclius.f — In regard to the disputed import 

 of the longitudinal lateral bands projecting internally on the wall of Fchino- 

 rhynchus gigas, M. E. Koehler corroborates the observations of Schneider, and 

 maintains that they are sack-like expansions of the circular fibres. The 

 relations of the muscle-fibres in E. Jieruca are of importance in this connec- 

 tion, and are described. The two longitudinal bands are not homologous 

 with the lateral bands of E. gigas, but arise from the enlargement of the 

 cells in which the longitudinal fibres are developed. In regard to the 

 large number of nuclei found in the muscle-cells of most Echinorhynchi, 

 but in small proportion in E. gigas, M. Koehler suggests that each fibre 

 corresponds to a cell, and that the muscle-nuclei are conserved in the bands, 

 while they have disappeared in other regions of the body. 



Morpholo^ of Muscular Fibres in Echinorliynchus.$— M. E. Koehler, 

 in a subsequent paper, describes the muscular fibre in EcMnorhyncJms 

 heruca, E. proteus, and E. gigas. In the first of the three species the large 

 muscle-cells of the circular layer each consists of an internal unmodified 

 portion of protoplasm, with a nucleus, and an external contractile portion 

 containing a large number of fibrils. In the longitudinal layer the fibrils 



* Centralbl. f. Bacteriol. u. Parasiteiikunde, 1. (1887) pp. 617-23. 



t Comptes Eendus, civ. (1887) pp. 1192-4. + Ibid., pp. 1634-6. 



