388 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
Gordiacea 
Nematoda Gordiidas Nectonemidae 
o 
B 
Si 
o' 
fcJ- 
c 
B 
B' 
Kinorhyncha 
Acantliocepliala 
I 
Annelida 
Provermalia (Haeckel) 
Excretory Organs of Ascarids.* — Prof. J. W. Spengel has some 
notes on a recent paper by N. Nassonow, which described four peculiar 
stellate organs in the body-cavity of Ascaris megalocephala and A. lumbri- 
coides. Spengel and his assistant, Dr. K. Camillo Schneider, also 
observed these organs, and on looking up the literature, found them 
described in Anton Schneider’s Monograph on Nematodes. Thus, 
Nassonow is hardly their discoverer, especially as Schneider refers to a 
description of them by Bojanus in 1818 and 1821, and by Lieberkiihn in 
1855. They were afterwards noted by Leuckart, Hamann, and Linstow. 
The moral is a painfully obvious one, that discovery must be preceded by 
an adequate study of the literature, to which this Journal is a readily 
available aid. Prof. Spengel says in conclusion, that he will add only 
one item of fact to the previous studies of the remarkable structures in 
question, namely, that they are not always lateral, between the gut and 
the lateral lines, but are sometimes also median, on or under the gut. 
Nematode Parasite from Mantis.! — Mr. 0. Collett describes an 
aproctous Nematode of the family Mermithidae, 1/30 in. in diameter, 
2 ft. 3J in. in length, found in the stomach of a specimen of Mantis 
religiosa which measured 2^ in. in length. 
Platyhelminth.es. 
Diploposthe lsevis.* — Dr. A. Jacobi describes this remarkable tape- 
worm which occurs as a parasite in wild ducks. It is noteworthy because 
in each proglottis the genital ducts (vas deferens and vagina) are double, 
while the essential reproductive organs are single. The author describes 
the skin and musculature, the excretory system and nerves, and the 
gonads in particular. In sj)ite of the partial duplication of the repro- 
* Zool. Anzeig., xx. (1897) pp. 245-8. 
f Journ. R. Asiatic Soc., xiv. (1896) 2 pp. (1 pi.). 
J Zool. Jahrb., x. (1897) pp. 287-306 (2 pis.). 
