184 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
diameter constitutes an extremely effective barrier to escape from the 
cocoon. Practically all of the numerous abnormalities are automatically 
eliminated. While bifid worms may live for a long time imprisoned 
within the cocoon, emergence is a rarity. Attempts to rear bifid indi- 
viduals were unsuccessful. No bifid forms were found in natural 
conditions. A preliminary study, especially as regards the setae, the 
nervous system, the nephridia, and the circulatory system, shows the 
body region of the monster-embryos to be double in composition, while 
the bifurcate portions simulate the normal Tubifex structure. J. A. T. 
Epithetosoma not a Gephyrean but a Nemertine. — Sixten Bock 
(. Bergens Mus. Aarbok , 1921, 20, No. 9, 1-6). A section through the 
type-specimen of Epithetosoma norvegicum Dan. and Kor. proves that 
the animal is a Heteronemertine, as Theel previously suggested. The 
specimen is badly preserved, but it is a Lineid, probably in the genus 
Micrura. In any case it has nothing to do with Gephyrea, and the 
genus Epithesoma must be dropped. J. A. T. 
Nematohelmintlies. 
Spermatogenesis of Ascaris felis. — A. C. Walton {Journ. Exper. 
Zool ., 1921, 34, 189-201, 2 pis.). This Nematode shows nine 
chromosomes for the haploid number, eight tetrad autosomes, and 
one hexad heterochromosome. This heterochromosome consists of an 
idiosome attached to the end of an autosome. This union occurs in the 
primary spermatocytes, the idiosome being a separate chromatic entity 
during the spermatogonial developmental period. The idiosome is of 
the X-type, undergoing quantitative division at the time of the 
formation of the spermatids. J. A. T. 
New Nematode Infection in Man.- C. A. Kofoid and A. W. White 
{Journ. Amer. Med. Assoc., 1919, 72. 567-9). Report of Nematode 
ova, the largest encountered in many human stools (95 by 40 microns), 
and marked by a broad concavity on one face and by two highly 
refractive, hyaline, bluish-green globules, flattened asymmetrically at 
the two poles of the embryo, which are dispersed as development 
proceeds. The ova are very distinctive, and are referred provisionally 
to Oxyuris incognita sp. n., pending the discovery of the adult stage. 
It may be that the ova, which occur in soldiers from many parts of the 
United States, come from a small species of Oxyuris which is beginning 
to attack man, perhaps in the appendix and the ducts of the liver. 
J. A. T. 
Blood Filaria of Goliath Heron. — F. Noc {Gomptes Rendus Soc . 
Biol., 1921, 84. 69-71). In the right auricle, pulmonary veins, and 
superior vena cava of Ardea goliath from Dakar there were abundant 
specimens of a new species of Filaria. The colour is opal-white. The 
habits of the adults and embryos are rather sluggish. The liberated 
embryos are surrounded by a sheath which is due to an elongation of 
the shell. The worms ingest the host’s blood. No hint of the 
intermediate host was discovered. J. A. T. 
