528 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
branched intestine, and a more extensively ramified testis. A number 
of the new species belong to the genus Distomum. With regard to the 
human parasite Bilharzia hsematobia, the author corrects numerous errors 
which appear in the latest description of this parasite. Dr. Looss has 
been able to work out the whole development of Amjpliistomum conicum , 
which is by no means rare in European cattle. Various Cercarise have 
been observed in various Molluscs, but their further histories have still 
to be worked out. 
Endoparasitic Worms from Birds near Warsaw.* — Dr. F. Sinizin 
has a report, in Russian, on the birds examined in the neighbourhood 
of Warsaw for endoparasitic worms. 120 examples of 51 species were 
examined, but in 35 only were parasites found. Some of these are new, 
and are described in some detail. Unfortunately, however, the anatomical 
details appear to be exceedingly scanty. 
Taeniae of Birds.f— Dr. E. Roth has a report on the anatomical 
studies of the Tsenise of birds, which Mr. A. Morell has published as an 
inaugural dissertation. The scolex is generally rounded, but the form 
depends, of course, to some extent on the state of contraction of the 
muscles. The number of suckers is nearly always four, and rarely five. 
The arrangement and character of the hooks varies greatly, and some- 
times they are absent. The excretory system is dealt with in some 
detail. The nervous system appears to be always of the same character, 
and the muscular system shows but slight variations in its arrangement. 
The cuticle in all cases forms a structureless membrane, the thickness 
of which varies within narrow limits. The male organs, with one 
exception, become mature before the female. Fertilisation is effected 
in three different ways. In most cases the vagina becomes a canal for 
fertilisation, and the fertilised eggs pass into the uterus. In the sub- 
genus Davainea the germ-cells remain at the place where they are 
formed, and the sperm and yoke-material are brought to them. The 
ovary becomes the uterus. The details of the third method are not 
given in the report before us. 
Tape-Worms of Poultry.^ — Dr. C. W. Stiles has prepared a report on 
the present knowledge of the tape-worms of poultry, and Mr. A. Hassall 
has added to it a bibliography of these parasites. Tape-worms infest 
domesticated poultry, and have in some cases given rise to serious out- 
breaks of disease. Of the 33 species which have been recorded for 
poultry, several are doubtful, and probably several forms appear more 
than once under different names. Six different tape-worms have been 
recorded from pigeons, 2 from turkeys, 11 from chickens, 2 from swans, 
7 from geese, 16 from ducks, and 1 from ostriches. These numbers, 
however, must be received with caution, as many of the specific accounts 
are almost worthless. Fortunately, the life-history of a number of forms 
is known, and agrees, as may be expected, with the life-history of other 
tape-worms. Chickens are known to have become infected by tape-worm 
through eating slugs; they are supposed to have become infected by 
eating snails, by eating flies, and by eating earth-worms. Ducks are 
* See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol., xx. (1896) p. 107. f Tom. cih, pp. 116-20. 
X U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Animal Industry, Bulletin No. xii., 
88 pp. and 21 pis. 
