64 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
the mid-gut ; at the end of this organ are stellate cells, which have 
probably an excretory function. 
The organ which is described as a caecum, and lies in the anterior 
region, is shown by transverse sections to be solid, and to be a con- 
tinuation of the ventral side of the oesophageal wall. It appears to be a 
gland, made up of cells, and traversed by an intracellular canaliculus. 
It is divisible into two halves, and there are two canaliculi, one in 
each ; these open into the wall of the oesophagus. The gland has, 
fundamentally, the same structure as the excretory organ of the lateral 
line. 
In parasitic Nematodes there are other organs in the coelom which 
are connected with the lateral lines. Lecanocephalus possesses several 
peculiar organs, 0 • 4 mm. in diameter, which are distinguished by their 
digitate ramifications, and have a disproportionately large nucleus in 
their centre. The branches carry small pyriform structures, which, by 
their granulated, highly refractive substance, lead to the supposition 
that they may be homologous with the ciliated organs ; no cilia, however, 
have been detected. A fuller account is promised. 
Trichosomum strumosum sp. n * — Herr J. Eeibisch describes this 
new parasite, which he found in the oesophageal epithelium of Pliasianus 
colchicus. It appears to be the cause of great mortality among young 
pheasants. The body is very slender ; at the anterior end there is a 
vesicular dilatation of the cuticle ; the anal end is obliquely truncate, 
and bears in the male two valves beside the cloaca ; the female apertures 
lie laterally *5 mm. behind the beginning of the intestine; the male 
genital duct extends forwards to the pear-shaped cells. The male 
measures 17 • 4 mm. in length by *1 mm. in maximum breadth; the 
female, 37 mm. by * 15 mm. 
History of Filaria uncinata.j — Prof. 0. Hamann has been able to 
find the intermediate host of F. uncinata, which is so frequently found 
in the digestive tract of Ducks and Geese, where masses several centi- 
metres in size are often to be seen. These worms are sexually mature, 
and they give rise to embryos which either escape actively by the mouth, 
or, as is more ordinary, are carried away with the faeces. These last are 
greedily eaten by DapTinise, which thus become infected by the parasite ; 
the worm makes its way into the body-cavity, where it remains till the 
DapJinia is eaten by a Duck or Goose. 
Nematodes of Pharyngeal Glands of Ants.J— M. C. Janet describes 
a form of Pelodera which lives in the pharyngeal glands of Formica 
rufa , Lasius flavus, and other Ants, just as Leptodora jiexilis lives in the 
salivary glands of Limax cinereus. To obtain a number of these 
Nematodes it is only necessary to tease out the head of an individual 
from a spot infected by these parasites. On examination they are found 
to be a larval stage of a species which in its free state lives in the debris 
of the ants’ nests. This parasite does not appear to be found in the 
abdomen of ants. 
* Arch. f. Naturgesch., lix. (1893) pp. 331-40 (1 pi.). 
t Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. P.irasitenk., xiv. (1893) pp. 555-7. 
X Comptes Rendus, cxvii. (1893) pp. 700-3 (1 fig.). 
