ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
41 
ciliated pits at tlie anterior end of the body ; these are placed just inside 
the line of eyes, where they formed a single row of, in some cases, as 
many as thirty on either side. These pits may measure not more than 
0-01.7 mm. in outside transverse diameter. Under a high power the pits 
are seen to have a very characteristic sharp double outline, the thick 
wall of the pit being composed of almost cubical cells arranged in a 
circle. The cilia in the pits work in a spiral or vortex. Occasionally 
the wall of the pit is seen to contract suddenly and spasmodically, but this 
happens rarely and with no regularity. The pits appear to be supplied 
with special nerves from the cerebral ganglion. It can hardly he doubted 
that they are sense-organs, and Dr. Dendy thinks their special function 
is olfactory. As suggested by Moseley, it is not unlikely that they are 
homologous with the cephalic pits of Nemertines. 
New Land Planarians.* — Dr. A. Dendy describes some Land Pla- 
narians which have been found since his recent memoir on them was 
printed. One of the most interesting of them was Wiynchodemus simulans, 
as, with the exception of a single specimen found not far from the New 
South Wales border, it i6 the first time the genus has been found in 
Victoria. 
Parasitic Trematoda.f — Dr. M. Braun has a report on recent advances 
in our knowledge of animal parasites. E. Selti J has investigated the 
forms of ova ; the Monogenea are generally characterized by the spindle 
form, and the Digenea by the ellipsoidal. The ova of the Tristomida 
diverge most from the type, as they are three- or four-cornered, and by 
the production or atrophy of one or all the corners may take on very 
various forms, and there is even individual variation. G. St. Remy § 
has published a synopsis of the monogenetic Trematodes, in which keys 
are given for the various groups and for genera ; this will probably be very 
useful to all who are engaged in the study of these forms. P. Sonsino |) 
describes, under the name of Anoplodiscus, a Trematode from the gills 
of Pagrus orphus, which stands between the Tristomida and the Gyro- 
dactylida. E. Lonnberg ^ gives an account of a specimen of Distomum 
goliath van Ben. from Baleenoptera rostrata. 
New Trematode found in Cattle.** — Mr. A. Hassall describes a new 
fluke, which he proposed to call Fasciola carnosa, but now names 
F. americana, which is found in the liver and lungs of American cattle. 
It is intermediate in size between F. hepatica and F. gigantea, being 
45 mm. long and 22 broad. The intestine is much more branched 
than that of the common fluke. 
Cestoda-tt — In reporting on recent papers on Cestoda Dr. M. Braun 
speaks, among others, of J. C. Huber’s ‘ Bibliographie der klinischen 
Helminthologie.’ Sonsino reports three cases of Taenia nana from Pisa, 
* Proc. Roy. Soc. Victoria, 1891, pp. 35-8. 
t Biol. Centralbl., x. (1891) pp. 421-7. J Atti Soc. Ligust., ii. (1891) 7 pp. 
§ Rev. Biol, du Nord, iii. (1891) pp. 405 et seq. (1 pi.). 
|| Proc.-verb. Soc. Tosc., 1890. 
II Verh. Biol. Ver. Stockholm, iii. (1891) 14 pp. (1 pi.). 
** Centralbl. f. Bakt. u. Parasitenk., x. (1891) pp. 464 & 5; Amer. Vet. Rev. 
1891, pp. 208 & 9 (1 fig.). ft Biol. Centralbl., x. (1891) pp. 427-30, 465-71. ’ 
U Rev. Gen. Ital. Clin. Medica, iii. (1891) Nos. 8 and 9. 
