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HERPETOMONAS ASPONGOPI. 
By W. M. ADERS, Ph.D. 
(2 Figures.) 
(From the Wellcome Research Laboratories, Khartoum.) 
During the winter of 1908, when working in the Wellcome Labora¬ 
tories at Khartoum, Dr Balfour proposed that I should examine a 
number of parasites both of plants and animals in order to ascertain if 
the former were infested with any other species of parasite ; in other 
words, to study what has been termed hyper-parasitism. 
The first parasite examined was the “Melon Bug,” Aspongopus 
viduatus, a large hemipterous insect which causes considerable damage 
to the melon crops in Khartoum. The adult female lays her eggs on 
the leaves of the melon plant. The eggs are green in colour and usually 
number from 12 to 15. The young larvae in the winter months hatch 
out in about 12 days; they are bright crimson in colour, shed their skins 
several times, and develope into nymphs. The nymphs vary much in 
colour, some being of a bright red, whilst others are blackish. The bugs, 
if supplied regularly with fresh food, will live well in captivity. 
The alimentary tract (see Fig. 1) of the adult Aspongopus consists 
of a short narrow oesophagus which opens into a large sacculated crop: 
this adjoins the large round stomach, directly behind which is another 
dilatation, the mid-gut: this is somewhat pear-shaped, and brightly 
coloured, and it is continuous with the small intestine which is generally 
much coiled. At the junction of the small intestine and the colon four 
long narrow malpighian tubes arise: and the colon terminates directly 
in the rectum. The salivary glands are easily recognised as a pair of 
white glistening bodies, each consisting of five acini which open into 
the narrow oesophagus. In adult females the ovaries which are large 
green grape-like bodies, situated on either side of the body cavity, are 
