W. Nicoll 
143 
In dealing with such a large volume of very varied work it seems 
advisable to consider it, as far as possible, under separate sub-divisions, 
such as systematic, morphological, developmental, etc., and although 
many papers will require to be discussed under more than one heading, 
the best idea of the whole subject will probably be obtained in this way. 
Considering then in the first place the systematic work, it will be 
found that the bulk of it has been devoted to Trematodes, in which 
class several of the large groups have received exhaustive treatment. 
The most outstanding contributions have been those on the North 
African Trematodes by Odhner (1911), the Echinostomes of Birds by 
Dietz (1910), the Distomes of North American Fishes by Linton (1910), 
and the important w r ork of Looss (1907) on the Hemiuridae. Two 
other monographs of considerable value have been those of Stiles and 
Goldberger (1910) on the Paramphistomes and of Kossack on the 
Monosfomes (1911). Of systematic work on the Cestodes the major 
portion has been done by Fuhrmann, the chief of whose numerous 
contributions is a monograph on the Bird Cestodes (1908). This work 
has been augmented by Ransom’s monograph on the Taenioid Cestodes 
of North American Birds (1909). A fair amount of work has also been 
done on the tape-worms of Mammals by Janicki (1906). The most 
outstanding systematic work on parasitic Nematodes has undoubtedly 
been that of Railliet and Henry on the Strongyle or bursate Nematodes. 
In an extended series of short papers they have given the outline of 
a classification of these forms, which, on the whole, appears fairly 
successful. Their work unfortunately lacks the exhaustive character 
which ought to be expected in publications of such importance, and 
much of it will require to be gone over in greater detail. A much fuller 
account has been given by Ransom (1911) of the Nematodes parasitic in 
the alimentary canal of Ruminants. With regard to the Acanthocephala 
or Echinorhynchs the most extensive work has been done by Porta (1909 
a and b) and by Liihe (1911). These authors have materially increased 
our knowledge of this very remarkable group and have devised more 
efficient means of identification. 
The general aim of the majority of these works has been to deal 
with the smaller taxonomic units; the arrangement of the higher 
groups has not been seriously altered except in the case of the 
monogenetic Trematodes which Odhner (1912) proposes to divide into 
Monopisthocotylea and Polyopisthocotylea, basing his classification on 
the internal anatomy as well as the suckers, instead of entirely on the 
latter as has hitherto been done. On the whole, although there has 
