394 REPORT OF THE HARVARD AFRICAN EXPEDITION 
was then submitted to Dr. Cobb who kindly consented to examine it. He 
reported that neither Aphelenchus nor Tylenchus was present but the nema- 
todes consisted of two species of Diplogaster. 
The genus Diplogaster Schultze (family Rhabditidae), is a large one com- 
prising more than a score of known species. Many of these have been found 
in moist soil, in water, between the sheaths of grasses, etc. Rahm ' has recently 
found species in banana, sugar cane, and mandioca. Cobb? considers that a 
number of species of Diplogaster appear to be at least facultative parasites. 
They have also been found in dead insects and caterpillars whose death they 
have apparently caused. Very recently Stekhoven* pointed out that some 
species of Diplogaster may lead a parasitic as well as a saprophytic life. He 
has shown that Diplogaster entomophaga is a parasite of the staphilinid beetle 
Astilbus and may apparently cause its death. In the examination of the nema- 
todes extracted from the abdominal body cavity in the condition described, 
he concluded that the nematodes move in the interstices between the abdominal 
musculature, apparently feeding on fat tissues and very soft tissues, whereas 
the musculature itself remains unattacked. 
In connection with the infection or invasion of plant life by nematodes, 
we should like to emphasize that such nematodes entering from the soil, or 
even those introduced or transmitted by insects, may sometimes offer an op- 
portunity for the introduction into the plant tissues of bacteria or the spores 
of fungi, which may be present either upon the external integument of the 
nematodes or perhaps in the excretions from their intestinal tract. In relation 
to certain nematodal infections in man, while the epidermis acts as a filter 
against the invasion of many bacteria, the possibility of the entrance of bacteria 
into the body through the passage of Uncinaria or Strongyloides from the sur- 
face of the skin into the circulation, is also a subject of some interest for further 
investigation. 
When this Report was about to go to press, the interesting experiments 
of Kawanishi? were published. He has found that in percutaneous infection 
with Ancylostoma larvae, bacilli adhering to the larvae may be carried into the 
human body, and infections with these bacilli may result. On the surface of An- 
cylostoma larvae he found various bacilli, namely, coli communis subtilis, pyocy- 
aneus, etc., also staphylococci and streptococci. The bacilli adhering to the 
surface of the larvae were not removed by washing in distilled water, nor by 
passage through agar, nor by their passage through the skin. He concludes 
therefore that in percutaneous infection with Ancylostoma, bacilli will enter 
the human body together with the larvae. No bacilli were verified within the 
body of the larvae but the presence of a ferment with bactericidal properties 
could be demonstrated in them. 
Steiner > has recently reported experiments which suggest that the trans- 
1 Rahm: Arch. do Inst. Biologico de defesa Agricola e Animal (1929), II, 67. 
2 Cobb: Ward and Whipple’s ‘‘Fresh Water Biology” (1918), p. 488. 
8 Stekhoven: Zoologischer Anzeiger (1929), LX XXIII, 265. 
4 Kawanishi: Experimental Studies on the Entrance of Path. Bacilli incidental to Percutaneous. 
Infection with Hookworm. 1929. * Steiner: Jour. Parasit. (1928), XV, 71. 
