Echidnotaenia gen. nov. (Anoplocephalata: Linstowiidae) is proposed for Cittotaenia tachyglossi Johnston, 1913 from the monotreme Tachyglossus aculeatus Shaw, 1792. The new genus is distinguished from other genera of the Linstowiidae by its paired genitalia and aporally extended vitellaria.

As far as the authors are aware, no standard technique has been described for the enumeration of infective trichostrongylid larvae recovered from faecal cultures. In experiments involving artificial infestations it is usually necessary to divide a concentrated suspension of larvae into a number of doses. In measuring the doses a dilution method may be used in which all the larvae in one or more aliquots taken from the diluted suspension are distributed on to a convenient number of slides and counted under the microscope. Alternatively, aliquots may be placed on the counting slide devised by Scott (1927). Such procedures are, however, time consuming and are fatiguing to the operator, where a large number of enumerations has to be made. They have the further disadvantage that the arbitrary dilution factor employed may result in too great a dispersion or conversely too great a concentration, either of which is undesirable from the point of view of accuracy and ease of counting.

Two new species of helminths, Fastigiuris prudhoei from Ochotona rufescens Gray, 1842, and Trichuris mofidii from Rhombomys opimus Lichtenstein, 1823, have been identified and described from mammals collected in Iran.

The distribution of cobalt in parasitic helminths belonging to the trematodes, cestodes or nematodes was determined by the use of an atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The results of these analyses have demonstrated that growing trematodes (smaller forms) with active oogenesis and spermatogenesis contained more cobalt than older forms (large or very old adults) with empty uteri and large lobulated testes. In cestodes, the neck region of cysticerci and immature proglottids of adults showed more cobalt than the cyst portion of cysticerci and hydatid or mature and gravid proglottids of worms. Similarly, the youngest endogenous daughter cysts of Echinococcus granulosus showed more cobalt in their walls than those of larger forms. The element was found more concentrated in nematode eggs than in adult females, irrespective of species of host.

This paper reports the experimental transmission of a bird parasite into jirds. Infective larvae of Cardiofilaria nilesi obtained from laboratory colonized Coquillettidia crassipes mosquitoes which had fed on an infected chicken were inoculated subcutaneously into jirds. The number of larvae per jird varied from 10 to 228. Microfilaraemia appeared 22 to 89 days after inoculation of the infective larvae. Experiments were carried out with 24 jirds through six generations extending over a period of 22 months and 17 produced patent infections. At present 8 infected jirds are being maintained in the laboratory; their patent periods ranging from 6 to 13 months. However, the longest patent period observed was about thirteen months. The percentage of adults recovered in autopsied jirds ranged from 0 to 40 with an average of 16. The chicken showed a microfilarial periodicity with the peak microfilarial density around 2200 hours. However, in jirds there was a change in sub-periodicity. This model in the jird may be very useful for the screening of filaricides and in immunological work.

Buckley and Fairley (1950) working in England found segments of a species of Bertiella passed by an eight year old girl who had lived in Kenya for 14 months during 1946–47. Since only the terminal segments were available for study, a specific identification could not be made, though the authors thought that it was probably Bertiella studeri (Blanchard, 1891). Nelson (1963) has found that baboons in Kenya are commonly infected with species of Bertiella.

Fresh eggs obtained from female Nematospiroides dubius were cultured at temperatures ranging from 5°C to 33°C. Hatching occurred between 5°C and 30°C; third stage larvae were obtained between 5°C and 25°C. The minimum time required from hatching to development to the third stage was 3.6 days (at 20°C) and the maximum was seven days (at 5°C). Larvae cultured at higher temperatures were smaller than those cultured at lower ones.

By kind permission of the Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History) the writer has had the opportunity of studying some tapeworms collected from a Greenland Salmon (Salvelinus alpinus subsp. ?) from Ottostrand, East Greenland, in August 1948 by Hjalmar Fleischer of Oslo. The material was found in the “gut” and contained about thirty specimens of an adult Diphyllobothrium, which appears to be new, along with specimens of Diplocotyle olrikii Krabbe, 1874 and Eubothrium crassum (Schrank, 1790).

Potato tubers infected with Heterodera marioni having been received at this Institute, it was decided to attempt to infect a small field plot with this eelworm for experimental purposes. The tubers were planted in the plot but the infection never became established. This was thought to be due to the heavy nature of the soil, since H. marioni has been recorded as a field parasite in Britain (Triffitt, 1931), and it is therefore unlikely that climatic conditions were the cause of its failure to become established in this instance. In order to verify this, and to find out how long this parasite can survive in soil in the absence of a host, the following experiment was carried out.

The indigenous dogs of Malawi form a fairly homogeneous group. The general type is a smooth-haired, medium-sized, terrier dog in many ways not unlike the Basenji of the Belgian Congo. Consequently it may be assumed that the local breed of dog has, generally speaking, had very little contact with exotic breeds and that it is quite possible the parasitic populations which it supports are also truly indigenous. A unique opportunity of exploring this unknown terrain presented itself when, as a result of an outbreak of rabies, it was decided to thin out the unvaccinated dog population as a veterinary control measure.

Pulmoverminae is proposed as a new subfamily within the Hemiuridae Lühe, 1901, to receive the genera Pulmovermis Coil and Kuntz, 1960 and Hydrophitrema Sandars, 1960. The genera are compared, and considered to be distinct.

Twelve amino acids were detected in six davaincid ecstodes, Davainea hewetensis Dhawan & Capoor (1972) collected from one Gallus gallus domesticus L. at Allahabad, India. Chemotaxonomic studies within the family Davaineidac have shown the presence of cystine and hydroxyproline only in D. hewetensis, although phenylalanine and proline occur in all species examined previously.

Mierofilariae of Litomosoides carinii and Dipetalonema viteae absorbed about ten times as much diethylcarbamazine (DEC) as did their adults, but bound much less. The higher uptake of DEC by the microfilariae might be related to the fact that DEC is microfilariae Binding of DEC: with the parasites supports the view that the microfilarcidal action begins with the fixation of the drug to the microfilariae.

Parabronema skrjabini Rassowska, 1924 was originally described from Russian Turkestan and is known to occur in that region in cattle, camel, sheep and goats. The parasite is also known from okapi (Leiper 1985) dying in the Zoological Gardens, London, and Nubian ibex and Giraffe (Ezzat, 1945) from the Zoological Gardens, Giza, Egypt. A closely related species was described and recorded, respectively, by Vuylsteke, 1985 (Parabronema okapiac) and Leiper, 1985 (Parabronema okapi) from okapi. Van den Berghe and Vuylsteke (1987) reduced P. okapiae to the status of a variety of P. skrjabini.

Haemoglobins from three different species of trematodes (Gastrothylax crumenifer, Paramphistomum epiclitum and Isoparorchis hypselobagri) and their respective hosts were digested with papain. Peptides so produced were separated on 10–15% SDS-PAGGE. The probability of coincidence of the peptides was analysed statistically. Oxygen affinity curves of trematode haemoglobins were found to be a rectangular hyperbolic. The Hill coefficient values of all the trematode haemoglobins were found to be 1. The P50 values, at 25°C in 0.2M phosphate buffer pH 7.4, ranged from 0.8 to 1.6 mmHg.

Excretory and secretory (ES) products collected from adult worms of Strongyloides ratti stimulated interleukin-3 (IL-3) production with mesenteric lymph node cells from infected C57BL/6 mice, hut not with normal mesenteric lymph node cells. The IL-3 stimulating components were not major IgG binding antigens. Activity of the IL-3 stimulating components was stable by treatment with protease, although reduced by heating in boiling water.

Euparadistomum is described from 7 species of small mammal in Malaysia. The worms display characteristics intermediate between E. buckleyi Singh and E. pearsoni Talbot particularly with regard to body shape and arrangement of vitelline fields. The nature of morphological variation is discussed and comment made on the possible life-cycle of the parasite.

(1) Cercaria splendens Szdiat was found in a specimen of Planorbis vortex, caught in a ditch near Utrecht, the Netherlands.

(2) Its morphology and behaviour are briefly described and compared with the data given by previous authors.

(3) A feeding experiment with the stickleback, Gasterosteus pungitus, is described. The preliminary conclusion is drawn that Gasterosteus is not the final host but probably acts as a transport host for this species.

A Sudanese isolate of Schistosoma bovis from experimentally infected sheep was found to be highly pathogenic to albino mice. Eggs were first found in the livers 42 days after exposure. The distribution of eggs in the liver and small and large intestines changed little during the course of infection. Results arc compared with others using an Iranian isolate of S. bovis, which causes only a mild infection, and S. mattheci.