A new genus of the Monogenea, Teraplectanum n. g., is proposed for two new species of diplectanids found on the gills of Terapon theraps Cuvier collected off Carey Island, Peninsular Malaysia. The genus is based on a unique arrangement of the male reproductive system. In the new species spermatozoa stored in the seminal vesicle and secretions stored in the prostatic reservoir are transferred into, and mixed to form semen within, a special sclerotized auxiliary piece (SAP), and not within the copulatory tube as occurs in the majority of monogeneans. Teraplectanum species also possess a unique sclerotized vaginal loop through which the vaginal tube passes en route from the vaginal pore to the seminal receptacle. The two new species are Teraplectanum crassitubus n. sp. (type species) and T. angustitubus n. sp. They differ from each other mainly in the morphology of their copulatory tube: in T. crassitubus, the proximal region of this tube is thicker compared to the slender proximal region in T. angustitubus, although in both cases the tube tapers and twists distally. Of the known diplectanid species, only Diplectanum undulicirrosum Zhang et al., 2000 (currently considered incertae sedis) possesses such sclerotized hard parts, which suggests the same type of arrangement of the male reproductive system. Consequently, D. undulicirrosum is re-assigned to this new genus as Teraplectanum undulicirrosum (Zhang et al., 2000) n. comb. The copulatory tube of T. undulicirrosum is similar to the slender, undulating copulatory tube of T. angustitubus but does not taper distally as in the latter species.

The Cairo City Police is a force consisting of more than 5,300 men. They are recruited principally from the Egyptian Army Reserve or by direct conscription. They are mostly derived from the poorest classes of the agricultural population and the artisans of the towns. Any individual can be exempted from enlistment in the Army on paying £E.20, and it is only those who cannot afford to pay that sum that are enlisted if medically fit.

The question of helminth parasitism in British goats appears to have had little or no attention paid to it. This is somewhat surprising when one considers the fairly large number of goats which must be present in this country and, although no annual statistics as to the number of goats in Britain are available, Holmes Pegler (1929) observes that early in 1925 the Ministry of Agriculture, assisted by the British Goat Society, obtained returns of the number of goats in England and Wales which was set down as, roughly, 60,000. Similarly little definite data is available on the frequency and intensity with which these animals are infected by helminths in different localities. In this paper an attempt is made to supplement the meagre data relative to these conditions.

The qualitative and quantitative parameters of temporal distribution of Cucullanus tripapillatus and Cucullanus chrysophrydes in the intestine of Orthopristis ruber in the Caribbean Sea on the north of Margarita Island, Venezuela were analysed. A total of 540 fish were collected at random from the catch of commercial trawlers during 1982–83 and 1992–93. Both species of Cucullanus were found throughout the year; prevalence and mean intensity of C. tripapillatus were higher than that of C. chrysophrydes. A significant difference was found in infection between the two years of sampling. Female worms were more abundant than male in both years. Both species exhibited pronounced prevalence and maturity in September and March of each year, indicating seasonality. The patterns of occurrence of the two species of Cucullanus in O. ruber did not change in the 10-year interval but the host size and number of parasites declined, which may be due to over-exploitation of definitive fish hosts.

Methods of treatment of trichinosis have been reviewed by van Someren (1938), and it was stated that no experimentally confirmed therapeutic measure had yet been found for the treatment of this disease by destruction of the nematodes in the body. In an attempt to discover a satisfactory chemotherapeutic measure, an experimental trial was made of an anthelminthic “Butolan” (Bayer), which has been shown to give very satisfactory results in cases of oxyuriasis, and in some ascariasis infections.

Seasonal fluctuations in the infrapopulation size of strobilocerci of Hydatigera balaniceps (Hall, 1911), H. laticollis (Rudolphi, 1819) and H. parva (Baer, 1926) infesting liver lobes of Indian house rat populations at high altitude (1400 to 1600m) appear to be correlated with climatic oscillations in temperature. Greater susceptibility of Rattus rattus to infection was evident at lower temperatures. The distribution of strobilocerci in rodent populations could be described by the Poisson model (P<0-20-P<0001).

On the basis of the morphological characterization of Chelatrema neilgherriensis Manjula & Janardanan, 2006 recovered from the freshwater fish Barilius gatensis (Valenciennes, 1844) in the Wayanad region of the Western Ghats, the diagnostic features of the genus Chelatrema Gupta & Kumari, 1973 have been modified. Based on the phylogenetic analysis of C. neilgherriensis and comparative morphology studies relative to members of other families of Gorgoderoidea Looss, 1901, this genus is placed in a new family Chelatrematidae n. fam. The studies revealed the molecular and morphological closeness of Chelatrema with Paracreptatrematina limi Amin & Myer, 1982, and the latter is transferred to this new family. Hence the new family Chelatrematidae n. fam. comprises the genera Chelatrema and Paracreptatrematina.

A series of experiments was carried out using adult outbred Polish race rabbits of both sexes infected, during spring or autumn. with 10 000 larvae of Obeliscoides cuniculi, either fresh or stored at 4°C. Extracts of mucosal proteins and bile were collected at postmortem 6 or 12 weeks after infection. Antibody levels were determined in antisera. bile and stomach mucosa by haemagglutination and precipitation tests. Local antibody respones were demonstrated in the stomach and bile, and reactions were obtained with the tissue fluids by haemagglutination and precipitation tests with worm antigens and ES products. Additionally, some specific immunological response was observed in the circulation during the primary infection. These results suggest a clear-cut relationship between increased levels of these antibodies and either larval inhibition or worm expulsion during O. cuniculi infections.

Certain species of the nematode genus Anguillulina which commonly occur in close association with the roots of grasses are known to invade the root cortex and to reproduce therein. Thus Anguillulina pratensis, A. obtusa and A. erythrinae all occur in the roots of Agrostis stolonifera L. in pastures at this Institute. The writer has on a few occasions, also found one or two specimens of the small tapering-tailed species, A. agricola and A. costata, within the root cortex of the same kind of grass but further observations are needed before we can say definitely whether these two species actually parasitize roots and reproduce within the tissues. An occasional specimen of A. intermedia has also been found by the writer once or twice inside root tissues but never in what could be regarded as fresh, sound roots, and in view of Linford's (1937) observations on the ability of this species to feed upon fungal hyphae, it is probably safest to regard it as not a true parasite. The examples found may have entered partly decayed roots in search of fungal hyphae.

The genus Orientodiscus was proposed by Srivastava (1938) for O. jumnai and O. lobatus from a freshwater fish, Silundia gangeticus from India. Recently, Rhode (1963) added O. fernandoi and O. hendricksoni from freshwater turtles, Trionyx spp., from Malaysia. A large number of trematodes belonging to Orientodiscus were collected from freshwater turtles in Aligarh, India. They represent three new species.

Neocamallanus bareilliensis n. sp. has been described from the intestine of a freshwater fish Channa punctatus from Bareilly (U. P.) India. It has been distinguished from the other three species of the genus reported so far.

From time to time the writers have noted some items pertaining to nematode taxonomy that appeared to require some clarification. In this connexion the following brief notes have been assembled and are presented with the hope that they may prove useful.

We describe the larval developmental stages and life cycle of the dracunculid nematode Mexiconema cichlasomae in both the intermediate, Argulus yucatanus (Crustacea: Branchiura), and definitive hosts, Cichlasoma urophthalmus (Perciformes: Cichlidae), from the Celestun tropical coastal lagoon, Yucatan, Mexico. The morphological analyses showed significant differences between the total length of L1 found in M. cichlasomae gravid female and L2–L3 in A. yucatanus. This result indicates that the M. cichlasomae larval development occurs in the intermediate host. We obtained sequences from the small subunit (SSU) ribosomal marker from larval stages of M. cichlasomae in A. yucatanus and adult nematodes in C. urophthalmus. Our morphological and molecular results support conspecificity between M. cichlasomae larvae in A. yucatanus and the adult stages in C. urophthalmus. We briefly discuss the phylogenetic position of M. cichlasomae among the Daniconematidae, and provide evidence of the monophyly of the daniconematids associated with branchiurid intermediate hosts. Based on the phylogenetic results, we support the transfer of the Mexiconema genus to the family Skrjabillanidae and do not support the lowering of family Daniconematidae to subfamily.

These studies address current controversies over the site(s) of challenge attrition in the murine irradiated vaccine model of immunity to Schistosoma mansoni. Two possibilities have been investigated. Firstly, that the site of death of the radiation-attenuated schistosomes used to vaccinate the mice may vary in different laboratories and secondly, that the skin sites selected for presentation of the immunizing and challenge parasites may influence the final site at which immunity is effected (i.e. ear/abdomen vs tail/tail). The migration of radiolabelled cercariae exposed to 0, 20 or 50 krad of gamma irradiation from the NIMR 60Cobalt source was examined in CBA/Ca mice by squashed organ autoradiography. Unirradiated parasites all migrated from the skin to the lungs, and 65% moved on to the liver. Migration of parasites attenuated by exposure to 20 krad of gamma irradiation was delayed, but 76% finally reached the lungs; only 1% was recruited to the liver. The majority of 50 krad attenuated parasites died in the skin, with only 4% accomplishing migration to the pulmonary vasculature. The major site of death (and by implication of antigenic stimulation) of the 20 krad attenuated NIMR strain S. mansoni used routinely for vaccination purposes in our laboratory, is thus the lungs, a finding that does not explain the fact that immunity is mediated primarily in the skin in our model system. Site elimination experiments and squashed organ autoradiography showed conclusively that, irrespective of the skin sites chosen for presentation of the immunizing and challenge population of worms, NIMR challenge parasites are killed predominantly in the skin of vaccinated CBA/Ca mice. Moreover, qualitative and quantitative histological examination of the challenged tail skin of vaccinated mice revealed that inflammatory reactions comprising mononuclear cells and eosinophils develop in this site and function to trap and eliminate challenge larvae, despite a reported reduction in antigen presenting cells in this region.

Various catecholamines and catecholamine antagonists have been examined for their effects on the third larval moult of the parasitic nematode, Dirofilaria immitis, cultured in vitro. The non-selective α and β agonist, noradrenaline, and the β agonist, isoprenaline, had no effect on the timing of the third stage moult when used at a concentration of 10−5M. The α-adrenergic antagonist. phentolamine, resulted in worm mortality at 10−5M. At 10−7M, both phentolamine and the β-antagonist, propranolol caused a significant reduction in the numbers of larvae capable of completing the third stage moult. Idazoxan, an a2-antagonist, at 10−5M did not affect worm mortality but did completely prevent ecdysis. The potential of these compounds as possible filaricides is discussed.

Adult males of Schistosoma mansoni were preincubated in 5-hydroxtryptamine (5HT) and processed through the glyoxylic acid fluorescence technique to visualize 5HT-containing neural elements. 5HT flourescence was seen as a series of cross-sectional rings beginning behind the ventral sucker toward the tail end. The rings were connected by two lateral nerve cords running longitudinally along the whole lenght of the worms.

In “Veterinary Medicine” for March, 1924, Dr. M. C. Hall contributes the third instalment of his paper, “Developments in Veterinary Parasitology during the past Fifteen Years,” and on pages 190 and 191, under the heading Lungworms (Metastrongylidæ), considers work on the life histories of the lung-worms of sheep and cattle, Dictyocaulus filaria and D. viviparus, and then refers to the paper under review. His words are as follows: “The life-histories of the swine lung-worms Metastrongylus elongatus and M. brevivaginatus have been ascertained by an American worker, Zebrowski. In general it is similar to that of Dictyocaulus filaria above, but the moisture requirements of the larvæ in cultures are rather exact. Zebrowski's work, published in 1921 in the proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science, has been quite generally overlooked.”

A controlled study was carried out to determine the effect of some known anti-filarial drugs on the pattern of emergence of Onchoccrca volvulus microfilariae from skin snips into saline. The results show that before treatment, 81·7 to 92·1% of microfilariae emerge in all the groups within 24 hours. The differences between the groups were not significant. After treatment with oral diethylcarbamazine, metrifonate and topical diethylcarbamazine (DEC) the percentage of microfilariae emerging from the snips dropped significantly to 48·4,560 and 60·1 respectively, whereas no significant change occurred following treatment with levamisole (88·1%) and yeast tablets (89·1%). A pair-wise comparison of the post-treatment microfilarial emergence in all the groups showed statistically significant differences when (i) oral DEC is compared to levamisole, topical DEC and yeast, (ii) metrifonate is compared to levamisole and yeast and (iii) topical DEC is compared to yeast. It is suggested that microfilariae which fail to emerge from snips after treatment are those that have been killed or paralysed by the action of the drugs. The study has thus established that drug action in vivo is one of the factors which affects the proportion of microfilariae which emerge from skin snips and provides an additional parameter for measuring the antimicrofilarial potential of drugs in clinical chemotherapeutic trials.

Albion mice (Balb c/nut) experimentally infected with Heligmosomoides polygyrus were treated with levamisole hydrochloride (‘Nemicide’—ICI Pharmaceutical PLC) by oral drenching or subcutaneous injection at 5, 10 and 20 mg kg −1. Faecal egg counts monitored for two three days after dosing and post-mortem worm counts were used to assess the efficacy of these treatments. The lowest dose rate gave poor clearance of adult worms but at 10 and 20 mg kg−1, 91 and 96% reduction in worm burden were achieved. Reduction in post-dosing faecal egg counts were variable. Neither method of administration offered particular advantage in terms of efficacy. Faecal egg count data gave inconsistent differences and at necropsy, worm counts were lower in mice dosed orally but not significantly so.