While working on the amphistomes in the Congo Collection of the American Museum of Natural History, New York, it has been necessary to review the literature on this group of trematodes. In an earlier paper (1917), the writer described certain amphistomes from reptiles and birds and submitted an arrangement to show the probable relationship of the reptilian and avian amphistomes to those of other vertebrates. The amphistomes of fishes had been studied by Daday (1907), those of frogs by Cohn (1904) and Johnston (1912), while the mammalian species had been the subject of extensive papers by Fischoeder (1903) and Stiles and Goldberger (1910). Many of the descriptions were fragmentary, knowledge of the forms was incomplete, and the classification of Stiles and Goldberger was received with severe criticism, especially by Braun (1911), Odhner (1911) and Looss (1912). In this paper Looss described the lymphatic systems of Schizamphistomum scleroporum and Paramphistomum gigantocotyle, and announced (p. 358) that for many years he had been engaged in preparing a classification of the amphistomes which would be based on the form of the lymph and excretory systems and the structure of the copulatory apparatus.

There are no published records of the occurrence of Acanthocephala in the vertebrates of Japan. Professor Seitaro Goto has very kindly sent me a small collection of these worms for identification. While the collection is not extensive, it seems worth while to publish the results of the investigation, especially since there are several new species and a considerable amount of new biological data. In the ten vials of materials contained in this consignment, but seven host species are represented. Four of these are amphibians, two are fishes, and one is a whale. The parasites which these harboured include four new species of the genus Acanthocephalus, a previously undescribed member of the genus Arhythmorhynchus, a species of the genus Echinorhynchus and one unidentified species each in the genera Bolbosoma and Centrorhynchus.

Edward Alfred Minchin, M.A., F.R.S., will always be remembered as the first great British protozoologist. He may be said, indeed, to have founded the British School in this important subject and he was, during that period of his life which he devoted to it, outstandingly the leader. A special tribute to his memory, therefore, may most fittingly be paid in this Journal.

It would appear from casual references in literature that the seals and their relatives are quite commonly infested with certain mites which occur in the nasal passages or even in the bronchial tubes. Although there are several such references, apparently in but three have the mites been named. In these three cases they have been referred to the Gamasid (or Dermanyssid) genus Halarachne. The first species, Halarachne halichoeri Allman, from Halichoerus gryphus, an Atlantic seal, was described in 1847; the second, H. americana Banks, from Monarchus tropicalis, which is also an Atlantic species, was described in 1896; the third, H. otariae Steding, from Otaria californica (which is known to American mammalogists as Zalophus cali-fornianus), was described in 1923. The specimens upon which this last species was based were obtained in Germany, although the host is a native of the west coast of North America.

The object of the enquiry reported on below was to determine, if possible, the method of infection of Lucilia caesar, L. with Herpetomonas luciliae, a common parasite of the alimentary tract of the fly, the subject being not too remote from the kalaazar problem to lack interest.

The various suggestions concerning the mode of spreading of Monocystid Gregarines parasitic in earthworms have been already summarised by Minchin (1903), Hesse (1909) and more recently by Bhatia (1924). The last named author seemed to find that the spores from the vesicula seminalis may escape during copulation with the seminal fluid, may be transferred to the receptacula seminis to appear finally inside the cocoon of the earthworm. This observation has led him to suppose that the earthworm may become infected before it emerges from the cocoon. He does not, however, consider this mode of infection as the principal one, but accepts the general view that the majority of spores are set free only after the death of the worm and the complete disintegration of its body.

En Europe, les cas de myiase cutanée humaine ne semblent pas être d'une grande rareté et la littérature en mentionne un certain nombre, mais les auteurs qui les ont publiés out souvent négligé de donner une description détaillée des larves, de sorte qu'il est parfois difficile d'établir entre elles les comparaisons nécessaires à leur identification. Il est opportun de multiplier les dessins et les descriptions pour arriver, en les collationnant, à dégager les caractères différentiels des larves jeunes de certaines espèces d'Oestrides. C'est pour ces raisons que nous décrirons et figurerons une larve que nous avons eu récemment 1'occasion d'examiner, larve qui s'etait développée sous la peau derrière 1'oreille, chez une jeune fille de la Haute-Savoie (France). Nous la considérons comme une larve au stade B de l'Hypoderma bovis (de Geer), provisoirement peut-être, car elle ne correspond pas exactement aux descriptions qui ont été données pour cette espèce par Brauer, Joly, Topsent et Condorelli. Les indications de ces auteurs diffèrent par plusieurs points, en particulier par la disposition des bandes épineuses. Mais il s'agit là, semble-t-il, d'un caractère éminemment variable, d'autant plus que Phibbs a constaté que, chez les larves au stade C, la répartition des ilots épineux peut varier d'un individu à 1'autre; il est done assez vraisemblable que cette variabilité peut exister déjè au stade B. Admettant que la disposition des bandes et des ilots épineux n'est pas constante, nous avons done considéré la larve qui fait l'objet de ces lignes comme appartenant à l'Hypoderma bovis (de Geer).

A Large part of an account of the Anobiid beetles of the Seychelles Islands by the present writer, recently published (1924), consists of a description of a complex of species of small and obscure insects which it was extremely difficult to unravel. For these beetles, which vary in length between 1·6 and 2·6 mm., a new genus, Nesotheca, was erected. It was found that this genus has representatives in the Oriental Region, though the species of it which occur in the Seychelles are almost certainly endemic to those islands. Owing to the external characters being in many cases very inconstant, it proved impossible to discriminate between the various species at all satisfactorily by these characters alone, and therefore recourse was had to an examination of the genital armature, or aedeagus, of the males. This organ presents in the genus Nesotheca a remarkable series of quite distinct and constant forms, so that specimens which are almost, or entirely, indistinguishable externally, fall into quite clearly demarcated species when the aedeagus is used as a criterion. That the organ exhibits a quite different form in each of the ten species described can be seen by glancing at the figures in the paper to which reference has been made.

Some soldiers and workers of Cornitermes orthocephalus, Silv., were taken at Campos, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in July 1923 by Mr F. Balfour Browne, the leader of a party of Cambridge entomologists which visited South America at that time. One of the worker termites was subsequently found to contain a parasitic worm in its abdomen.

The parasite herein described was found in the coelomic cavity of Culicoides peregrinus by Mr A. R. O. Smith, of the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and was brought to me for identification. It is named after the Teacher of Protozoology, Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine. Numerous specimens with several undergoing ordinary transverse fission were observed.

Piroplasma Canisis is known to have a wide distribution in Asia. It has been recorded in India by Dalgetty (1904), Christophers (1907) and others, in French Indo-China, by Mathis (1909), in provinces of China, Shan-tung, by Eggebracht (1908), and Kiang-su by Fischer and Scheidemann (1920). Japanese workers have also found infected dogs in Japan. Recently Witkamp has suggested that P. canis might be the cause of the canine jaundice in the Dutch Indies, which has been described by Van Lier. Endemic centres are thus present in countries to the east and west of Malaya, and the islands to the south are suspect on clinical grounds, but the occurrence of P. canis in this country does not appear to have been hitherto recorded.

The genus Raillietostrongylus Lane, 1923, was essentially characterized by the presence of “rudimentary subventral semilunes” guarding its oral aperture. In its type and only species R. samoensis Lane, 1923, these structures were described as “most rudimentary.”. Cameron (1924) states bluntly that cutting plates do not exist in this species, so that he can see no reason for removing it from the genus Globocephalus. The natural implication of the wording is that in designating the new genus a seriously inaccurate observation was recorded.

The genus Clavella Oken, 1815, comprises parasitic Copepods belonging to the family Lernaeopodidae. The object of this paper is to dwell upon the following characteristics of the genus:

Members of the genus Clavella are pre-eminently parasitic on Gadoid fishes. (Four British species not occurring on Gadoids have already been removed to other genera; one doubtful species will probably have to follow, and I am suggesting the removal of two more.)

Great confusion prevails in literature with regard to the various species of nematode worms inhabiting the air-passages and blood-vessels of whales, porpoises and dolphins. These worms form a group analogous, and, as we believe, very closely related to the genera Metastrongylus, Dictyocaulus, Synthetocaulus, and Haemostrongylus, which occur in similar situations in terrestrial mammals. The genera named are referred to the family Meta-strongylidae Leiper (1908), as restricted by the exclusion of the forms now included in the family Trichostrongylidae Leiper (1912). The forms found in Cetacea, of which the typical genus is Pseudalius, have been ranked first as a subfamily Pseudaliinae of “Strongylidae” by Railliet and Henry (1909) and later as a family Pseudaliidae of Strongyloidea by Railliet (1916).

In the course of investigations on the Gregarines of Cirratulus (Audouinia) tentaculatus Mont., I have frequently noticed a large astomatous ciliate in the intestine. This appears to be Anoplophrya brasili described by Léger and Duboscq in 1904. One or two points, however, have led me to make a closer study of this organism, and I have come to the conclusion that it should be removed from the genus Anoplophrya.

Le nombre des travaux traitant de la concentration moléculaire des sues et tissus des divers animaux est déjà très grand (Fredericq, Sabbattani, Bottazzi, Quinton), pourtant les parasites ont été négligés. C'est pour combler cette lacune, que nous avons entrepris les recherches dont nous donnons ici les premiers résultats. La détermination des concentrations moléculaires a d'abord un intérêt en elle-même, comme détermination de constante physico-chimique. Elle peut, d'autre part, donner d'utiles renseignements pour l'étude des milieux de culture des grands parasites; elle peut aussi indirectement contribuer à l'étude de la spécincité parasitaire ainsi qu'à celle de la nutrition des parasites intestinaux.

The worm described in the present paper was obtained from the stomach of the common cat-fish, Clarias batrachus Bl. from Nagpur, C.P., India. Only 5 out of the 22 individuals examined harboured this parasite and as many as eight were obtained from a single individual. With the exception of two specimens, they were preserved in glycerol and were not subsequently used. The remaining two specimens were flattened out between glass slides and fixed in Mann's fluid.