Habitat and Record. Two specimens, ♀, were taken on Mustelus vulgaris ♂, the smooth hound, captured at Plymouth in August 1918. They were attached in the angle between the host's body and the pelvic fin and slightly to the left. [This location is unfortunate since the length of the attaching “arms” (2nd maxillae) I have endeavoured elsewhere to show, is a variable character not to be depended upon for the determination of species; for it is my experience that Lernaeopoda spp. have arms very short in this location.]

N. A. Cholodkovsky was born on the 4th of March 1858 at Irkutsk, Siberia, where his father was a physician. He attended school in St Petersburg (now Leningrad) and at the age of 17 entered the Academy of Medicine. After completing his medical education, having no inclination for practice, he joined the University and in 1885 obtained the lectureship of Zoology in the Institute of Forestry.

The following brief survey considers various manoeuvres which can be applied to manipulate the immune response to parasitic infections in vivo. The examples quoted largely concern malaria, babesiosis, schistosomiasis and leishmaniasis, predominantly in inbred mouse strains. Since my own relevant research experience has been restricted to leishmaniasis, this will receive undue emphasis, although it does illustrate particularly well points I wish to stress. The types of intervention described do not all provide the precision of interpretation with which they are sometimes credited. Thus, effects of immunosuppression or T-cell depletion alone can usually only implicate the specific immune response (in its broad sense) in shaping the natural history and outcome of an infection or in underlying the effect of prophylactic immunization. Nevertheless, more precise delineation of lymphocyte subset involvement can be obtained by cell replacement studies in some of these models or by exclusion of antibody. The outcomes of these approaches have been (or are) predictable in most cases. More fascinating, however, are the various instances which will be stressed where totally unpredicted and contrary observations have been made which led (or may lead) to fresh insight into the disease. These serendipitous findings illustrate at the same time the value of applying the manoeuvres, even though they imply that the logical immunologist cannot yet always outsmart the parasite by design.

Cotugnia columbae sp.nov. from the domestic pigeon is described and compared with other species of the genus. The tapeworm measures 108–130 mm in length and 2·236 mm in maximum breadth. The rostellum bears 200 hooks, 7·7–10·6 μm. long arranged in two rows. Testes number 105–130 and the cirrus pouch measures 0·354–0·376 x 0·054–0·065 mm.

We are grateful to Dr C. M. Singh, Director, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, and to Dr H. D. Srivastava, erstwhile Assistant Director and Head of the Division of Parasitology, for their interest in these studies and for the provision of the necesssary facilities.

1. The nematode Rhabditis pellio Bütschli may be cultured indefinitely on earthworm extract.

2. Although the females of this nematode are usually capable of parthenogenetic reproduction, males are produced in the offspring only if copulation has taken place.

3. Occasionally non-parthenogenetic generations appear but these do not represent a separate species.

4. An explanation is given for the sex ratio found under natural conditions and it is suggested that sex-determination works on a chromosomal arrangement of XO = male and XX = female.

5. The nematode named R. terrestris Stephenson 1942 is probably the same as that named R. pellio Bütschli by Johnson 1913.

6. The nomenclature of R. pellio Bütschli is discussed.

The genus Microcotyle of the order Monogenea is a large one, containing about forty species, and it is well summarized by MacCallum (1913, 1915).

Three new parasitic mites—a fur mite, a mange mite, and a nasal mite—were recovered recently on dissolving the head of a specimen of Hystrix africaeaustralis Peters, the South African porcupine, in a solution of potassium hydroxide. The fur mite is being studied by Dr R. F. Lawrence of the Natal Museum. The other two species, the mange mite, belonging to the genus Psorergates Tyrrell, and the nasal mite, belonging to the genus Rhinophaga Fain, are described below.

The last twenty-five years have witnessed an increasing output of significant work in this country on the trematode parasites of a number of wild birds, including aquatic species. These studies, which are mostly faunistic, and can be said to have commenced in 1926, when Bhalerao (1926) described from Burma (then a province of India) the flukes of the house crow, deal primarily with a large number of representative species of nearly twenty families of Digenea. Of these families, species assignable to the Clinostomidae Lühe, 1901, the Cyathocotylidae Poche, 1926, the Cyclocoelidae Kossack, 1911, the Diplostomidae Poirier, 1886, the Echinostomatidae Poche, 1926, the Notocotylidae Lühe, 1909, the Opisthorchiidae Braun, 1901, and the Strigeidae Railliet, 1919, were encountered in a survey conducted to assess the nature of helminthic infections in wild aquatic birds of the Mathura area.

The following animals are from a collection made for and kindly presented to me by Miss Miriam Rothschild during her visit to Brighton in July and August 1935.

1. Four trematodes, Gastrothylax crumenifer, Cotylophoron cotylophorum, Paramphistomum explanatum and Fasciola gigantica have been used for quantitative analysis of their inorganic constituents.

2. Calcium, magnesium and phosphorus content have been determined.

3. All the four trematodes contain large amounts of phosphorus (0·61–1·05%); but the amounts of calcium (0·025–0·045%) and magnesium (0·029–0·065 %) are small.

The unusual occurrence of an infestation of Fimbriaria fasciolaris in the proventriculus of a swan is recorded.

The worms were associated with the presence of bipolar staining bacteria and ulcer formation near the site of their attachment.

On 9. 1. 1928, Mrs R. A. Neuman of Ransomville, N.Y., sent me a tick for identification, stating that it was a kind of “bug” with which she was not familiar and that it was occasionally found on the walls of her home. She collected in all about six specimens, but sent me only one, which proved to be an Ornithodorus talaje (Guérin-Méneville), my identification having been since confirmed by Professor Nuttall and Mr Warburton.

A case of a heavy infestation of Cysticercus tenuicollis, terminating fatally in a deer, was recently afforded by one of the experimental animals of the Dominion Entomological Branch (Livestock Insect Investigation Laboratory) at Kamloops, B.C.

In laboratories which are situated either abroad or in districts at some distance from commercial centres, it often happens that needed apparatus is difficult to obtain, and these notes may be helpful to workers in such situations.

DEAD Box RNA helicases are essential enzymes that are involved in RNA metabolic processes such as transcription, pre-mRNA splicing, translation initiation and RNA decay. We have previously over-expressed and biochemically characterized an immunodominant cDNA clone encoding DEAD box RNA helicase (BmL3-Helicase) isolated by immunoscreening of the larval stage cDNA library of Brugia malayi. In the current study, the 3D structure was determined and the immunoprophylactic efficacy of BmL3-Helicase was investigated by immunizing Mastomys coucha with the recombinant protein and subsequently challenging with B. malayi infective larvae. The immunization had an adverse outcome on the establishment of challenged larvae resulting in a 67·4% reduction in adult parasite recovery, a 86·7% decrease in the microfilarial density and profound sterility of the recovered female worms. The immune response thus generated was investigated by measuring the levels of specific antibodies including IgG subclasses, reactive oxygen species and cytokines.