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.

Part I of this paper, which dealt exclusively with the females, appeared in Parasitology, VIII. 262. After examining some dozens of dogfish each month for the previous three years I, at length, on April 2nd 1918 obtained from two separate dogfish caught during the preceding week at Plymouth, three females of Lernaeopoda scyllicola which were accompanied by males.

During August 1953, the Hon. Miriam Rothschild, with the assistance of Dr Schifferli and Fritz Muhlethaler, succeeded in obtaining three nests of the Alpine chough Pyrrhocorax graculus L. on the Niesen (1200 m.) Bernese Oberland, Switzerland. Three nests of the snow finch Montifringilla nivalis L. were collected during the same period from behind gutters and under eaves on the railway buildings at Eigergletscher (2320 m.), Bernese Oberland, immediately after the young birds had flown.

A new halarachnid mite, Zumptiella coreaensis, is described from female and male specimens obtained from the nasal cavities of the Korean squirrel, Sciurus vulgaris coreae, collected from Korea. A key to the species of the genus Zumptiella is presented.

Mesophryxus, a new genus of phryxid isopod is described. The only species, M. ventralis, is a parasite of Harpiliopsis beaupresi (Audouin) to which it is attached on the ventral aspect of the sixth abdominal segment, behind the fifth pair of pleopods. Mesophryxus is most closely related to the genus Anomophryxus Shiino, from which it differs in the arrangement of appendages on the abdomen.

R. cesticillus was found to undergo a diurnal migration in both multiple and single worm infections of the fowl. This migration involved movement of both scoleces and strobilae and occurred in an anterior direction when the intestine was empty of food, and in a posterior direction when the intestine contained food. The relevance of the migration to the histological picture of the worm in situ is discussed and some possible explanations for the migration are suggested.

Guinea-pigs immunized with equivalent numbers of normal or radiation-attenuated cercariae of Schistosomamansoni are known todevelop close to complete resistance to reinfection at weeks 12 and 4·5 respectively. We here analyse and compare the immune responses induced by the two populations of cercariae. Both radiation-attenuated and normal parasites of S. mansoni elicited an extensive germinal centre response in guinea-pigs by week 4·5 post-immunization. The anti-parasite antibody titre and cytotoxic activity of serum from 4·5-week-vaccinated, or 4·5-week-infected guinea-pigs were approximately equal, but sera from 12-week-infected individuals had high titres of anti-parasite antibody, which promoted significant larvicidal activity in vitro. In all cases, larvicidal activity was mediated by the IgG2 fraction of the immune serum. Lymphocyte transformation tests conducted on splenic lymphocytes from 4–5-week vaccinated guinea-pigs revealed maximal stimulation against cercarial, 2-week and 3-week worm antigens, whereas spleen cells from 4–5-week-infected guinea-pigs were maximally stimulated by cercarial and 6-week worm antigens. The splenic lymphocyte responses of 12-week infected animals were dramatic against antigens prepared from all life-stages of the parasite.

A linguatulid, very similar to the nymphal ‘Pentastoma gracile’ from crocodiles described by Sambon, was found in faecal material from a European resident in Khartoum. There is no evidence concerning the method of infection.

I am indebted to Dr E. S. Horgan, until recently Director of the Stack Medical Research Laboratories, for his reply to my inquiries concerning linguatulid infections in the Sudan; and to Prof. J. J. C. Butley, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, for his valuable assistance in obtaining relevant literature.

In a literature search for species of Pterygosoma it has been my good fortune to find a figure and Japanese description of Pterygosoma japonicum Kishida, 1927, in Figuraro de Japanaj, Bestej Tokyo, 1927, Hokurykan and Co. Ltd. This species has not been listed by the Zoological Record, and indeed it seems to have been completely overlooked in the West. Hence this re-publication.

At the present time Ankylostoma infection in man and disability resulting therefrom has aroused much concern. The geographical origin and present distribution of the two species of Ankylostoma known to be parasitic to man are of considerable interest, even though it be only academic. It is, therefore, probable that the following note may be worthy of publication.

In a small-scale trial in which boxes of grass infested with Trichostrongylus colubriformis were treated with methyl bromide, a dose of 100 mg. hr./l. prevented guinea-pigs picking up the infection when they grazed the grass at a later date. A practical method is described for fumigating small areas of pasture. In a field trial, sheep were used to test plots of pasture fumigated with doses which did not kill the grass but the results were inconclusive. These experiments are discussed and also the possible value and applications of this technique.

I am indebted to Professor B. G. Peters and to the other members of the Imperial College Field Station, particularly Dr A. B. Page and Dr O. F. Lubatti, for their help and criticism during the work. Thanks are also due to Dr William Davies, the Director of the Grassland Research Institute, Hurley, for permission to carry out the field experiment there, and also to Dr C. R. W. Spedding and Mr T. Brown for their co-operative assistance and advice throughout this work.

The development, survival and infectivity of larvae of Nippostrongylus brasiliensis at 10 and 21 °C have been studied. In cultures developed for 1 weekat21 °C but stored at either 10 or 21 °C the mean recovery of larvae in 1·5 h Baermann sediment (46% and 42% of total eggs, respectively) and their infectivity (66% and 70% day 8 p.i. recovery, respectively) at 4 weeks of cultivation were similar. However, at 20 weeks of cultivation only a few larvae survived storage at 21 °C (1·4%) and the survivors showed very low infectivity (4·1%), whereas larvae stored at 10 °C retained most of their survival and infectivity rates (41% and 44%, respectively). In cultures developed and stored at 10 °C a lower mean proportion (17%) of the eggs was recovered as larvae at 4 weeks of cultivation. The mean infectivity rate of these larvae increased from 4 to 12 weeks of cultivation (18 % and 42 %, respectively) but was reduced at 20 weeks of cultivation (27 %). An increased proportion of adult female worms was recovered from rats infected with larvae from cultures showing poor development or survival and the fecundity of the adult females decreased in all groups as the storage time of the cultures was increased. Eggs from low fecundity adult worms showed normal development of larvae. The relation between survival, temperature in the habitat and the geographical distribution of the larvae of N. brasiliensis is discussed.

Survival and infectivity of trypanosomatids rely on cell-surface and secreted glycoconjugates, many of which contain a variable number of galactose residues. Incorporation of galactose to proteins and lipids occurs along the secretory pathway from UDP-galactose (UDP-Gal). Before being used in glycosylation reactions, however, this activated sugar donor must first be transported across the endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi membranes by a specific nucleotide sugar transporter (NST). In this study, we identified an UDP-Gal transporter (named TcNST2 and encoded by the TcCLB.504085.60 gene) from Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas disease. TcNST2 was identified by heterologous expression of selected putative nucleotide sugar transporters in a mutant Chinese Hamster Ovary cell line. TcNST2 mRNA levels were detected in all T. cruzi life-cycle forms, with an increase in expression in axenic amastigotes. Confocal microscope analysis indicated that the transporter is specifically localized to the Golgi apparatus. A three-dimensional model of TcNST2 suggested an overall structural conservation as compared with members of the metabolite transporter superfamily and also suggested specific features that could be related to its activity. The identification of this transporter is an important step toward a better understanding of glycoconjugate biosynthesis and the role NSTs play in this process in trypanosomatids.

As a zoologist, I have never really understood why those of us who study nematodes continue to partition ourselves into at least two distinct camps, one of which works on the plant-parasitic and free-living species, and the other primarily on animal-parasitic species. And I suspect that nematodes themselves are equally puzzled by this segregation of their ardent scholars. Historically, of course, plant nematologists aggregated in crop research and botany departments, whereas the animal nematologists were stationed in livestock, veterinary, medical and zoological departments of research institutes and universities. I found much of interest in NematologyVol. 1, but I was left with the impression that, whilst the ‘iron curtain’ was beginning to tumble, it still had a long way to fall. We have not yet reached a stage where nematodes as distinct organisms, whatever their niche, take priority in our thinking. But I race ahead. Let us retrace and begin with the details of this volume.