Isoelectric focusing studies on enzyme variation between populations of the snail Bulinus senegalensis revealed that parasitic infections in the snails contributed additional bands of enzyme activity, particularly in the glucose phosphate isomerase (GPI) and malate dehydrogenase (MDH) systems. The patterns due to the parasite enzymes were, in most cases, clearly distinct from those of the host and different from each other. Parasites encountered included Schistosoma haematobium, S. bovis, Paramphistomum microbothrium, another amphistome probably belonging to the group which infect amphibians, Echinostoma revolutum, another echinostome (probably Echinoparyphium sp.), strigeids, xiphidiocercariae (these were resolved into 3 distinct types by the enzyme data) and ciliate protozoa. The 7 host populations which were examined showed marked differences in both the prevalence and variety of their parasitic infections and these variations were tentatively related to environmental differences in their respective habitats and to the nature of human contact patterns. Seasonal changes in the parasite fauna were also noted and some of the implications of the parasite load on the host population are briefly mentioned.

Trypanosomes were studied from the blood of 6 species of small British fish caught in the River Lee. Morphologically the trypanosomes from the blood of Nemacheilus barbatulus L., Phoxinus phoxinus L., Cottus gobio L., Gobio gobio L., Gasterosteus aculeatus and Pungitus pungitus L. were indistinguishable. Cross-transmission experiments using syringe passage of culture forms and also the leech vector Hemiclepsis marginata showed that the trypanosomes were not host specific. The isoenzyme patterns of culture forms from N. barbatulus and P. phoxinus were identical for 11 enzymes studied. The trypanosomes from the 6 species of fish previously classified as separate species are, on the basis of these results, regarded as a single species, Trypanosoma cobitis (Mitrophanow, 1883).

The fine structure of the developing macrogamete of Eimeria maxima was studied from chicks killed at intervals from 138 to 147 h after inoculation. The macrogamete developed within a parasitophorous vacuole. Lying within this vacuole and extending for some distance around the periphery of the macrogamete were intravacuolar tubules, grouped in certain areas, and in some cases they were seen to make direct connexions with the cytoplasm of the parasite. During development, electron-pale vesicles were pinched off externally from the surface of the macrogamete. There appeared to be 2 forms of wall-forming bodies of the Type I during development, one form being less osmiophilic than the other. Other organelles present, such as wall-forming bodies of Type II, granular endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria, canaliculi, lipid inclusions and intravacuolar folds, were similar in structure to those of other Eimeria species.

In vitro excretory/secretory products of 4-week (immature) and 8- week-old (mature) Fasciola hepatica parasites, derived from rats, were injected together with adjuvant into naive rats and mice. Resistance to infection was assessed in rats by counting adults in the bile ducts at 9 weeks, or in mice by recording deaths after oral challenge with a high dose of viable metacercariae. Exposure of rats to excretory/secretory products of immature F. hepatica conferred a significant degree of resistance which was comparable to the level of resistance induced following oral administration of a low number of metacercariae. No protection against infection was seen in rats injected with excretory/secretory products from mature, bile duct-derived worms. In mice, no obvious mouse strain variation in susceptibility to first infection existed and hypothymic nude mice were as susceptible to infection as intact mice. As determined by protection against death, vaccination with excretory/secretory products derived from immature P. hepatica was without effect in mice. It is concluded that ‘host protective antigens’, at least for rats, were present in the excretory/secretory products of immature F. hepatica larvae.

One-worm infections of Hymenolepis diminuta in rats had their strobila severed surgically, in the neck region, on day 14 of an infection. The scolex and remaining strobila survived but were recovered from a more posterior region of the intestine where small worms are attached during development. The movement to the new region was usually not complete in 24 h, but was complete by 72 h, and probably by 48 h. The operation, involving laparotomy and an incision in the duodenal wall which avoided severing the strobila, had no effect on the position of the worm but did depress the growth of the worm during the ensuing 24 h. It is suggested that (1) the preferred site for H. diminuta is 30–50 % down the small intestine, (2) the worm monitors information about its position from all over its strobila and (3) as the worm grows, its position is determined by balancing the input of adverse information from its tail and head ends. The slowness with which surgically shortened worms return to the preferred site may be due either to delay in the worm ‘realising’ it has no tail, or to the location stimuli in the intestine being disturbed for 24 h by the operation.

The prevalence of Trypanosoma cobitis was recorded in species of small fish from the River Lee at Enfield Lock during 33 months of sampling. Trypanosome infections were more numerous during the summer months with 50–70% of bottom-living ‘inactive’ fish, bullheads (Cottus gobio), stone loach (Nemacheilus barbatulus) and gudgeon (Gobio gobio) infected, compared to only 6 and 18% of the more active pelagic fishes, stickle-backs (Gasterosteus aculeatus) and minnows (Phoxinus phoxinus).

Density gradients with metrizamide, a tri-iodinated benzamido derivative of glucose, have been used to separate erythrocytes infected with 3 species of murine plasmodia. Good separations were obtained of uninfected erythrocytes from erythrocytes containing parasites in different developmental stages. With metrizamide solutions, the densities required for isopycnic separation can be obtained without hypertonicity or high viscosity, and the viability and those aspects of the metabolism of parasites and erythrocytes that we measured are not detectably modified by exposure to these solutions. This type of separation has many possible applications to biochemical and immunological investigations.

The freeze fracture technique has been used to study the internal cyto-architecture of the surface membranes of the parasite and erythrocyte in Plasmodium knowlesi infections. Six fracture faces, derived from the plasma membrane and 2 pellicular membranes, have been identified at the surface of the free merozoite. The apposed leaflets of the 2 pellicular membranes show the characteristic features of E fracture faces, a result compatible with the view that the pellicular membranes line a potential cisterna. There is evidence to suggest that there may be changes in the distribution and density of the integral proteins in the merozoite plasma membrane at invasion. Furthermore, vesicles consisting of stacked membranes occur within and around the erythrocyte invagination at invasion; it is suggested that these vesicles are released from the merozoite rhoptries. Formation of the parasitophorous vacuole is accompanied by dramatic changes in the density and distribution of intra-membraneous particles (IMP) in the vacuolar membrane. Initially there is a great reduction in particle numbers, but subsequently the particles reappear and show reversed polarity. The possible causes and implications of these changes are discussed. The intra-erythrocytic parasite synthesizes new transmembrane proteins as development proceeds, and the trophozoite and schizont stages of development are characterized by the appearance of circular, particle-free regions in the parasite plasmalemma. There is a decrease in the density of transmembrane proteins in the erythrocyte plasma membrane during parasite maturation, and the P face IMP show the characteristic features of aggregation.

Studies on the biology of Notocotylus attenuatus in the domestic fowl were undertaken with the aim of determining where in the alimentary system the metacercariae excyst and how soon the juvenile worms become established in the caecum of the host. The metacercariae were found to excyst in the lower intestine and juvenile worms were recovered from the caecum after 4 h. Thereafter, as the worms increased in size they changed their position relative to the viii and also moved down the caecum, coming to lie in the blind ending region as the worms approached maturity.

Reproducible growth of gametocytes of Plasmodium falciparum in vitro was obtained from ring-stages taken directly from naturally infected patients and from the same material following storage in liquid nitrogen. Progressive sexual differentiation in vitro was examined for a finite period of 9 days in microcultures and was, for convenience, divided into 5 stages using established morphological criteria (Hawking, Wilson & Gammage, 1971). This microculture system was adapted as a bioassay for various anti-metabolites. Drug activity was measured by observing the inhibition of the established pattern of sequential development in experimental as compared to control cultures. Inhibitors used were directed against DNA, RNA and protein metabolism and microtubule assembly. As a result of these studies it is proposed that the sexual cell-cycle of P. falciparum is characterized by 4 phases. (1) A G1 period which lasts only a few hours. (2) The S phase, where DNA synthesis occurs, occupies the remainder of the first 2 days of development – both G1 and S are confined to stage I and II gametocytes. (3) G2, which is subdivided into 2 sections: G2A, characterized by stage II and III gametocytes, in which significant RNA and protein synthesis continue to occur; and G2B, where there is a progressive increase in transcription control resulting in the depression of both RNA and protein synthesis. Nonetheless, continued morphological differentiation occurs in the latter section transforming the parasites to stage IV and the morphologically and functionally mature stage V. The final M phase is marked by the brief and explosive events of gametogenesis, during which further protein synthesis occurs de novo. The proposed cell-cycle is examined as a model for studies on the activity of gametocytocidal compounds.

Intact Angiostrongylus cantonensis is able to hydrolyse glucose-phosphate esters, mononucleotides and p-nitrophenyl phosphate as well as β-glycerophosphate in vitro. Reciprocal inhibition studies suggest that the hydrolysis of such substrates is due to a non-specific phosphomonoesterase. Molybdate ions, which exert no effect on either the uptake of glucose or the production of lactate, inhibit the hydrolysis of glucose-1- phosphate in the external medium and simultaneously lower the production of lactate by the intact worms in vitro.

The envelope around larvae of Moniliformis dubius appears to protect the parasite against immune recognition and encapsulation by the insect host's haemocytes. The origin of this envelope has been the subject of controversy although most evidence suggests it is parasite-derived. If host-derived, the envelope would be expected to share surface properties with host tissue. Thus, experiments were undertaken, transplanting parasites and host tissue to other insects and using haemocytic encapsulation as an assay for immune recognition, in order to compare the response to host tissue and to the parasite's envelope. Parasites without their envelopes, and pieces of tissue (ventral nerve cord) from the experimental host (the locust Schistocerca gregaria) were recognized as foreign and encapsulated in the cockroach, Periplaneta americana. The majority of parasites with their envelopes were unencapsulated or only partially encapsulated on transfer to their normal host, P. americana, indicating that the envelope does not have surface similarity to locust tissue. Cockroach-derived parasites with or without envelopes were not encapsulated in S. gregaria, suggesting that the larva itself can evade or inhibit the locust's recognition mechanism. However, since larvae which develop in S. gregaria are enclosed in an envelope, the formation of the envelope would seem to be an inherent feature of the parasite's development.

Attachment, engorgement and subsequent development of successive infestations of Ixodes trianguliceps larvae and nymphs on natural hosts, Apodemus sylvaticus, and unnatural hosts, laboratory mice, are compared. In laboratory mice, primary infestations above a threshold level of about 10 ticks elicit an immunological response which reduces, in a density-dependent manner, the rate of successful tick engorgement during subsequent infestations. In contrast, in A. sylvaticus successive infestations of larvae result in unchanged or slightly improved survival through to nymphs. The relevance of these results to the concept of host-parasite co-evolution and to tick population regulation is discussed.

An experiment is described in which the effects of age, previous infection, pregnancy and lactation on some reactions of cattle to infection with Ostertagia ostertagi were studied. It was found that an acquired resistance to the establishment of worms developed more rapidly in 20-month-old heifers than in calves, that it was unaffected by pregnancy of the host but that it was largely lost by heifers in early lactation. The rate at which populations were turned over, i.e. the mean life-span of worms through the late 4th and 5th stages was unaffected by the factors studied. Although, in the conditions of the experiment, development of the worms was not arrested in susceptible calves, both age of the host and its previous experience of infection were significant causes of arrest, and in previously infected 20-month-old cattle 86% of the worms of a challenge infection were arrested. Pregnancy did not affect the proportion of worms that was arrested but in lactating heifers only marginally more worms were arrested than in calves. Worms that were not arrested grew more rapidly in calves and in lactating heifers than in empty heifers or those in mid-pregnancy.

Pseudechetus fimbriatus gen. et sp.nov. from the throat of a carangid is described. The new genus has the closest resemblance to Parechetus Pillai from which it differs in the presence of 4 processes instead of 2 on the genital segment and a pair of processes on the abdomen instead of wings. The sternal fork carries accessory tines anteriorly making it a double structure.

A comparative study has been made of the factors influencing the assessment of anticoccidial potency in vitro against Eimeria tenella using established anticoccidials and arprinocid and some of its analogues. Drugs whose potency depended upon medium composition were amprolium, lasalocid and halofuginone. There was a difference in strain sensitivity with robenidine. Host cell type had an important effect on potency of monensin, decoquinate, arprinocid and its analogues. Arprinocid was active in chick liver cell systems but totally inactive in chick kidney cell systems, although its N-oxide was active in both cell types. Arprinocid-containing medium, conditioned by supporting the growth of chick embryo liver cell cultures, had an anticoccidial effect on E. tenella, growing in chick kidney cells. It is deduced that the anticoccidial activity of arprinocid in the chick is due to a metabolite.

Freshwater shrimp, Palaemonetes paludosus, infected by the bopyrid isopod, Probopyrus pandalicola, occurred as far as 33 km upstream in many coastal rivers and canals throughout Florida. Free-swimming isopod larvae and the intermediate copepod host, Acartia tonsa, were collected in the plankton of the Wakulla River, and it appeared that cryptoniscus larvae swam at least as far as 13 km upstream to infect the definitive shrimp host after leaving the copepod in brackish water. In the Wakulla River infection levels ranged from 87·5 to 100%. In contrast, at McBride's Slough infection levels fluctuated from 0·9 to 93·2%. In the St Marks River the frequency of infected shrimp gradually increased from 0% upstream to 96%, 6 km further downstream. A significantly greater percentage of female than male hosts were infected, but only females of size classes less than 31 mm long had a greater frequency of infection. Female P. pandalicola were greatly under-dispersed (coefficient of dispersion (s2/x¯) less than 1) throughout the host population; 99·6% of the infected hosts carried only 1 female parasite. Control of P. pandalicola at the infrapopulation level is probably accomplished by some mode of intraspecific competition, and control at the suprapopulation level occurs through an upstream limitation of the transmission range of the cryptoniscus larval stage. Host–parasite interactions appear to be unstable.

The immunological differences known to exist between laboratory strains of Eimeria maxima was confirmed. Protection against challenge with different strains or field isolates of the species could be achieved by including small numbers (25 oocysts) of each in the immunizing inoculum. Similar protection was obtained when 4 distinct populations which were allowed to interbreed were used in the immunizing inoculum. This hybrid mixture of E. maxima was used to immunize chickens against challenge with 7 new isolates of E. maxima from poultry houses in different parts of England. The results show that although immunological differences exist within E. maxima good protection against many strains of this species may be achieved by initial infection with the hybrid mixture of E. maxima.