The structure of the head and especially of the mouth-parts of these economically very important flies has been studied by many observers. The first very brief remarks on the proboscis were made by Wiedemann (1830), in his original description of the genus Glossina. He pointed out that the proboscis is almost as long as the thorax, and setiform and triangular in its basal part, the palps almost as long as the proboscis and horizontal. In the same year, Robineau-Desvoidy (1830) described another species of tsetse-fly, Glossina palpalis, but under the generic name Nemorphina, which became a synonym of Glossina. In his diagnosis of the genus, he gave an even shorter description of the proboscis which he believed was not adapted for sucking blood.

Although much work has already been published on the bucco-pharyngeal mechanism of a blow-fly larva, a close examination reveals the presence of parts hitherto overlooked or but imperfectly recorded. In this account current nomenclature is retained as far as possible; but where the evidence warrants it new terms are employed based on homology, or on the function of the regions concerned, in an endeavour to arrive at a more useful basis for future reference.

In conclusion, the following comments may prove suggestive:

Out of fifty-five vials of the Chinese cestodes from Charadriiform birds, fifteen have not been determined definitely, owing to the poorly preserved condition and to insufficient material for detailed study, such as Pe 510, Pe 517, Pe 526, Pe 529, Pe 552 b, Pe 588, Pe 593, Pe 1466, Pe 735 c, Pe 1431 d, Pe 760, Pe 144 b, Pe 151, Pe 848 and Pe 841 d.

In this paper, seven species are described as new, namely, Amoebotaenia fuhrmanni, A. pekinensis, Monopylidium guiarti, Choanotaenia joyeuxi, Haplo-paraxis sinenis, Fuhrmanniella clerci, and Gyrocoelia fausti.

The present study indicates, to a certain extent, that the Chinese fauna of the avian cestodes is more or less related to that of the Ural, Australia, Egypt and Europe.

Pe 848 is an interesting tapeworm recorded from the liver of Totanus calidris. Owing to the poor preservation, the strobilae can not be examined, but its incomplete rostellar hooks, larger 0·0234 mm., and smaller 0·0216 mm. shown in Fig. 54, are characteristic.

The following notes deal with nine species of parasitic nematodes from the Yangtze Valley and an additional one from North China. Of these ten species, one belongs to the super-family Rhabdiasoidea, three to Oxyuroidea, and six to Spiruroidea; three species have been previously described; therefore in these cases the writer gives only their measurements and a description of the particulars in which he found them to differ from the original description. Seven species Rhabdias annulosa n.sp., Pingus sinensis n.g. et n.sp. (Pingidae n.f.), Omeia hoepplii n.g. et n.sp., Thelazia chungkingensis n.sp., Oxyspirura kaitingensis n.sp., Oxyspirura peipingensis n.sp., Oxyspirura tsingchengensis n.sp., are new to science.

1. A brief account is given of a schistosoma cercaria obtained from Bulinus truncatus possessing four pairs of flame cells in the body.

A monkey, Cercopithecus sebaeus, was experimentally infected with this cercaria, adult male and female S. haematobium being formed in the mesenteric veins, and terminal spined ova in the sub-mucosa of the colon.

The view is expressed that this cercaria was probably an aberrant form of the cercaria of S. haematobium.

Few records have been made of the process of fertilisation in the Digenea. Nicoll (1907) observed it in Podocotyle and states that it lasted but 10 min., and MacCallum (1913) has given an account of fertilisation in Microcotyle, one of the Monogenea.

Host and Record. A single female was found attached close to the left pelvic fin of a Histiophorus brevirostris Playfair caught off the south-west coast of Ceylon in January, 1932. One of the egg-strings was missing.

Habitat and record: About forty specimens, of both sexes, collected and presented to me by Miss Miriam Rothschild from a bream Abramis brama (wt. 13 lb. 1 oz.) taken from the Tring reservoir, December, 1931.

Male unknown.

Female (Fig. 1): Scutum (2·2 x 1·8 mm.) much longer than broad, with well-marked lateral folds on the anterior half; cervical grooves rather far apart at origin, then faint and divergent; some very fine punctations on the lateral folds and in the area between them and the cervical grooves, the posterior region very glossy and almost devoid of punctations. Emargination very slight. Venter: vulva between coxae IV. Genital grooves only slightly divergent, not extending beyond the anus. Anal groove horseshoe-shaped, then shallow and divergent. Spiracles nearly circular and very large (larger than coxa IV). Capitulum long; basis triangular, without cornua or auriculae, its ventral surface divided by a transverse line. Porose areas large, sub-rectangular, with narrow interval. Palps fairly stout; hypostome lanceolate, dentition 2/2, about twelve teeth per file, the outer the stronger. Legs: coxa I deeply cleft into two equal flat teeth, recalling that of Rhipicephalus, and very unusual in Ixodes; coxae II–IV with an external tooth, diminishing in size. Tarsi long (especially tarsus I) and tapering, the pad nearly as long as the rather weak claws.

It has been determined that anaplasmosis may be transmitted by Dernmcentor andersoni under the following conditions: (1) Larvae may acquire the infection by engorging on a bovine whose blood contains anaplasms and may transmit the infection as nymphs to susceptible bovines; and (2) in a similar manner the nymphs may acquire the infection and transmit it as adults. The test of “hereditary” transmission was negative, i.e. the larvae did not apparently acquire the infection from adult females which engorged on carriers of anaplasmosis. Conditions of transmission by D. andersoni are the same as those which have thus far been determined by me for D. variabilis. The incrimination of these two species of tick points to the possibility that anaplasmosis occurring anywhere within the known range of distribution of that disease in the United States may be tick-borne so far as a coincident distribution of known tick carriers can establish this possibility.

Early this year (1932) we examined eight American raccoons (Procyon s. Notocyon lotor) whose faeces, according to Darling, contained Coccidia of our species.