The paper describes findings of three species of nematodes of the genus Oxyspirura parasites of birds in Czechoslovakia: O. (S.) petrowi (Skrjabin, 1929) from Lanius collurio L., O. (S.) rysavyi Baruŝ, 1963 from Oriolus oriolus oriolus and O. (O.) chabaudi n.sp. from Motacilla alba alba L.

On the 17th September, 1964, a Mute Swan, Cygnus olor (Gmelin) was received for examination. It was a male bird, estimated to be about three years old, which had been found at Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, and had been killed on account of a broken wing which had healed badly. It was believed to be of wild stock.

The present study of the morphology of a few specimens of W. bancrofti from India reveals no significant differences from previous published descriptions, with the exception of those of Maplestone (1929) and Maplestone & Rao (1939), which were also concerned with Indian specimens. In the writers' opinion, the male tail does not possess caudal alae supported by pedunculated papillae; moreover the grouping of the papillae in the Indian specimens follows the pattern originally outlined by Leiper (1913), and not the conjectured pattern of Maplestone (1929, 1939). The present description confirms that (1) there are 8 circumoral papillae forming 2 circles, an inner and an outer of 4 each, and that there are 2 lateral amphids; (2) there is an unpaired papilla immediately anterior to the cloacal aperture in the male; (3) There are cuticular striations in the male on the ventral surface only, anterior to the cloacal apertur; (4) there is a subterminal triangular piece, heavily cuticularised, at the distal end of the right spicule; (5) the female tail bears numerous minute cuticular bosses and on the left side, posterior to the anus, there is a single phasmid.

Three specimens of this species were collected on one occasion from the lizard Calotes versicolor. The material consists of one male and two females which were found entangled in the connective tissue of the body cavity.

These are thin worms measuring 11·5 mm. long in the male and 18·3 mm. in the female. The maximum body diameter is 0·23 and 0·35 mm. respectively in the male and the female.

A study of several samples of young conical flukes reared from metacercariae obtained by the late Dr. P. L. LeRoux from certain fresh water snails has resulted in the following findings.

It appears that the species which caused the severe intestinal paramphistomiasis amongst sheep described by LeRoux (1930) in South Africa was Paramphistomum microbothrium Fischoeder, not Cotylophoron cotyhphorum (Fischoeder) as was thought at the time and subsequently repeated in all the text books and reviews on paramphistomiasis published afterwards.

Worms obtained from the peritoneal cavity of a chick experimentally infected with infective larvae from Mansonia crassipes are described as Cardiofilaria nilesi n.sp. Pseudaproctella is considered a synonym of Cardiofdaria. Strom, 1937 and Pseudaproctella andersoni var. major Chabaud, Brygoo and Richards, 1964 is named Cardiofdaria chabaudi n.sp.

It was confirmed that lambs born in the Central Tabelands area of New South Wales became infested with Ostertagia spp. to a potentially pathogenic level very early in their lives. By studying the faecal egg output of ewes in this area it was shown that a marked Ostertagia spp. egg count rise occurred in all lambing ewes at or closely associated with parturition. It was also shown that it was not likely that these ewes had themselves picked up many Ostertagia spp. larvae during the latter part of their pregnancy and that the parturient egg count rise mainly resulted from larvae ingested prior to, or early in, pregnancy.

In many digenetic trematode life-cycles there occurs a metacercarial stage which is usually the ultimate infective stage for the final host. The metacercarial stage may be free and active as in Diplostomatidae (Strigeida) but in most cases the metacercaria is enclosed within a cyst wall of varying thickness and complexity (Erasmus, 1965). The release of the metacercaria follows the ingestion of the cyst and the digestion of the cyst wall by the appropriate final host. It is apparent that the culmination of the life-cycle in the development of a sexually mature adult will occur only if the release of the metacercaria takes place in the appropriate host. It seems very likely therefore that the factors affecting the excystation of metacercariae play an important role in defining the host specificity of a particular trematode.

Baylis (1934) erected the genus Pscudophysaloptera for the worm he recovered from Crocidura sp. from Africa. In 1937 Chen reported the same species, P. soricina from China. In 1948 Lincicome transferred Physaloptera formosana (Yokogawa, 1922) to Pseudophysaloptera. In the same year Lincicome and McConnaughey reported another species, P. riukiuana from Suncus murinus in Okinawa. In 1953 Kobulej and Vershenyi described a worm as Physaloptera kotlani, but Schad (1903) rightly transferred it to Pseudophysaloptera. Kobulej 1955 doubted the validity of the genus Pseudophysaloptera, but the labial dentition and the sessile caudal papillae are characters good enough to regard it as an independent genus.

A single pair of this interesting worm was once collected from a common shrew Sorex perroteti.

These are fairly thick and stout worms with creamy white colour and thick striated cuticle. The body is almost cylindrical throughout its length except at the extremities where it is slightly attenuated, more so in the posterior region which ends in a slightly bifid tip in the female. The cuticle is very much inflated not only in the posterior region surrounding the tail but the inflation continues anteriorly all along the length of the body. Near the anterior extremity the cuticle is more prominently inflated to form a bulbous collar round the base of the lips. The lips are very prominent and each possesses three fairly well developed teeth, a pair of well developed sub-median papillae and an equally prominent amphid lateral in position is also present.

1. The structure of the head in the families Acuariidae and Habronematidae is described. It is established that the first is characterized by the cephalic papillae being on the pseudo-labia and all the cephalic elaborations being modifications of the pseudolabia and by paired structures arising dorsally and ventrally from the inner surfaces of the pseudo-labia. The second family is characterized by the presence of large, single labia, dorsally and ventrally, which cany the cephalic papillae.

2. The family Acuariidae contains three groups, accepted as subfamilies. Acuariinae: characterized by long cordons produced by the development posteriorly of both the inner pseudo-labial flanges and the edges of the pseudo-labia; Seuratiinae: characterized by a cephalic cap developed largely from the outer surface of the head posterior to the pseudo-labia; Schistorophorinae: characterized by the presence of various lobes or helmet-like modifications derived from the inner surface of the pseudo-labia.

A new species, Filaroides cebuellae sp.n., is described from the lung of a pygmy marmoset, Cebuella pygmaea. F. cebuellae is the first lungworm of the genus to be recorded from this host.

The paper summarises existing information on the role of animals in the transmission of filarial infections to man.

Wuclicreria bancrofti has not been found in animals and the parasite has never been transmitted to animals in the laboratory. Although bancrofti-typc microfilariae have been described from a potto (Perodicticus potto) in the Congo, there is no evidence that bancroftian filariasis is a zoonosis.

Wuchereria bancrofti var. vauceli occurs in man in Madagascar; the adults have not yet been found; the life cycle is unknown. For the time being it is best to regard this as a species inquirenda it is probably not a Wuchereria; it may occur in lemurs.

The sub-periodic form of Brugia malayi has been found in man and a variety of animals in Malaya. In the swamp forest areas there is probably a free interchange of parasites between man and monkeys; if this is confirmed then this is a definite zoonosis.

Using an autopsy method of examination, an incidence of infection with Toxocara canis in 250 dogs was 6·4% and with Toxascaris leonina it was 2%. Of 100 cats examined, 8% harboured Toxocara cati and 3% Toxascaris leonina. Other British records concerning the incidence of the dog parasites are discussed and attention is drawn to certain reservations that must be placed on their acceptance.

This paper details the requirements for taeniid ovicides and the problems involved, including a description of the main protective layers of taeniid eggs.

It describes some techniques used to assess the values of chemical compounds as taeniid ovicides.

It also lists the effects of fifty inorganic compounds on the unprotected eggs of Taenia hydatigena, and of twenty-four of these compounds on eggs of T. ovis or of T. hydaligena in proglottids.

This paper reports the occurrence of Skrjabinema ovis and Trichostrongylus spp. not previously identified in sheep and goats in Iran. A complete list of the helminth parasites now known to exist in sheep and goats in Iran is included in the discussion.

(Based on 20 specimens and measurements on 5). Body oval to spherical, with a conical bluntly rounded anterior end, 0·783–1·017 long, 0·551–0·756 wide at midbody. Cuticle smooth. Oral sucker absent. Mouth large, subterminal, opening through a funnel-like opening into a muscular, well developed pharynx, 0·064–0·100 in diameter. Oesophagus indistinct; intestine rhabdocoel, prominent, extending to posterior level of testis. Ventral adhesive disc well developed, 0·646–0·852x0·551–0·756, occupying major portion of ventral surface of the worm, divided into 27 alveoli in two rows, 19 in peripheral and 8 in central row. Alveoli well developed, muscular. Marginal organs 19, prominent. Testis single, large, entire, almost always occupying the central position in the body, 0·192–0·275x0·233–0·371.

In a recent publication, Vik (1964) p. 6, observed, “Although the genus Diphyllobolhrium Cobbold, 1858, has been revised several times (Liihe, 1910, Cohn, 1912, Stunkard, 1949, Wardle and McLeod, 1952, and Yamaguti, 1959) since the type species was described by Cobbold in 1858, the systematics of the group are still in a state of confusion and identification is made difficult by discrepancies in original and subsequent descriptions. However, the significant facts here are that Diphyllobothrium species from land mammals and fish-eating birds, those about whose life cycle we know most, do not seem to be especially host specific; and that in tapeworm specimens of the same species—factors such as the age of the worm, age and nutrition of the host, degree of crowding in the intestines, etc., as well as the species of host used, may result in marked differences in appearance.” This appraisal of the situation is modest and conservative.

The histopathology of the livers and lungs of guineapigs and rabbits following a primary infection with the eggs of A. suum, was compared with the lesions and cellular response found in resistant animals after reinfection.

Tetrameres fissispina (Diesing, 1861) is recorded for the first time from the Wood-Pigeon, Columba palumbus L., and Stock Dove, C. oenas L.

An account is given of a natural infection of Wood-Pigeons with T. fissispina during the winter months of 1962/63 and 1963/64 in Cambridgeshire.