Gongylonema thapari n.sp. is described from Gallus sonneratii. Its relationship with the other avian species of the genus Gongylonema is discussed. G. thapari differs essentially from the other species of the genus in having imbricated caudal alae.

G. congolense Fain, 1955 is reported for the first time from India. Structural variations within the species in 3 different avian hosts are noted.

Groups of breeding ewes were slaughtered at intervals before and after lambing in March. A post-parturient rise in egg count was observed in which Ostertagia spp. were dominant but in which other species took part, in particular Haemonchus contortus, Nematodirus battus and Chabertia ovina. The important contribution made by dormant larvae of Ostertagia spp. was confirmed but it was also found that reinfection greatly increased the number of worms present while the earliest part of the rise, often beginning prior to parturition, was probably due to the increased fecundity of adult worms already present. Adults of H. contortus present in ewes after lambing were derived from the maturation of dormant larvae and it is probable that the same applied to C. ovina. The close association of the postparturient rise with lactation rather than with pregnancy or parturition was shown and two possible explanations for this were discussed.

A new Indian species of Paraphelenchus is described and compared with P. basili Das, 1960, also from India, and with other known species of the genus.

A post-parturient rise in worm egg count was seen in ewes which lambed in the autumn following ovulation induced by hormone treatment. Similarly treated ewes in the same flock which proved to be barren showed only a slight increase in egg count. There were indications that hormone treatment may be associated with egg count rises which differ in intensity and duration from those reported in ewes which ovulate spontaneously.

A detailed description and affinities of Durinema gracile, a nematode genus belonging to the family Belondiridae Thome, 1939 collected from Veraval (Gujarat) and Saharanpur (U.P.), India, are provided. It is characterized by its prominent lips, short, slightly dorsally arcuate spear, rod-like extensions, sheath of spiral muscles around the basal expanded portion of oesophagus, two ovaries and a conoid tail.

Aulolaimus oxycephalus de Man, 1880 is redescribed with observations on the lectotype male and on specimens from England. The definition of the family Axonolaimidae Sch. Stek. and de Coninck, 1933 is emended to include reflexed ovaries. Aulolaiminae n.subfam. is proposed, within the Axonolaimidae, for the genera Aulolaimus de Man, 1880 and Pseudoaulolaimus Imamura, 1931. A. meyli Loof, 1961 is considered to be a species inquirenda. Pandurinema Timm, 1957, is made a synonym of Aulolaimus and further observations are made on A. filiformis (Timm, 1957) n.comb.

In the autumn of 19G6 the writer received two samples of nematodes, containing over a hundred specimens, which were found in the pancreatic ducts of the mustelid Arctonyx collaris. The two host animals arrived from Bangkok, one already dead; the other died in the Zoological Garden of Emmen a week after arrival.

The results of the fluorescent antibody test with sera from tropical eosinophilia and filariasis cases tested against four species of microfilariae are reported. The majority of sera from both groups showed the presence of antibody to the human parasite W. bancrofti. In the filarial group only those with clinically active disease of short duration showed a positive fluorescence reaction. Some sera of both groups reacted positively with microfilariae of the animal parasites B. ceylonensis and Setaria sp. These were species specific reactions as seen by diminished or absence of fluorescence after absorption of specific antibody.

This paper reports on two species of digenetic trematodes, namely Gymnophallus deliciosus (Olsson, 1893) and Notocotylus chionis Baylis, 1928, from Sheathbills collected on Signy Island.(lat. 60° 43' S., long. 45° 36' W.), South Orkney Islands, in July and October 1965 by Mr Charles Howie of the British Antarctic Survey. The birds were preserved in deep-freeze and later passed to us for examination. An account of the cestode parasites of these birds has been given previously (Jones & Williams, 1967).

An investigation was made to determine whether British species of freshwater snail can reproduce in warm water and become susceptible to infection by Schistosoma mansoni. Twenty-seven species were cultured at 20 and 26°C, and it was found that most of them could reproduce at these temperatures. Sixteen species were exposed at the same temperature to miracidia of S. mansoni of the Egyptian, Liberian and Puerto Rican strains; a cyst was found in A plexa hypnorum exposed to the Egyptian strain, which could be attributed as being a juvenile stage of a sporocyst, but no positive conclusions can be drawn.

The fish populations of three reservoirs and one river in the Northamptonshire area were examined over a four-year period for the plerocercoid of Ligula iniestinalis. The infection was observed in two of the three reservoirs but was not found in the river Nene. The reservoir which had no infection contained no cyprinids.

Cercaria spatulata is synonymized with Holostephanus lühei on the basis of the close morphological similarity between naturally occurring cysts of H. lühei and those experimentally reared from C. spatidata in Pygosteus pungitius. Observations on metacercariae from one day to ten weeks old showed that development of the cyst is completed within six weeks. The completed cyst is wider and its internal diameter smaller than young stages, which suggests that the metacercaria shrinks during development and that the cyst expands inwards to occupy the space left. The cyst is deposited within two to three weeks and increases in width as the metacercaria contracts during development.

The cysticercoids of Dicranotaenia coronula and Microsomacanthuscompressa are recorded from the stomach contents of Lymnaea peregra and L. stagnalis, and M. compressa also from L. palusiris at the Wentloog level, near Cardiff, South Wales. The cysticercoids of Haploparaksis cirrosa and Kowalewskius parvitla found in the botryoidal tissue of Erpdbdella octoculata from a pool at Llynheilin, New Radnor, are described. The adults of K. parvttla reached maturity in 17 days, in a duckling, and the egg capsules produced contained approximately 100 oncospheres in each.

Infective larvae of P. tenuis given orally to guineapigs, penetrated the stomach wall and reached the body cavity. Some dispersed in the omentum extending along the greater curvature of the stomach. Others wandered into and through the liver. Some migrated through the diaphragm or along the mesentery ensheathing the hepatic vein and the vena cava. In the pleural cavity some penetrated the pericardium, and the pleura and parenchyma of the lungs. Numerous larvae were overcome by the host in the mesentery, particularly the omentum.

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

The author's previously published work on experimental infection of guinea pigs, rabbits and pigs is also discussed and summarized.

Many papers have been written about Wilson's snipe (Erickson, 1950), but few of them deal with the parasites of the bird. Schmidt (1962, 1963a, 1963b, 1964) working in Northern Colorado described new species of Hymenohpis, Tetrameres and Arythmorhynchus and listed the other parasites he found in a sample of 29 snipe. In the present work birds from Newfoundland, Ontario and Louisiana were examined for helminth parasites, to determine the species composition of any burden that they might be carrying and to note any differences in the species composition of the burden in birds from different geographical areas. It was also hoped to show if there was any difference in the burden carried by male and female birds.

1. An investigation of the helminth parasites of the African Darter, Anhinga rufa rufa in Ghana produced the following trematodes and cestodes:

(1) Strigea anhingae n.sp.

(2) Diplostomum ghanense n.sp.

(3) Phagicola bulbosa n.sp.

(4) Clinostomum tilafiiae Ukoli, 1966

(5) Clinostomum phalacrocoracis Dubois, 1931

(6) Echinorhynchotaenia tritesticulata Fuhrmann, 1909

The new species are described and classified in this paper.

A new method is described for the in vitro culture of the preparasitic stages of Nippostrongylus brasiliensis. It utilises the plating of faecal suspensions on to paper chromatography strips supported on non-porous Perspex slabs and has been designed primarily to facilitate savings in the time required for routine culture maintenance without lowering the quantity or quality of the larval yield. Comparison with the filter paper/Petri dish method shows an increase in larval yield of 85% and a reduction in time required for culture of 72%. Total inhibition of fungal growth on incubated faeces suspensions was obtained by the addition of “Mycostatin” (Squibb) in a concentration of 62 units per ml. or more.

Pseudanisakis rotundata (Rudolphi, 1819) Mozgovoi, 1950, from Raia radiaia in the northern North Sea is redescribed and figured with particular reference to the degree of infection, mode of attachment, the functional morphology of the genitalia and to a possible association between this nematode and a coccidian infection of the same host species. Ressons are given for rejecting Eustoma Piette 1855, as a generic name for a nematode as it is already in use for a Jurassic prosobranch mollusc.