A brief description of Nematodirus battus has been given elsewhere (Crofton and Thomas, 1951), but this included only sufficient details for specific diagnosis. A more detailed account is given below.

The worms are long, slender and more or less straight. The cuticle is smooth except in the cephalic region where it is inflated and is lightly striated. The cephalic inflation extends 0.12 mm. from the anterior end and is 0.06 mm. in diameter (see Fig. 1). In some specimens the cephalic inflation may be reduced and relatively inconspicuous. Although this variation may be due to fixation, it occurs in members of a batch which have been fixed simultaneously. The head is 0.03 mm. in diameter and bears six papillae round the mouth. The “mouth capsule” is small and bears a tooth on the dorsal side. This tooth is not easily visible in Fig. 1 because of contraction of the oesophagus. (The term mouth capsule is retained because it has been used by other workers (see Rajewskaja, 1918, Travassos, 1987) but if the definitions of Baylis and Daubney (1926) are adopted it would be more correct to refer to the tooth as lying in an oesophageal funnel). The oesophagus is relatively short, 0.35–0.54 mm. in length.

The following description is based upon a specimen which was evacuated from a Kea, Nestor notabilis, kept in captivity in the London Zoological Gardens. The Kea, a member of the Psittacciformes, has a very limited distribution, occurring only in South Island, New Zealand. This particular bird had arrived from New Zealand and had been living in the Zoo six months before the cestode was evacuated.

It is believed that this cestode represents a genus new to science, and the name Pulluterina is proposed, with the specific name P. nestoris after the host.

Research on cysts of the potato-root eelworm is handicapped by the fact that the cyst contents vary considerably in quantity. So it is impossible to characterize the infectivity of a soil sample by determining only the number of cysts present. Though not all larvae are hatched from the cysts in one season, a better impression of the infectivity is got when we know how many living eggs and larvae are present in the cysts.

Oostenbrink (1950) estimates the number of living eggs and larvae by crushing each cyst separately under the microscope. Especially when a large number of cysts is present, this technique takes much time. During our research this estimation appeared to be very subjective; it was almost impossible to get a clear impression of the viability of the cysts, especially when many mouldy or empty eggs were found.

Fenwick (1952) developed the bleaching powder technique in which the presoaked cysts are dissected by means of a Hagedorn-needle (Reid, 1952) and for 80 minutes are exposed to a nominal 1 per cent, solution of bleaching powder. This solution helps to break up the egg masses within the cut cysts and to free the larvae from their egg shells. Thus the larvae and eggs may be counted. Using this method some difficulties have been met with. Working with three samples of filtered bleaching powder solution, several cysts were found containing a large number of unseparated eggs, thus giving counts which were too low.

A satisfactory antigen for use in serological studies of nematodiasis in sheep has been prepared from Bunostomum trigonocephalum.

The investigations are outlined and a method for its routine preparation from field material is described.

In February, 1951, several nematode worms belonging to the family Quimperiidae Baylis, 1980, were collected from the intestine of the catfish, Mystus cavasius procured from the local fish market. Since the worms could not be identified with any of the known genera of Quimperiidae, the writers studied the parasite in detail, and after consulting the relevant literature, came to the conclusion that the worms were new to science. It has been felt necessary to create a new genus and a new species for its reception. The following account of the parasite is based on a large number of worms which were collected on different occasions.

Echinostephilla virgula occupies an isolated position in the Digenea; apparently it does not belong with certainty to any of the existing families and, as the original description is incomplete, it was considered worthy of re-description. This trematode was found frequently at St. Andrews between the months of September, 19–19, and March, 1951, in the intestine of the Turnstone (Arenaria interpres Linn.). There was usually a heavy parasitism, fifty to one hundred worms being found in one host. However, in spite of frequent examinations of birds shot after this period, no further specimens were found.

In 1985, the writer in collaboration with Prof. M. B. Mirza described Strongyloides from John's Sand-boa (Eryx johnii) in Aligarh and assigned it to S. stercoralis, creating for its reception a new variety, S. stercoralis var. eryxi.

During July and August, 1950, while examining certain snakes at Hyderabad for helminth parasites, the writer found that Strongyloides infection was very common in the Rat-snake. Ptyas (Zamenis) mucosus, for almost all the snakes examined were found infected. In light infections not more than a few, ten to fifteen worms, were obtained from a single host, but as many as 100 to 125 specimens were collected from heavily parasitized snakes. It was also observed that though they may be found throughout the length of the oesophagus and the intestine, the seat of heaviest infection is the duodenum of the host.

It seemed rather strange that one and the same species should parasitize a reptile as well as a mammal so a detailed study of the worm, both in its parasitic and free-living generations, was undertaken with a view to determining definitely whether, as previously believed, it is identical with the human worm Strongyloides stercoralis. As a result of this study the writer has come to the conclusion that the species infesting certain snakes in India is not identical with the human worm, S. stercoralis or any other species of the genus hitherto described.

Looss created the genus Philophthalmus in 1899 for flukes infesting the eyes of birds. Twelve species of trematodes have been recorded from the eyes of avian hosts in different parts of the world, but hitherto none has been described from India. The following account deals with the description of two new species of Philophthalmus which were recovered from birds of prey in Hyderabad.

Using a technique to reduce the possibility of establishing gradients of temperature, illumination, etc., it has been shown that infective larvae of T. retortaeformis, sheep trichostrongyles and horse trichonemes move in random directions when on a vertical plane at temperatures of 16°–17°C. and at 27°C.

In a horizontal plane the same randomness was shown.

Larvae moving in channels of different widths moved different distances along the channels in the same time. In narrow channels the distance moved was approximately proportional to the time (T) of movement. In wide channels the distance was approximately proportional to ✓T.

The effect of a drying water film on the movements of larvae of T. retortaeformis are described.

It is concluded that vertical migration of the larvae may be described in terms of normal larval movements without reference to geotropism or undescribed special receptors in the larvae.

Parabronema skrjabini Rassowska, 1924 was originally described from Russian Turkestan and is known to occur in that region in cattle, camel, sheep and goats. The parasite is also known from okapi (Leiper 1985) dying in the Zoological Gardens, London, and Nubian ibex and Giraffe (Ezzat, 1945) from the Zoological Gardens, Giza, Egypt. A closely related species was described and recorded, respectively, by Vuylsteke, 1985 (Parabronema okapiac) and Leiper, 1985 (Parabronema okapi) from okapi. Van den Berghe and Vuylsteke (1987) reduced P. okapiae to the status of a variety of P. skrjabini.

A survey of the helminths of Scottish hill sheep, made by collecting over seven hundred viscera from sheep which died from disease or accidents on over eighty farms, has shown that worms are the direct or indirect cause of the death of many sheep, and of loss in condition of many more.

Infestations of H. contortus increase in incidence and severity in the late spring, but the majority of hill sheep are not infested with it and it is not a serious problem unless lack of herding, bad weather, etc. harm the sheep.

Ostertagia spp. are often the most numerous species found in Scottish hill sheep; their numbers increase considerably for several weeks in the spring and to a less extent and for a shorter time in the autumn. Any prophylactic dosing programmes for lambs, hoggs or adult sheep must include Ostertagia spp. in the species against which they are directed.

The numbers of T. axei increase in Scottish hill sheep during the winter and for some weeks from March onwards contribute to the pathogenic effect of clinical and subclinical helminthiasis of sheep.

Ostertagia trifurcata was first described by Ransom (1907) from sheep and goats in United States. It has since been reported from various other countries and appears to have a world wide distribution. This species is recorded from India for the first time, in the present paper.

In Great Britain, O. trifurcata was first recorded by Boulenger (1914) but his record seems to have been overlooked by Travassos (1987). It has also been reported from sheep and goats in different parts of Great Britain by Morgan (1925), Jones (1926) and Oldham and Morgan (1984). All these workers report the occurrence of this species in association with Ostertagia circumcincta. Elsewhere, the association of O. circumcincta and O. trifurcata has been reported by Tetley (1984) from New Zealand, Ransom (1911) from United States, Gebauer (1982) from Germany and Saquenet (1946) from Algeria. In my collection from India (Kangra District), O. trifurcata,is present in small numbers together with O. circumcincta which is always the predominant species. In a collection of helminths from Cyprus in the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine a few O. trifurcata were found in association with a large number of O. circumcincta.

A case of human infection with Physaloptera causing an abscess in the neck of a patient in Hyderabad is recorded. The structure of one of the worms recovered, a female, is described and compared with that of other species recorded from mammals in India, but in the absence of the male it is not possible to determine the species.

In soil samples taken from around trees of Primus serotina and shrubs near the writer's house at Ede, Holland, the nematode population proved to consist mainly of a hitherto undescribed species of Trichodorus. Small numbers of the same species were found in many other places including a strawberry field on light sandy soil near Beverwijk, where it occurred together with T. primitivus (de Man, 1884) Micoletzky, 1922; a garden at Middelharnis (sandy loam) and in arable land at Ottersum (sandy soil). No data could be collected on its food habits.

An echinostome obtained from the kidney of the North American White Pelican, Pelecanus erythrorhynchos is described as a new species, Allechinostomum renale.

Allechinostomum is regarded as a valid genus.

A differential key to the four-known species of the genus is appended.

The Baermann funnel technique is now well known to nematologists, but the modification here described was devised to facilitate the collection of large numbers of nematodes in a small volume of water with the minimum of plant debris present. The method has proved very satisfactory in obtaining nematodes for toxicity tests, for example, from “tulip-rooted” oats infested with stem eelworm. It is often a lengthy procedure to remove nematodes from a relatively large bulk of water such as is contained in a full watch-glass, particularly if much fine plant debris is also present. By means of the modification described an almost “pure culture” of nematodes is obtained, the amount of water being very little greater in volume than the nematodes.

The apparatus is shown diagrammatically in Fig. 1:—

The funnel, f, has resting in it a small metal sieve, s, which may easily be made by cutting off a section about ¾-in. deep from a piece of copper pipe of from 2½–8-in. diameter. Fine copper wire mesh, wm, is then soldered on to the bottom rim. This wire mesh need not be fine enough to retain all fragments of plant material, since a circle of fine bolting silk, bs, is laid within the sieve on top of the wire mesh, so that it fits exactly within the inside of the sieve. No bolting silk has yet been found which will retain living nematodes. The bolting silk, however, retains all plant material and is easily removed and cleaned.

In this study two new species are added to the only known species in the genus Serticeps.

Serticeps buckleyi sp. nov. was found under the horny layer of the gizzard of the Eastern Beautiful Sunbird, Neclarinia pulchella incidipectus from Uganda. Serticeps osmanhilli sp. nov. was also found under the horny layer, from a Yellow-winged Sugar Bird, Cyanerpes cyaneus from Brazil.

The genus Serticeps is amended.

The positions adopted by C. doricha Rothschild, 1985 during swimming and resting periods are described.

A sharp decrease in the amount of swimming carried on by the cercariae was shown to occur in the first few hours. A change of activity from long swimming and long resting periods to irregular swimming and resting was also demonstrated. The active life of these cercariae was found to be from two to three days.

The possible vertical distribution of C. doricha in the sea is tentatively discussed.

The geographical and host distribution of 32 specíes of helmínths found in a survey of 254 carcases of 13 species of British small mammals is given.

A description of Echinorhynchus rosai Porta, 1910 from three specimens found encysted in the liver and mesentery of a hedgehog, Erinaceus europaeus, corresponds in most respects with that originally given by Porta. Comments are made on the unusual location of the parasites and on other species from the same host.