OF A BURMESE EARTHWORM, PHERETIMA COMPTA

In certain oriental species of earthworms, especially of the genera Eutyphceus and Pheretima, gregarines (trophozoite stages) are very frequently found in the ceelom. These gregarines when present may occur in large numbers, 50—90per segment for a number of segments. Among the forms that have come under observation during the course of a study of Burmese earthworms is one which appears to be of especial interest and which is described below under the designation Nellocystis birmanica, n.g., n. sp. Hitherto it has been assumed that the effect of the gregarine para sites on their earthworm hosts is not serious. Indeed, Stephenson in his monograph on the Oligochmtes says, “¿Theintestinal and ccelomic parasites have scarcely any effect on the tissues of the host.†• There is, however, some evidence to show that coelomic sporozoa may have a drastic effect on host earthworms. A part of this evidence is included in a paper on the systematics of the Burmese earthworms that will appear shortly in the Records of the Indian Museum. It is hoped that the rather fragmentary observations contained in the paper will serve to indicate to protozoologists a number of interesting opportunities for investigation. NELLOCYSTIS BIRMANICA, N. G., N. SP. The parasites are present as solitary individuals or aggregates of two or three individuals. Solitary Individuals The exact length of the parasites was not determined as the indi viduals were broken in removing them from the host for study. The form may be described as club-shaped, the posterior end enlarged, narrowing to an elongate stalk. The anterior end of the stalk is branched into several short filaments which attach the parasite to th@ host. In Fig. 2 is shown a portion of the anterior end of a parasite as it appears after being pulled out with forceps from a very delicate inter segmental septum. In the fixed condition the stalk and a thin layer of the posterior en