The Seasonal Cycle of Abundance of \u3ci\u3eEchinococcus multilocularis\u3c/i\u3e in Naturally Infected Arctic Foxes

In some preliminary work on the ecology of Echinococcus multilocularis (Rudolphi, 1801) on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, Rausch and Schiller (1956. Parasitology, 46 (3 & 4): 395-419) noted that the percentage of arctic foxes, Alopex lagopus Linnaeus, harboring the adult cestodes seemed to vary annually in direct relation to the population density of tundra voles, Microtus oeconomus innuitus Merriam, the principal intermediate host. With the primary objective of examining this relationship in greater detail, an intensive, long-term ecologic investigation was begun on this island in 1955. Some of the results in the first 7 years are reported here