Hexatylus viviparus, a spear-bearing nematode superficially resembling Aiiguillulina dipsaci, was originally described by the writer (1926) from a diseased potato tuber. In a second note published the same year (1926a), further details of its structure were given; the organisms in this case being obtained from a gladiolus corm affected with an internal soft rot.

Since the appearance of these papers the writer has encountered this species on several occasions both in potato tubers and gladiolus corms. The receipt of a gladiolus corm in February, 1937, the brown rotten centre of which contained numerous specimens of the worm, provided further material for detailed observations on the structure of the worms. Some of the decayed central tissues of the corm also served as an inoculum for the cultivation of the nematode, along with a fungus, on slope cultures of a malt extract agar. Subcultures from the original slopes have been made from time to time and on these the worms have been successfully maintained for more than twelve months.

In 1928 Taylor put forward the theory that “…Syngamus trachea is a species within which there may be found a number of strains showing a peculiar physiological adaptation to the host in which they occur.” He had not had much success in a number of experiments in which he had tried to infect chickens with S. trachea from starlings. The first experimental feedings resulted in only light infections though control experiments with the chicken “strain” resulted in much heavier ones. After the first passage through the chicken however, the gapeworms had become more adapted to the new host, and could produce much more serious infections in the next generation.

A skin infection called by the local Malays “ sawah itch ” has been known in Negri Sembilan, Federated Malay States, for some years, where it has been recorded from widely distributed areas in this State and also from the rice-fields adjoining the Tampin-Malacca road. It is essentially associated with padi-cultivation and is especially prevalent during those periods when the soil is being ploughed or “ chankolled ” prior to planting with rice seedlings, which occupation necessitates workers spending hours each day with their legs submerged in the mud and water of the sawah. (Sawah = swamp or tract of ground covered with water.) I am indebted to Dr. J. W. Field of the Institute for Medical Research, F.M.S., for permission to quote the following extract from his unpublished report on “ sawah itch.”

During the past year about 50 domestic hens from a farm at Wheathampstead, Herts, have been sent to this laboratory for postmortem examination. The birds came in singly at first. Later as the helminthic fauna seemed likely to prove interesting, they were kindly sent in groups of three. When a diseased bird died, a thin one and an apparently healthy one were slaughtered so as to effect a control. The hens had been bought as adults from a number of local farmers and were kept outside on free range. They belonged to the breeds Ancona, Light Sussex, Rhode Island Red or were a cross between R.I.R. and Light Sussex. All the birds seemed to be equally affected.

A field experiment was commenced in Bedfordshire during 1937, when soil infested with cysts of Heterodera schachtii was treated with very heavy dressings of calcium cyanamide. For comparison, a treatment with ammonium sulphate and lime was included. The lay-out was in the form of four randomised blocks of five treatments: control, calcium cyanamide 40, 60 and 80 c.p.a., and ammonium sulphate 80 c.p.a. plus hydrated lime 63 c.p.a. The last dressing contained the same amounts of nitrogen and lime as 80 c.p.a. of calcium cyanamide.