AbstractsBiology & Animal Science

A study has been made of the internal parasites of 14 seagulls, Larus argentatus, captured at intervals on the Ottawa River near Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Quebec, during September and October, 1948, and June and July, 1949. The birds were brought immediately to the laboratory and a careful examination of each was made for external and internal parasites. Blood smears were also examined for protozoan parasites. None of the birds showed any external parasites or protozoans in the blood but, at the same time, no bird was free from parasites of the digestive system. The nematode parasites were fixed in hot 70 per cent alcohol and the trematodes in hot 10 per cent formalin. Most of the parasites were alive at the time of collection so that the preparations were uniformly good. This presented an opportunity for studying a large number of well prepared specimens of the same species.