Seals and fish of some parts of the Gulf of St. Lawrence are frequently, and sometimes heavily infected with Acanthocephala of the genus Corynosoma. The present knowledge of this genus in north-eastern American mammals is incomplete and in some cases inaccurate. [...]

It has long been recognised that there is a close relationship between parasitism and nutrition although its true nature has not always been clear. Some of the relationships have been discussed in the reviews published by Lapage, (1937), von Brand, (1952), Hunter, (1953) and Smith, (1955). In the association as seen and described by field workers, there is likely to be some confusion of cause and effect because, in the human field, areas where parasitism is most serious - in the backward tropical and sub-tropical countries where overcrowding, lack of sanitation, poverty and illiteracy are the rule, both under-nutrition and malnutrition are almost universal.

Until recently the helminth parasites of North American mice had received little study. Reports of single species from one host animal or small collections of host animals characterized the early work. Later, the surveys of Harkema (21) and Erickson (17), based on a greater number of hosts made available a more concrete basis for the study of helminths occurring in indigenous rodents. [...]

Between January 1952 and May 1953 the United States Naval Medical Research Unit No. 3, stationed at Cairo, Egypt, undertook an extensive survey of the local fauna for the presence of schistosomes. As a result, a large number of helminths, other than schistosomes, was collected and some were forwarded to the Institute of Parasitology at Macdonald College for identification. This thesis deals with the classification of those nematodes collected from Carnivora. It is hoped that eventually a complete host list for all the parasites obtained in the area will be published.

The material forming the basis of this work was obtained from reptiles, mainly lizards and snakes, from Egypt and nearby places. The collection was made time to time from January 1952 to May 1953 by members of the Department of Helminthology of the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 3, Cairo Egypt.

An ascaroid worm is common in the stomach of various seals in the eastern North Atlantic Ocean. Its infective larva occurs in a variety of ground fish in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the seals become infected by eating the infected fish. As the incomplete knowledge of this nematode has caused considerable confusion over its nomenclature and relationships, it is proposed to make it the type species of the new genus Phocanema.

The original purpose of this investigation was to trace the migration of the immature Trichinella spiralis larvae from the intestinal tract to the skeletal musculature of the host, in this instance, the golden hamster, Cricetus auratus Waterhouse. The migratory route of the intestinal larvae has been a subject of international zoological debate since 1895, when Askanazy and Cerfontaine independently published refutations of Leuckart's "active migration theory" (1860). [...]

Note: Missing pages i-iii, 135-182. / There has been little investigation of the parasitic fauna of the North Atlantic Ocean bordering Canada. The literature reveals that no one group of fish has ever been covered by workers in this area, a situation not found in European waters of the Atlantic. Attempts have been made at classification and distribution studies, some of which introduced new species to taxonomy, but always concerning mixed groups of fish. The first of these was by Stafford (1904) whose work unfortunately, was signally incomplete.

This work was prompted as the result of a survey done on the parasites of sled dogs in the vicinity of Fort Simpson, N.W.T., during the summer of 1956. The incidence of hookworm infection was found to be 95 per cent in 70 dogs examined. This parasite has been found in dogs from points; all across northern Canada and as far north as Ellesmere Island (Cameron et al. 1940). It has also been reported by Law (1933) from arctic fox taken in the region of Hudson Bay who also mentioned that Hadwen had found it in Alaskan dogs. This suggests that the parasite is particularly well adapted for life in a northern environment.

Little work has been done on the blood parasites of amphibians in Canada - surprisingly little, when it is considered how much has been written on haematozoa from these animals in the neighbouring U.S.A. as well as in more distant countries, and that frogs, well known as a source of trypanosomes and haemogregarines, are among the commonest laboratory animals. Nevertheless, two earlier surveys in Quebec resulted in the discovery of two cosmopolitan trypanosomes and a widely distributed species of Lankesterella, and a number of new species of Microfilaria, Trypanosoma, Haemogregarina, Haemoproteus, Dactylosoma and Plasmodium.