A Troublesome Parasite of a Brittle-Starfish

Abstract

IN a valuable work on certain parasitic Crustacea (“Contributions à l'Etude des Bopyriens,” p. 181), Prof. A. Giard and J. Bonnier have done me the honour of calling attention to my discovery of a Copepod (?) which lives in the body of an Ophiuran, Amphiura squamata. They regard the mutual relationship of the Copepod and the Ophiuran as an instance of the castration of the host by the parasite. Although all my observations indicate the correctness of some such an interpretation, I failed to recognize it as a fact until after they had pointed it out. The explanation seems a possible one, and is provisionally accepted, with a few modifications, as the best as far as research has gone. The modifications are important.