VII. On a remarkable new nematode, Tylenchinema oscinellæ gen, et sp. n. , parasitic in the frit-fly, Oscinella frit L ., attacking oats

Abstract

On June 3, 1929, some young oat plants, lifted from an experimental plot at Winches Farm, St. Albans, were brought into the laboratory and examined for the presence of “tulip-root,” caused by the nematode worm Tylenchus dipsaci . The “tulip-root” condition was not found, nor were any examples of its causative agent seen, but the stunted and swollen stems of the young plants were attacked by frit-fly. On breaking open some of the stems, larvae of the fly were found surrounded by the debris of the destroyed tissues, and in this material a few nematodes were discovered which attracted the writer’s attention because they appeared Tylenchus-like and yet could not be identified with any of the plant-parasitic or free-living Tylenchus species known to the writer.