The species of the genus Bulinus, intermediate hosts of Schistosoma.

The conditions of snail life in African inland waters favour the evolution of microgeographical races while hindering the formation of new species, and the distinctions between many of the bulinid intermediate hosts of Schistosoma are consequently blurred. In this paper the author comments on the distinguishing characters that have been established for the known Bulinus species and subspecies and summarizes the present knowledge of their distribution and importance as intermediate hosts. His work is based on the examination of over 1540 snail samples received at the WHO Snail Identification Centre in Charlottenlund, Denmark.