A small urn‐shaped peritrichous protozoan, apparently an undescribed species, was found on the gills and bodies of largemouth and smallmouth black bass in ponds at Leetown, West Virginia. A heavy mortality among a lot of fingerling largemouth bass probably resulted from suffocation due to the organisms on the gills. Specimens of the parasite, preserved in formalin, measured about 57 microns in length and 24 microns in maximum width. The base of the animal consists of a circular disc about 6 microns in diameter. No evidence was found that the sucker‐like attachment disc penetrated the epidermal cells of the host causing necrotic tissue. The anterior or upper end of the animal has a ciliary disc and two rows of cilia. The body is without cilia and is annulared. The macronucleus is very large, has the shape of an inverted cone and occupies much of the lower half of the body. The small micronucleus apparently lies in the slightly concave surface of the upper part of the macronucleus, although there is doubt on this point. This new species was named Scyphidia micropteri after Micropterus, the generic name of the smallmouth black bass, one of its hosts. The species recently was found by Dr. H. S. Davis on gills of largemouth black bass collected in Radnor Lake, Tennessee, which indicates a wide geographical distribution of the parasite.
