190 Arthropods as Hosts of Pathogenic Protozoa 
melanin. The haemozoin is the most conspicuous part of the para¬ 
site, a feature of advantage in diagnosing from unstained prepara¬ 
tions. 
As the schizont matures, its nucleus breaks up into a number of 
daughter nuclei, each with a rounded mass of protoplasm about it, 
and finally the corpuscles are broken down and these rounded bodies 
125. Life cycle of the malaria parasite. Adapted from Leuckart’s chart, 
by Miss Anna Stryke. 
are liberated in the plasma as merozoites. These merozoites infect 
new corpuscles and thus the asexual cycle is continued. The malarial 
paroxysm is coincident with sporulation. 
As early as Laveran’s time it was known that under conditions 
not yet determined there are to be found in the blood of malarious 
patients another phase of the parasite, differing in form according 
to the type of the disease. In the pernicious type these appear as 
large, crescent-shaped organisms which have commonly been called 
“crescents.” We now know that these are sexual forms. 
