148 Transactions of the Society. 



The next parasite is the Hxmoproteus danilewskyi, which is 

 widely found amongst birds, to which it appears to be much less 

 harmful than Plasmodium prfecox. It is separated from the latter 

 by the long form of its gametes, but shows relationships to both 

 P. precox and Laverania. Its development is unknown. It begins 

 as a tiny irregular body in the erythrocyte of the bird, then grows 

 in the long axis of the cell and turns round the ends of the nucleus, 

 and it contains pigment. These forms have apparently nothing to 

 do with its schizogony. 



Schaudin has stated that part of the haemoproteus forms in the 

 blood belong to the development stage of a trypanosome, but his 

 work has not been confirmed, and he was probably misled by a 

 double infection. He also thought that the haemoproteus was carried 

 by, and developed in, a mosquito {Cidex pipiens), but the recent 

 work of tlie Sergents in Algiers, and its confirmation by Aragao 

 in Brazil, go to show that it is a species of fly (Lynchia maura), 

 which is the principal host. Aragao believes that the ookinetes are 

 taken up by the large mononuclear cells of the blood and are 

 carried to the lungs, and there become split up into merozoites, 

 which then get into the erythrocytes. This takes place in the 

 lungs, and explains why one hardly ever finds merozoites in the 

 blood. The process of fertilization in these parasites can be 

 watched easily, and is as follows : The long parasite rolls itself up 

 into a ball in the cell, and then breaks through the cell-wall and 

 appears free in the blood, generally with the nucleus of the 

 erythrocyte attached to it. Some of these round bodies remain 

 quiescent (macrogametocytes), whilst in others active movements 

 are seen (microgametocytes) : then tailed processes are seen pro- 

 jecting from the surface, whilst the body itself gets smaller. At 

 last these processes get loose and wander quickly about in the 

 blood. This constitutes the origin of the microgametes from the 

 microgametocytes. They then find a macrogamete, formed from the 

 macrogaraetocyte, mentioned above, and penetrate into it. This 

 fertilized macrogamete again gives rise to the ookinetes, which can 

 later on enter into an erythrocyte. This important observation 

 was made by MacCallum, and had a great influence on the ex- 

 planation of the spread of malaria. 



I have found this parasite in 69 birds of 48 different species, 

 in 46 of these latter for the first time. From the list below it will 

 be seen how widely distributed this parasite is : 16 of the 48 species 

 came from Africa, 42 from the Americas. 



H^MOPEOTEUS DaNILEWSKYI FOUND IN BiRDS. 



Habitat. 



3 Blue-winged Tanarjers—Calliste cyanoptera S. America 



Bouviefs Oivl — Scotopelia bouvieri Lagos 



3 Great-billed Touracoiis — Tu7-acus macrorhynchus W. Africa 



