BY T. IIARVKY JOHNSTON. 403 



the popular an J scientiKc name mentioned by these authors. 

 The range given will, in that case, need altering, and we may 

 take it for granted that the specimen came from New South 

 Wales. 



Mr. H. Wasteneys, of Brisbane, recently forwarded several 

 blood- H 1ms from carpet-snakes {P. sjnlotes var. variegata Gray) 

 captured on the Enoggera Water-JReserve (near Brisbane). Two 

 of th(^ tiims showed the presence of com para tivel^^ few haemogre- 

 garinos, which 1 have identified as H. shattocki. Many of the 

 adult stages described for this species weie not present in the 

 specimens examined, but the forms seen resembled those described 

 sutticiently closely to justify the identification. 



The youngest parasite seen was only aljout 6 /a long by about 

 2*5 /x wide. It did not possess the fairly characteristic shape of 

 a young hseinogregarine. Its centrally situated nucleus was com- 

 paratively large, round, and deeply staining. The parasite was 

 about as large as the host-nucleus. It is worth noting here that 

 its host-cell harboured another much larger specimen, this being 

 the only exauiple of double infection seen in the several tilms 

 examined. The other form was a typical crescent-shaped haemo- 

 gregarine. Many of the latter type were seen, their measure- 

 ments being about 15 /z by 2-5 /i, measuring the length along the 

 middle of the parasite. The ends gradually tapered for a short 

 distance, and terminated in blunt, rounded extremities of equal 

 size. Hence one could not distinguish definitely an anterior and 

 a posterior end in each. The concavity of the crescent was 

 usually facing the host-nucleus, which was not in any way dis- 

 placed. The nucleus of tiie organism, when visible, appeared as 

 a definite band across the hody, usually slightly nearer one end 

 than the other. A thin capsule could, in most cases, be detected. 



These crescentic forms correspond fairly closely to Sambon and 

 Seligmann's, which were from 11 to 15 /x long by '2 jx broad, and 

 possessed rounded extremities differing only slightly in thickness. 



In later stages, a capsule could be distinguished quite readily. 

 Sometimes it lay some little distance from the i)arasite, especially 

 on the concave side; sometimes the interval was very narrow. 



