OF THE ALIMENTARY TRACT 141 



(1862) three names, Trichomonas elongata, Trichom- 

 onas caudata, and Trichomonas flagellata, for Tri- 

 . chomonas of the mouth, the first of which, by priority, 

 should be the valid name, although Kofoid's (1920) 

 acceptance of Trichomonas buccalis was taken as ex- 

 pedient. Wenyon (1926) adopts Trichomonas 

 elongata as the correct name for Trichomonas of the 

 human mouth. 



Lynch (1922) cites the morphological resemblance 

 of the trichomonads of Ohira and Noguchi and of 

 Goodey with Trichomonas from the vagina and 

 mouth in his studies and is of the opinion that they 

 are the same organism. It is further called to atten- 

 tion (Lynch, 1922) that trichomonads may vary in 

 activity and in size in different environments and 

 that differentiation in the same medium would seem 

 necessary to prove the validity of different species 

 from different sources unless there may be some dis- 

 tinct feature of difference not now known. 



It seems, therefore, not impossible that Trichom- 

 onas of man is all one organism instead of three. 

 Further, it seems that the habit of differentiating 

 and naming protozoa by location is unsound and that 

 distinction among them should rest upon features 

 of difference between the organisms themselves. 

 However, it is conventional at the present to consider 

 Trichomonas hominis, Trichomonas elongata (buc- 

 calis) , and Trichomonas vaginalis as distinct species 

 and this -will be adhered to in this writing. 



Trichomonas has been the subject of much investi- 



