GENUS: SAPPINIA— AMCEBiE OF PLANTS 181 



commonly in that of animals, such as the ox and lizard. Hartmann and 

 Nagler (1908) gave it the name Amoeba diploidea, while Alexeieff (1912a) 

 placed it in Dangeard's genus Sappinia. The amoeba varies in size from 

 10 to 30 microns, possesses a contractile vacuole, and has a characteristic 

 thick pellicle, which is sometimes wrinkled (Fig. 91). It possesses two 

 nuclei which lie side by side in a central position. They are spherical, and 

 have large central karyosomes. The amoeba multiplies by binary fission, 

 the two nuclei dividing and producing two parallel spindles. The daughter 

 individuals thus have two nuclei. When the amoebse encyst, two in- 

 dividuals form round themselves a common cyst. According to Hartmann 

 and Nagler, the two nuclei of each amoeba now fuse. Each nucleus is then 

 said to give off reduction bodies, which degenerate, after which the cyto- 

 plasms of the two uninucleate ama?ba? unite. Their nuclei, however, 

 come into contact with one another, but do not fuse (Fig. 47). The amoeba 

 emerges from its cyst, and commences to multiply by binary fission as 

 before (see p. 82). 



AMCEB^E OF PLANTS. 



Franchini (1922 g, h, j, k, I) in a series of papers stated that he had found amoebse 

 in the latex of various plants. They occurred either alone or in association with 

 flagellates of the leptomouas or tryj)anosome type. The plants found infected were 

 Euphorbias, figs, and allied forms, as well as the lettuce, and were as follows: 

 Eiqihorbia vertirillatd,, Eiiphorhia nereifolia, Chlorocodon Whitei, Cryptostegia grandi- 

 Jhra. Stroph(nitliiis I!i<itili ;;iid N. s<-<ni<h-)iti, Acolcantliera venenata, Thevetias-p., Cerbera 

 Odollam,Fici(s IU'Uja))i'ni(i, Ficiix J'ierrei, Ficus Tholloni, Ficus carica, Ficusparietalis, 

 Antiaris toxicaria, Lakoocha artocarpus, Chrisophyllon sp., Labramia Bojeri, Tregtdia 

 Africana, Mimusops schimperi, Sideroxylon inerme, Lactuca sativa, Plumeria alba. 



Cultures of some of the amcebse wore obtained by inoculation of blood-agar 

 plates (Noller's medium) with the latex of the plants, and in this medium most of the 

 amoebae were found to ingest red blood-corpuscles. In this way cultures were made 

 from Ficus carica, Chlorocodon Whitei, Cryptostegia grandiflora, Acokanthera venenata, 

 Plumeria alba, and the lettuce, Lactuca sativa. Three of these amoebae were named 

 Amoeba chlorocodonis. Amoeba cryptostegice, and Amoeba lactuca;. The descriptions of 

 the amoebse and the figures are such that it is impossible to form an opinion as to 

 their nature. It seems not improbable that the cultures obtained may have been 

 derived from amoebse or their cysts on the cuticle of the plants. 



Further remarkable assertions are made by the author (Franchini, 1922 n) in 

 connection with the inoculation of kittens with cultures of amoebae from the plants 

 Acokanthera venenata and Plumeria alba. Kittens injected per rectum with cultures 

 of these amoebae were said to remain well for six to ten days, when they suddenly 

 became ill with dysentery, which persisted for about ten days. During this period 

 amoebse, some of which included red blood-corpuscles, were constantly present. 

 The animals recovered. The figures of these amoebae, again, are unrecognizable, 

 and cannot be distinguished from cells. It is further claimed that mice are suscep- 

 tible to inoculation with the amoebae cultivated from latex of Euphorbias, and that, 

 when these cultures contain trypanosomes and leishmania, as well as the amoebae, 

 a general infection is produced, and that all these organisms can be recovered by 

 culture from the heart blood. In another paper Franchini (1923) asserts that 



