408 FAMILY: TRYPANOSOMID.E 



of which is a spherical karyosome (Fig. 192, 7-8). The kiuetoplast 

 is a compound body consisting of a rod-shaped parabasal and a blepharo- 

 plast from which the axoneme arises. In dried films the axoneme is often 

 seen as a red line after deep staining with Romanowsky stains. 



There is no evidence that the leishmania exist in any other than the 

 typical form in the infected host, with the single exception recorded by 

 the writer (1915a) of the occurrence of leptomonas forms, such as appear 

 in cultures, in the spleen of a dog infected with leishmania from a case of 

 Indian kala azar (Fig. 189). In this animal the leishmania were of a 

 particularly large size and varied shape. 



Maitra (1924), in India, found in a peripheral blood-film, made from a 

 case which was clinically one of kala azar, flagellates which appeared to be 

 of the leptomonas type. Subsequent examinations of the blood did not 

 reveal any flagellates, so that it is not improbable that the film had been 

 contaminated. The writer knows of an instance in which similar flagellates 

 were deposited on a blood-film by a fly. There is nothing in Maitra's 

 account to suggest that such a contamination took place, but, from 

 information the writer has received, such a fallacy was not excluded, 

 for the flagellates were only found in one of several films made at the 

 same time. 



MULTIPLICATION. — The only method by which Leishmania donovani 

 multiplies is by binary fission. Dividing forms with two nuclei and two 

 kinetoplasts, and these structures actually in process of division, can easily 

 be found in stained films. The minute details of the division process can 

 only be followed in properly fixed films. In dried films stained by Roman- 

 owsky stains, the red mass representing the nucleus elongates, becomes 

 dumb-bell-shaped, and then divides into two parts. The kinetoplast 

 divides by elongation and division of the blepharoplast, followed by a 

 similar process in the parabasal. After division of the blepharoplast, a 

 new axoneme is formed from that daughter blej)haroplast, which is not 

 attached to the old axoneme. In dividing leishmania, it is sometimes 

 possible to distinguish two parallel axonemes arising from an incompletely 

 divided kinetoplast. 



Multiple segmentation has been described by several observers 

 (Mackie, 1914, Yakimoff, 1915a). The evidence rests on the appearance 

 in films of cytoplasmic bodies within which are arranged a varying number 

 of nuclei and kinetoplasts, without any outlines to indicate separate 

 organisms. In the writer's experience, these bodies probably represent 

 detached portions of cytoplasm of the large cells containing leishmania, 

 of which the outlines are not clearly visible, either as a result of imperfect 

 staining or degenerative changes undergone by the parasites (Plate IV., 2, 

 p. 406). Similar appearances are often seen when the large cells are still 



