INOCULATION OF VERTEBRATES FROM INSECTS 393 



FrancMni and Mantovani (1915) also claim to have infected rats with Herpeto- 

 monas muscarum of house flies. They state that they obtained a culture from the 

 heart blood of an inoculated rat in N.N.X. medium. The only organisms seen in the 

 cultures had the appearance of anaplasma, and they claim that mice were successfully 

 inoculated by means of the cultures. The mice showed leishmania forms in their 

 organs. It is impossible to understand what the authors mean by the small ana- 

 plasma forms, which were apparently the only ones seen in the culture. It is 

 difficult to conceive of a culture of H. muscarum which would not show the usual 

 leptomonas forms. Laveran and Franchini (1919rt, 1920) report that mice and 

 guinea-pigs were infected by inoculation of cultures of L. ctenocephali, which was 

 again recovered by culture from the blood. Similarly (1919a), cultures of L. jaculum 

 of the water bug Nepa cinerea were obtained by inoculating mice intraperitoneally 

 with the intestinal contents of the bugs and cultivating from the heart blood, and 

 mice were infected by inoculation of cultures of C. melophagia. The infections were 

 carried on to other mice by injections of liver and spleen material. Laveran and 

 Franchini (1920, 19206) gave accounts of successful experiments with cultures of 

 the leptomonas of Phlebotomus. Two dogs were inoculated in the skin of the thigh. 

 One developed a local lesion in which large cells containing numerous leishmania 

 occurred, while the other acquired a general infection (see p. 436). Guinea-pigs and 

 mice were also infected, and leishmania and other forms found in the organs. Kou- 

 baud and Franchini (1922) state that several mice, which were placed in jars in 

 which fleas {Ctenopsylla muscuU) were breeding, acquired infections, and that 

 leishmania forms in which the kinetoplast was not clear were found in the organs- 

 From the spleen of one of these mice another mouse was infected. They also claim 

 (1922o) that mice inoculated snbcutaneously with dried faeces of fleas became 

 infected. In a later paper these authors (192.3) state that a culture was made from 

 the heart blood of one of the mice two and a half months after its inoculation. 

 Nothing appeared in the culture for some time, but over three months later the tube, 

 which had been put aside, was examined and flagellates were found. Subcultures 

 were successfully obtained. It is evident that if flagellates took such a long time to 

 appear in the cultures, they must have been exceedingly scanty in the heart blood of 

 the mouse. Laveran and Franchini (1923) give an account of experiments con- 

 ducted with the flagellates of the bug Pentatoma ornatum. These were inoculated 

 to mice and passed through other mice in series. In all cases infection resulted, 

 though it is admitted that the organisms were present in small numbers only. These 

 were said to be of the leishmania, piroplasma, or anaplasma type. Cultures were 

 repeatedly made from the heart blood or organs of the experimental animals, but in 

 only one case was a positive result obtained. In this culture only round forms were 

 present, no flagellates being seen. The figures accompanying the description serve 

 a useful purpose in that they illustrate what the author is willing to accept as evidence 

 of infection in animals. 



The organisms discovered in infected animals by Franchini and those who have • 

 associated themselves with him were usually of the leishmania type, though the 

 elongated flagellates were often said to be present in the blood-stream and occa- 

 sionally in the organs. As a rule, the parasites were scanty in number, the animals 

 not showing the intense infection which sometimes occurs in mice inoculated with 

 Leishmania tropica or L. donovani. Some of the figures, or rather diagrams, produced 

 by these observers, however, show large cells of the macrophage type packed with 

 parasites, as seen in oriental sore and kala azar. Experiments of a similar kind 

 have been recorded by Fantham and Porter (1915rt). ^Vorking with L. jaculum 

 of the water bug Nepa cinerea, they claim to have successfully infected mice 

 by inoculation or feeding with the intestinal contents of the bugs. A puppy, like- 



