TRICHOMONAD FLAGELLATES. 303 



(1914), in T. sanguisugae by Alexeieff (1914a), and in T. granulosa 

 (probably only a moribund T. augusta) by the same author (1914b) as 

 a row of chromatic granules. 



We believe that this slender elongated chromatic organ heretofore 

 called the chromatic basal rod, chromatic basis, chromatic line, or 

 cote, this chromatic basal rod of Trichomonas is really homologous 

 with the stout deeply staining parabasals which Janicki (1911) de- 

 scribes in certain other flagellates such for example as those of Deves- 

 covina and Parajoenia in both of which they take their origin from the 

 blepharoplast on the side of the axostyle next to the posteriorly 

 directed flagellum, though they do not run posteriorly parallel to it 

 in either case. 



In the isolated and casual figure of Trichomonas batrachorum of 

 Janicki (1911) an additional stout club-shaped strvicture attached to 

 the blepharoplast is figured which is interpreted by him as the para- 

 basal body. It is also figured in Tetratrichomonas prowazeki by 

 Alexeieff (1910) and a comparable structure is also found in a species 

 with slender axostyle described by Martin and Robertson (1911) as 

 Trichomotias gallinarum which we here refer to the genus Tetra- 

 trichomonas, where, because of its four flagella, it properly belongs. 



In more recent articles Alexeieff (1913, 1914a) again describes 

 and figures it as an inconstant "chapelet de grains siderophiles " 

 or "cote," and calls it the parabasal body alongside the anterior 

 end of the chromatic basal rod. 



Kuczynski (1914) finds in Trichomonas caviae a stout deeply staining 

 rod or a line of heavy granules adjacent to the chromatic basal line 

 in some individuals, usually in all in a given host, but not in those 

 from another host. He does not find it in T. muris, and only occasion- 

 ally in T. augusta. He regards this as the true and only parabasal 

 body, but not as the new chromatic basal line, or new parabasal, since 

 he does not recognize its transformation into that structure. He is 

 inclined accordingly to regard the parabasal body in trichomonads as 

 an ephemeral organelle. 



The homology of this structure is thus rendered somewhat perplex- 

 ing by these interpretations of Janicki, Alexeieff, and Kuczynski, 

 who distinguish not only the darkly stained chromatic basal line below 

 the membrane l)ut in addition a club-shaped deeply stained structure 

 which they call the parabasal body, adjacent to and also attached to 

 the blepharoplast. Dobell (1909) who worked o\er T. batrachorum 

 with care does not mention or figure the parabasal of these authors. 

 One of Alexeiefl^'s figures (1913, Fig. VIIc) shows Trichomonas augusta 



