PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS — SECTION D. 73 



Herpetomonads (Leptomonads)" have been found by rrancliini* 

 in the latex of various Euphorbiaceae, Apocynaceae, Urticacese 

 and Sapotaceae, and in one example of the Cruciferse, the common 

 cabbage. In this connection it may be of local interest to note 

 that such flagellates have been found in cabbages in South Africa 

 by Professor H. B. Fantham, who has also found Herpetomonads 

 in South African soil. Franchini's infected cabbages were grown 

 in France and Eoubaud has also found similarly parasitised cab- 

 bage in other districts in France. 



As previously mentioned, Laveran and Franchini have injected 

 cultures of Herpetomonas ctenocephali into healthy Euphorbia 

 sauliana and E. pilosa, producing flagellosis therein. The converse 

 experiment was also successful, white mice inoculated with herpe- 

 tomonad-containing latex of Euphorbia ncreijolia contracting 

 definite infections with the flagellate. 



That plant flagellates can be infective to mammals is now 

 proved. That it is no new idea is shown by the following quota- 

 tion from a paper by Fantham, published in 1915. f He states: 

 " Nearly three years ago I was informed by a competent 

 avithority that a number of Euphorbia containing Herpetomonads 

 grew outside a certain hospital situated in an area in which kala- 

 azar was endemic, and in which kala-azar patients were being 

 treated. The shrubs were infested by insects. It seems remark- 

 able that no attempt was made to trace a possible connection be- 

 tween the plant herpetomonad and kala-azar; doubtless such a 

 possibility was considered toO' remote. Kemarks of mine regarding 

 a possible connection were received by my infonnant with polite 

 incredulity, which is not surprising, since the wisdom of lecturing 

 on Herpetomonas and Crithidia to students of tropical medicine 

 has been questioned more than once." 



The source of the plant-inhabiting Flagellata was investi- 

 gated by Laveran and Franchini, who found that, in a number of 

 plant-feeding bugs, chiefly members of the Pentatomidte, Pyrrho- 

 eoridas and Lygaeidai, flagellates were present in large numbers. 

 The faeces of these insects were rich in flagellates and their non- 

 flagellate stages, and leaves of the plant were contaminated by 

 the fasces. Salivary gland and proboscis infections of some of 

 these insects also occurred. Thus, two sources of plant-infection 

 were possible. Plant tissues may be infected direct by the bite of 

 an insect showing salivary gland or proboscis infection, or the sur- 

 face may be injured by mechanical means, such as the winds or 

 insect bites, and then soiled by flagellate-containing insect excre- 

 ment. The organisms introduced into the latex find themselves 

 in a medium rich in nourishment, and somewhat similar to that 

 in their original insect host, and, being relatively plastic, adapt 

 themselves to the new environment and become established as 

 parasites of the plants. 



Franchini has found trypanosomes in various members of the 

 Euphorbiaceae. They were always relatively few in number. 



* See various papers in Bull. Soc. Pathol. Exot., xv. 

 t Annals Trap. Med. <b Parasitol., ix, p. 341. 



