3b8 PAIIASITIC PROTOZOA FOUXD IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



liobertson foi' examination. He later identified the organism and 

 asked me to confirm his diagnosis. He now permits me to record 

 the occurrence of Khinos])ori(liiim in man in South Africa. 



Infusoria. 



In addition to the Ciliata previously recorded by me, all of 

 w hich have been observed again, the following remarks on further 

 observations may be of interest. 



A very few specimens of Didcsinis quadrata Fiorentini ^\ ere 

 found in the large colon of a horse which died of " staggers ' on 

 June 7, 1922, and was examined post-mortem at Onderstepoort. 



On one occasion specimens of a Ciliate about 47^i to 56[i long, 

 and 25[A to 33^i broad were found in human urine sent for patho- 

 logical examination. The organism was observed among casts 

 after centrifuging. The urine was not quite fresh, perhaps six 

 hours old, and so the Ciliate was probably a casual or contamin- 

 ative organism in the urine. The Ciliate was, after some 

 trouble, identified as Chilodon uncinatus Ehrenberg (also called 

 C. dentatus de Fromentel), which has been reported as a " chance 

 parasite " or " pseudo-parasite " from human diarrhoeic stools. 



In continuation of the examinations of the large intestines of 

 pigs for Balaniidlum coli, mentioned in my former communica- 

 tions, the following additional results are now recorded. A further 

 number of 32 pigs has been examined, of which 29 were from 

 the Johannesburg area and 3 from Onderstepoort. Of these 32 

 pigs, 15 proved to be infected and 17 uninfected with Balantidia. 

 In six of the infected pigs, Balantidia containing ingested red 

 blood corpuscles were observed, whih' the remaining nine con- 

 tained no erythrocj'tes in the Balantidia, thougli ingested 

 mealie " starch grains were sometimes present in the ciliates. 

 In the six cases in which Balantidia containing red blood 

 corpuscles were present, the sites of infection weie as follows : In 

 three pigs the caecum and rectum both were infected, in one case 

 caecum, colon and rectum contained the parasites, while in two 

 cases the caecum only harboured Balantidia. Of the nine cases in 

 which Balantidia without erythrocytes were observed, the caecum 

 and rectum were both infected in three cases, the caecum, colon 

 and rectum in one case, the caecum only in two cases and the 

 rectum only in three cases. The ciecum thus seems the site most 

 favourable to the existence of Balautidium coli, as judged by the 

 frequency of its infection. In two cases minute ulcers were 

 present in parasitised caeca. However, most of the pigs M^ere 

 apparently healthy. 



The new species, BalaiifidiuDi «;//«, fovmd by McDonald* 

 (1922) in pigs in California has not yet been observed by me in 

 pigs in South Africa. 



Regarding the Ciliata found in the rumen and reticulum of 

 sheep and cattle, it is interesting to record that species of 



* University of California Publications in Zoology, xx, p. 250. 



