97 



A H.«MOGREGARINE OF MaMMALS* 



H. Ralfouri (Laveran)l 



While carrying out work in connection with trypanosomiasis I have liarl occasion to make 

 nnmerons examinations of the bloud of the jerboa or desert rat (Jacnhis jcrnlnx, or./, (jonloni, 

 as I believe it has been renamed). (Fig. 57.) Mr. Butler, Director of the Game Preserva- 

 tion Department, whom I consulted, was not certain as to the species. It is worth noting 

 that the hair pads of the hind feet are of a uniform browmish-white colour. In the first blood 

 examined I was surprised to see that a large proportion of the red blood corpuscles harboured 

 an unpigmented and non-motile parasite. In the stained specimen it was at once apparent 

 that we were dealing with some kind of trophozoite. Sixtv-twd jerboas liave up to the 

 present been examined, and in all of them, with the exception of two adults and three very 



Species of 

 Jerboa 



Fig. JS7.--Jhkbo.^ ok Deshkt Rat (.\t)uiit Two-Thirds Size) 



young animals, one of which was newly born, this parasite has been fomid. The bluod of 

 two fcetal jerboas yielded a negative result. Specimens were sent to Professor Laveran, 

 who at once declared the parasite to be a hiiemogregarine, and has Icindly iiiforined me that 

 the discovery is one of much interest. 



The Appe.\r.\nce of the Parasite 



The trophozoite in the fresh blood appears as a pale, hyaline, homogeneous body, slightly 

 curved and with rounded ends (sausage-shaped), lying either apparently free or in the renuiins 

 of a red blood corpuscle. Occasionally one finds it broader at one end than at the other, 

 and the latter is then bent upon itself for a short distance. The erythrocyte may be 

 represented only by a bow uniting the two poles of the parasite, just as it is sometimes seen 



* Part of this paper appeared in the Journal of Tropical Medicine, and I am indebted to the 



Editors of that journal for their kind permission to reproduce it here. 

 t Laveran. Cumptes rendus des seances de I'Acad. des Sciences. Vol. CXLI., p. 295, 1905. 



