476 



attached to the membrane measures 10 u , but the size of the animal 

 seems subject to considerable variation. When examined alive in the 

 stomach juice of its host at room temperature, the parasite is extremely 

 active, though after a period of about 24 hours it becomes gradually more 

 sluggish, remaining motionless for considerable periods in a very 

 characteristic head to tail position. 



Whether these three forms [Trypanoplasma^ fiitestinalis, ventriculi, 

 and the form from the conger) really belong to the same species, is a 

 question that in the present state of our knowledge it would be impos- 

 sible to answer, but it seems safest at present to place this form from 

 the stomach of the conger in a new species, — Trypanoiìlasììia congeri. 



Trypcmoplasma coiigeri has, up to the present, only been found in 

 three fasting congers, which had been kept in the tanks at Millport for 

 about five months and seemed perfectly healthy in every respect. 



In eight congers caught on the line near Millport, in which the 

 stomachs were full of food, no trace of the parasite could be found. On 

 the other hand, in those congers in which it is present, the parasite is 



Fig. 1. 



Fig. 1. Normal Trypaiwplasma congeri. 

 Fig. 2. Trypanoplasma in head to tail position. 



SO abundant that, especially in one individual, live films from the stomach 

 wall were simply a quivering mass of Trypanoplasnia. 



By those who have examined the blood fishes for Trypanoplasma 

 the significance of this fact will be readily appreciated, (e. g. Keysse- 

 litz on Trypanoplasma borreli , p. 20: — »Ein weiterer Mangel ergibt 

 sich aus der im Hinblick auf die Flagellaten Vermehrung bei Warm- 

 blutern außerordentlich großen Seltenheit von Teilungsstadien«). 



In films from the stomach of an infected conger , all the stages of 

 division are readily obtainable, and some are figured in this paper. A 

 full description of this process will , however, be given in a later paper, 

 at present we should only like to add a few more details as to the habitat 

 of the parasite, and its reaction to changes of environment. 



In the conger, as is well known, the cardiac portion of the stomach 

 is prolonged into a coecum, which stretches down the whole length of 

 the abdominal cavity. It is in this region of the stomach that the 



