386 ALDO CASTELLANI AND ARTHUR WILLEY. 
observed by us in the finger-blood of native fever patients. 
Their general outline and size might seem to suggest some 
relation, whether of growth or degeneration, with the ordinary 
crescents of tropical malaria; but the absence of pigment, the 
presence of vacuoles, and the deeply staining protoplasm 
exclude such an assumption, especially in view of their 
similarity to the bodies observed in birds. In the true 
crescents, as is well known, there is an aggregation of pig- 
ment granules interspersed with chromatin at the centre of 
the body ; the protoplasm stains uniform pale blue, there are 
no vacuoles, and there are frequently traces of the original 
blood-cell in which the crescent developed adhering to it. 
Unfortunately, the literature at our disposal does not permit 
us to say whether the bodies we have described are, or are 
not, identical with, or related to, the pseudo-vermicules de- 
scribed from certain birds by Danilewsky, Kruse, L. Pfeiffer, 
and MacCallum.! 
IJ. Piamentep ENpoGLOBULAR PARASITES OF A GECKO. 
In the ‘Annales de l'Institut Pasteur, tome xv, 1901, 
p- 338, Dr. P. L. Simond described, under the name 
Hemamceba metschnikovi,a parasite of the blood of the 
freshwater tortoise, Chitra indica (= Trionyx indicus), 
which appears at a certain phase of its life-history in the 
form of an amoeboid and eventually rounded organism con- 
taining pigment granules. He says that the chelonian host 
is very common in the rivers of India, especially in the 
Ganges and its tributaries, and that it plays the part of a 
scavenger in the waters of the Ganges, devouring, in addition 
to its natural diet of fishes and other aquatic animals, the 
remains of the corpses of Hindus which are thrown into 
the river after an incomplete cremation owing to the paucity 
of firewood in certain regions. On this account it is greatly 
venerated by the Hindus. 
1 Cf. P. L. Simond, ‘‘ Contribution a l'étude des Hématozoaires endo- 
globulaires des Reptiles,” ‘ Ann. Inst. Pasteur,’ vol. xv, 1801, see p. 347. 
