THE INTESTINAL PROTOZOA OF FROGS AND TOADS. 229 
history of the animal. I have found it impossible to name 
without an exhaustive inquiry into all the available literature 
bearing upon it. 
Only one serious attempt, that of Foa, has been made 
recently to classify this animal correctly, and her solution 
of the matter cannot be regarded as correct. At the time 
when I published my preliminary account I was unable to 
enter fully into a discussion of the matter. I therefore 
named the organism Octomitus sp., and I will now give my 
reasons for having done so. 
The first authentic record of flagellates in frogs, so far as 
I have been able to discover, is that of Ehrenberg, 1838.1 
Ehrenberg distinguished two different organisms: Bodo 
intestinalis, and Bodoranarum. ‘The former he states 
to be 7, mm. long, occurring in the large intestine of frogs, 
the latter 4, mm.long, and found in frogs and toads. His 
description and figures are naturally very incomplete on 
many points (e.g. the number of flagella), but it appears to 
me highly probable that B. intestinalis Ehrbg. is really 
the 8-flagellate parasite, and B. ranarum Ehrbg. is Tricho- 
monas or Trichomastix. I think it is certain that 
neither really belongs to the genus Bodo as at present 
constituted. 
In 1841 Dujardin established the genus Hexamita. He 
described three species: H. nodulosa and H. inflata, 
from stagnant water, and H.intestinalis. Unfortunately 
only H. nodulosa is figured. It shows six very distinct 
flagella. H. intestinalis is stated to occur in the intestine 
and peritoneal cavity “‘des Batraciens et des Tritons.” 
There appears to me to be but little doubt that this was 
really the 8-flagellate parasite—only six of whose eight flagella 
Dujardin was able to count with the apparatus at his disposal. 
Diesing in 1850 describes, though apparently without any 
justification, the Hexamita intestinalis of Dujardin under 
the new name of Bodo (Amphimonas) decipiens Diesing. 
He makes no original observations on the organism. 
' But they were possibly first observed by Leeuwenhoek in 1702. 
