APPENDIX ON PROTOZOOLOGY 739 



investigations of Fantham and Porter 1 (June, 1915) on natural herpe- 

 tomonads in the blood of mice in England have shown that these 

 rodents may be a natural reservoir of herpetomoniasis. The origin 

 of the infection of mice is to be sought in a flagellate of an ecto- 

 parasite of the mouse, very probably Herpetomonas pattoni parasitic in 

 various fleas, which protozoon can adapt itself to life in the blood 

 of mice. Herpetomonads were also found naturally in the blood 

 of birds by Sergent (1907). Recently, Fantham and Porter have 

 successfully infected birds with herpetomonads experimentally. 



The significance of insect flagellates in relation to the evolution of 

 disease has recently been set forth by Fantham 2 (June, 1915). The 

 deductions to be made from the occurrence of a herpetomonad stage 

 in Leishmania, especially in L. tropica, in man himself, and of flagel- 

 late stages of the so-called Histoplasma capsulatutn in man are fully 

 discussed and correlated. It is pointed out that flagellosis of plants 

 (see p. 104) may possibly be connected with leishmaniasis. The 

 evolution of Leishmania from flagellates of invertebrates is thus 

 traced and the way again indicated for preventive measures against 

 leishmaniasis, as first set forth by Dodds Price and Rogers. 



Franchini and Mantovani (March, 1915) have successfully 

 infected rats and mice by inoculation or by feeding with Herpeto- 

 monas musccc domesticcc obtained from flies and from cultures. 



It is of great interest to note that the recent observations of 

 Ed. and Et. Sergent, Lemaire and Senevet 3 (1914) have demonstrated 

 the presence of a herpetomonad flagellate in cultures of the blood 

 and organs of geckos obtained from areas in Algeria in which Oriental 

 sore, due to L. tropica, is prevalent. Phlebotomns flies, which may 

 harbour a natural herpetomonad, feed on the geckos and on men. 

 Hence animals like geckos may possibly act as reservoirs of 

 leishmaniasis. Lindsay 4 (1914) writes that the parasite of dermo- 

 mucosal leishmaniasis in Paraguay is believed by native sufferers to 

 be conserved in rattlesnakes, and spread by ticks or flies (Shnnlium) 

 feeding on the reptiles and transferring the parasite to man. 



The Transmission of Spirochaeta duttoni (see p. 116). It is 

 probable that Ornithodonts savignyi acts as the transmitting agent of 

 S. duttoni in places like Somaliland (Drake-Brockman, 1915). 5 



Spirochaeta bronchialis (see p. 122). The morphology and life- 

 history of S. bronchialis have been investigated by Fantham 6 (July, 

 1915). From researches conducted in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, he 



Parasitology , viii, p, 128. 



Annals Trop. Med. and Farasilol.^ ix, p. 335. 



Bull. Soc. Path. Exot., vii, p. 577. 



Trans. Soc. Trop. Med. and Hyg., vii, p. 259. 



Ibid., viii, p. 201. 



Annals Trop. Med. and Parasitol. , ix, p. 391. 



