SPOROZOA 761 



dark staining cytoplasm and fine granular melanin, and the other with 

 light staining, hyaline cytoplasm and coarse pigment; the former, 

 loaded with reserve food material, is the female or macrogametocyte ; 

 the latter, the male or microgametocyte. The gametes do not develop 

 further until taken into the digestive tract of the insect host. For 

 purposes of study, however, the microgametocytes may be made to ex- 

 flagellate on the slide, dampened a little by breathing upon it, to 

 stimulate the condition in the insect host. In such a preparation, the 

 flagella, or microgametes, may be seen actively moving inside the cell 

 body, whose wall they ultimately rupture, and all, four to eight, escape 

 and whip about until they come in contact with a macrogametocyte, 

 when one microgamete enters through the micropyle and finally fuses 

 with the female nucleus. 



Hemoproteus columbse (Halteridium). This parasite of the red 

 blood cells of doves was described in 1891 by Celli and Sanfelice. 

 It is widely distributed in nature and has been reported from Europe, 

 Asia and North and South America. The organism is found within 

 the cyptoplasm of the erythrocyte ; the nucleus, which is not regularly 

 displaced, is surrounded by the growing parasite like a halter, and 

 for this reason it was named halteridium by Labbe. It is sluggishly 

 ameboid and produces an abundance of melanin, and when the blood 

 is drawn the ripe male sporonts, the microgametocytes. rupture easily, 

 liberating the active flagella, or microgametes. Under favorable cir- 

 cumstances the fertilization of , the macrogametocyte by the micro- 

 gametes may be observed on the slide, and it was while working with 

 this parasite that Macallum first followed out the whole process of 

 fertilization in the hemosporidia and gave the proper explanation of 

 the flagellate stage seen in the malarial parasite. 



In the blood of the dove this parasite is usually seen as a large or 

 small crescent, partly encircling the nucleus ; the gametes are readily 

 recognized by the usual marks, that is, the female, or macrogametocyte, 

 is rich in reserve material and the stained specimen takes a deep color ; 

 the male, or microgametocyte, being poor in reserve material stored 

 in the cyptoplasm, appears relatively pale in stained specimens. 



The invertebrate host of the parasite is Lynchia maura (Bigot), 

 or Lynchia lividocolor, a biting hippoboscid fly of louse-like habits 

 which lives in the nest and in the plumage. The cycle in the fly has 

 been successfully worked out by Adie, 1 who has demonstrated the 



1 Adie, Helen, Indian Jour. Med. Research, Calcutta, 1915. 



