SPOROZOA 



1113 



three or four hours for forty-eight hours for tertian and sestivo- 

 autumnal, and for seventy-two hours for quartan. 



Two forms of sporonts or gametocytes may be seen; in one the 

 quantity of chromatin is large and the cytoplasm pale blue ; while 

 in the other the reverse is found, the nuclear chromatin is com- 

 paratively small in quantity and the cytoplasm, being rich in 

 nutrient material, stains deeply. The first form, with abundant 

 chromatin, is the male, or microgametocyte, and the latter the 



FIG. 160. PLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM, MALE CRESCENT. (Army Med. School Col- 

 lection, Washington, D. C.) 



female, or macrogametocyte. The differentiation between schizont 

 and sporont may be made while the parasites are still quite young, 

 since the schizont is characterized by the presence of a nutrient 

 vacuole, and the sporont, of equal age, while lacking the vacuole, 

 shows a greater amount of hemozoin, which is never concentrated 

 in the center of the parasite but is scattered equally throughout the 

 body. The cytoplasm of the sporont is less fluid than that of the 

 schizont and shows no tendency to ameboid motion. The chromatin 

 is relatively large in amount and, although broken up more or less 



