1890.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURINAL. 57 



Parasites of the White Ant. 



By W. J. SIMMONS, 



CALCUTTA, INDIA. 



Professor Leidy's discovery of certain infusoria parasitic in the in- 

 testinal canal of the white ants of America, induced me to examine the 

 white ants of Calcutta. The results have been sufficiently encouraging 

 to warrant me in bringing them to notice. The alimentary canal in 

 our white ants teems in its lower portion with parasites. In the renal 

 excretory tubes you will sometimes find a moniliform organism which 

 I take to be an Alga. There are in some cases myriads of non-ciliated 

 organisms of an irregular elongated shape containing vacuole-like 

 spaces ; also a circular, nucleated, unicellular, non-ciliated organism. 

 These two may be immature stages in the development of higher forms 

 Again, hosts of bacteria and spirilla will occasionally be present I 

 have also found Nematoid worms. The parasites which furnish the 

 title to this note are of considerably larger size than those just men- 

 tioned, and are referable to the order Holotricha. They, however, 

 seem to differ specifically from the infusorians. How exceedingly 

 flexible the parasite must be in order to assume the different forms. 

 From its being placed among the Holotricha you will know that it is 

 ciliated all over its surface. It is a free and a rapid swimmer. Its 

 length and breadth, owing to its constant changes of form, vary; the 



I '' 1 " 



average measurements are : Length Breadth 



^ 125 200 



The cilia at the anterior extremity are longer than elsewhere, and 

 directed forwards, forming a ciliary tinge or collar around what I take 

 to be the mouth parts of the organism. In some cases the cilia at the 

 posterior extremity are slightly elongated, and form a more or less con- 

 ical tuft, but they do not in respect to length approach the cilia of the 

 collar. The body frequently shows parallel spiral markings which may 

 indicate the position of the cilia, or a ridged surface. In some cases I 

 have observed trichocysts, but I cannot say that they are constantly 

 present in the cortical layer of these animalcules. There is a distinct 

 and large nucleus, of circular form, the general location of which is cen- 

 tral, though it may be nearer one or other end of the body. I have not 

 yet detected any contractile vesicle, a feature this parasite shares in com- 

 mon with some other genera. The body is generally gorged with food, 

 identical in appearance with the contents of the alimentary canal of the 

 termites in which the parasites occur. The}^ appear, therefore, to live 

 directly on the semi-digested food contents of the intestine of their host. 

 No one who has once examined the living mass which inhabits the white 

 ant need be surprised at the voracious appetite of that destructive insect ! 

 I have spoken of the '• mouth parts" of the organism, by which I mean 

 a hyaline cap surmounting a narrow tube, probably pharyngeal, which 

 is in most cases located at the anterior extremity. It does not occur in 

 all the parasites I have examined ; and, moreover, in some instances the 

 cap is replaced by a minute hyaline sphere. 



The tube and hyaline cap as seen are with a power of 600 diameters, 

 and the cap and ciliary wreath as seen with a power of 800 diameters. 

 It will be observed that the tube is contracted in the middle. When 

 -ooked through, there seems to be an oral opening; but inasmuch as 



