BALANTIDIUM MINUTUM 



125 



STOKVIS, B. J. Paramecium in sputa (Nederl. Tijdsch. voor Geneeskde., 1884 [2], xx. 



LEUCKART, R. Die menschl. Par., ist edit., ist vol., 1863, p. 147. 



GRASSI, B. Signif. patol. d. prot. par. dell'uomo (Atti Accad. d. Lincei Rendic., 



1888 [4], iv., Sem. i, p. 86). 

 CASAGRANDI, O., and P. BARBAGALLO. Bol. coli s. Param. coli. Catania, 1896. 8. 



2. Balantidium minutum, Schaudinn, 1899. 



Body of oval form, anterior extremity pointed, posterior 

 extremity broad and rounded off. Length 0*02-0-032 mm., and 

 0-014-0-02 mm. in breadth ; the peristome, fissure-like, extends to 

 the centre of the body ; the right 

 lateral border of the peristome is 

 beset with cilia the same length as 

 those of the body, the left side ter- 

 minates in a thin hyaline membrane 

 that extends towards the back and 

 flaps over the right border of the 

 peristome. A row of longer and 

 stronger cilia on the left border of 

 the peristome. The cuticle is light, 

 refracting, the ectosarc hyaline, the 

 endosarc granular, with numerous 

 food vacuoles. 



A single contractile vacuole lies 

 dorsally on the left in the posterior 

 extremity. The macronucleus, 



I 



which is always globular, lies in almost as large as the granulated 

 f , , , macronucleus in front of it ; close to 



the centre of the body and is the latter is the mic ro-nucieus ; the 



0-006-0-007 mm. in diameter ; the food vacuoles are in the endosarc 



(after Schaudinn). 



micronucleus, close in front of it, 



only measures o-ooi mm. The cysts are oval. 



These parasites were found in masses in the evacuations of a 

 man aged 30, who was born in Germany and had repeatedly 

 travelled between Hamburg and North America, where he made 

 long stays. The patient came to the Charite in Berlin to seek 

 advice for constipation alternating with diarrhoea accompanied by 

 abdominal pain. 



A second case (termed Colpoda cucullus by Schulz) was 

 observed in a patient in the same institution. 



As, in both cases, the parasites only appeared during the 

 diarrhoea, and disappeared as soon as the faeces had assumed a 

 normal consistency, or could only be demonstrated in a few 



