636 A MANUAL OF BACTERIOLOGY 



7 to 27 \L diameter; surrounded by a thick capsule, enclosing 

 granular bioplasm (C. immitis). 



The Ruffer-Plimmer bodies of cancer were at one time believed 

 to be coccidia (p. 678). 



Examination 



(1) The coccidial forms are readily examined in the fresh 

 state. The only bodies they are likely to be mistaken for are 

 certain ova. 



(2) Paraffin sections of rabbit's liver containing coccidia may 

 be stained much in the same way as tuberculous tissues viz. 

 warm carbol-fuchsin ten minutes, decolorise cautiously in 5 per 

 cent, acid, and counter-stain in methylene-blue. Sections may 

 also be stained in the Ehrlich-Biondi stain for one to two hours. 



Order . Haemosporidia 



The general characters of this group are : 



(1) Life at the expense of the red blood-corpuscles, at least 

 during a portion of the life-cycle. 



(2) Endogenous multiplication by spores, by which the life- 

 cycle is repeated within the host. 



(3) Development of a form which becomes free in the plasma, 

 and which is the commencement of a sexual cycle to be completed 

 in a second host. 



(4) Inoculability, but only from one animal to another of the 

 same species. 



The group includes the malaria parasite and similar parasites 

 in mammals and birds, the hsemogregarines, Drepanidium of 

 the frog, and perhaps the Piroplasmata. 



Malaria 



Malaria is caused by parasitic protozoa belonging to 

 the genus Plasmodium (Hcemamceba), the credit of the 

 discovery of which must be given to Laveran. 



Infection in malaria is transmitted by certain mos- 

 quitoes. Inoculation of malaria-free individuals with 

 the blood of malarial patients reproduces the disease, 

 and the parasites are found in the blood of the inoculated 



