Herpetomoniasis in Birds 193 
Natural Herpetomomasis in Birds. 
It is of much interest to note that in 1907 Drs Edm. and Et. 
Sergent published a short account of a herpetomonad which they 
found in the blood of a pigeon, when they were working on the 
relation of Haemoproteus columbae in pigeons to its second host, 
the fly, Lynchia maura. The body of the herpetomonad was 
straight and drawn out, measuring 17m to 224. The flagellum 
measured 194 to 354. The elongate nucleus was not as wide as 
the body. The blepharoplast was large, spherical and deeply 
staining. 
The source of the herpetomonad is not known with certainty. 
We have heard from Dr Sergent that, so far as he was aware, his 
Lynchia were not infected with herpetomonads. It is possible 
that the bird may have had a latent herpetomoniasis contracted 
direct from insect hosts. 
General Conclusions. 
The general conclusions, resulting from the series of experiments 
presented to this Society, may now be shortly indicated. Under 
suitable conditions, insect flagellates can be introduced into verte- 
brate hosts and produce infection therein. In some cases, as in 
cold-blooded vertebrates, little obvious ill-effect results; in others, 
as In mammals and birds, disease is manifested. Similar infections 
are known to occur naturally in some cases, as in mice and 
pigeons. 
The flagellates, such as herpetomonads, thus introduced, retain 
their powers of development on the same lines as when they were 
present in the insects. Leishmania has the same morphological 
cycle as Herpetomonas. The various species of Leishmania are 
probably insect herpetomonads, long since introduced into man 
and usually perpetuating the non-flagellate form, though capable 
of assuming the flagellate, herpetomonad facies in the internal 
organs of the vertebrate or in the invertebrate host. 
Various vertebrates—fish, amphibia, reptiles, birds and mam- 
mals—may serve as reservoirs of leishmaniases, The virus may 
be very attenuated and so escape detection. 
| Leishmaniasis, which is a form of herpetomoniasis (lepto- 
- moniasis), is a flagellosis, as is also trypanosomiasis. 
Summary. 
1. Herpetomoniasis can be induced in birds, for example, 
canaries (Sermnus canarius), sparrows (Passer domesticus), and 
martins (Chelidon urbica), by feeding them on material containing 
herpetomonads. 
