1910.] A XKW THVl'AXOPLASM. (J7 I 



it probable tliat tlie liereditary inetluxl wns not the only means 

 of the trnnsferenee of the parasite from host to host. They li:ul 

 see^^ Try})a.uopl;^sms become rounded, the rounded pai-asites beinfj 

 probably resting forms which, perhaps, encysted and passed out 

 from tlie host in this condition. Living flagellate Trypanoplasms 

 had also been seen to pass out of the host on a few occasions. 

 Fresh Dendroc«lmn lacteum may thus become infected by the 

 month, by ingesting either flagellate or rounded Trypanoplasms 

 with their food. 



It is of interest to note that, while the food of Dendro- 

 Cfelum in its natural environment consists of animal matter 

 derived from Annelids, Molluscs, and Crustacea together with 

 plant tissues, yet many of the infected Planarians which were 

 bred by Dr. Fantham and Miss Porter were kept as compulsory 

 vegetarians throughout their existence. 



So far as is known, tins is the first record of the occurrence of 

 a Trypcmoplasm.a in the Platvhelminthes. 



Hitherto Trypanoplasms had been described from the blood of 

 a number of freshwater fishes, in the alimentary tracts of certain 

 leeches that feed on the fish, and in the intestine of certain 

 marine fishes. The genus Try23Cinopla8ma\vi\n created in 1902 by 

 Laveran and Mesnil, the type-species being T. borreli in the blood 

 of the rudd. Gryptohia helicis of Leidy (Bodo helicis of Diesing), 

 from the reproductive organs of snails, was stated by Friedrich 

 (1909) to be a Trypanoj)lasm. Crawley (1909) claimed that the 

 generic name Cryptohia had priority over Trypanoplasma. The 

 diagnosis of Cryptohia given by Leidy was, however, rather 

 vague. 



There was also the interesting and closely allied genus Trypan- 

 ophis, studied by Poche and Keysselitz for flagellates para^sitic 

 in the coelenteric ca.vity of ceitain Siphonophores. The genus 

 Trypariophis was merged in that of Trypanoplasma by some 

 authorities, for example, Leger. 



Dr. Fantham and Miss Porter also desired to record the 

 occurrence of a Tiypanosome-like flagellate which was seen on 

 rare occasions in the guts of Dendrocceliiin lactenm and Folycelis 

 nigra. 



The following papers were I'ead : — • 



44* 



