No. 3. — Trichonympha, and other Parasites of Termes Jlavij^es. 

 By James F. Porter. ^ 



Contexts. 



1. Trichonympha agilis 48 



2. Pyrsonympha vertens .... 59 



3. Dinenympha gracilis 65 



4. Gregarinida 65 



Papers Cited 67 



Explanation of Plates 68 



Nearly twenty years ago Dr. Joseph Leidy ('77) discovered several 

 new and quite distinct species of Protozoa living parasitic in the in- 

 testine of Termes flavipes.^ A few years later he ('81) published 

 an extended account of these strange creatures, accompanied by a 

 large number of drawings illustrating the great variety of forms which 

 they assume. Some of these parasites, to which he gave the name 

 Trichonympha agilis, were so unlike any previously described Protozoa 

 that their discoverer was not entirely certain where they ought to be 

 classed ; at first ('77) he regarded them as " probably related with the 

 Turbcllaria on the one hand, and by evolution with the Ciliate Infusoria 

 on the other." Later ('81, p. 529), however, he was disposed to view this 

 parasite as having a character intermediate between a ciliate infusoriau 

 and a gregarine, but (p. 436) more nearly related to the gregarines. 



Since then W. Saville Kent ('85) has made some additional observa- 

 tions on the structure and habits of this parasite from material sent 

 to him by Dr. Leidy, and has also discovered a very similar parasite, to 

 which he gave the name Trichonympha leidyi, in the White Ant of 

 Tasmania. 



Besides these studies on Trichonympha, there have appeared descrip- 

 tions of some other forms which seem to be closely related to this genus. 

 I refer to Joenia, described by Grassi ('85), and to Lydionella, found by 

 Frenzel ('91), both parasitic in the intestine of Termites. The paper by 



^ Contributions from the Zoijlogical Laboratory of the Mu«enm of Comparative 

 Zoology at Harvard College, imder the direction of E. L. Mark, No. LXXXIV. 



^ Some of these had been previously seen by Lespes ('56) ; but he alluded to 

 them only briefly (pp. 237, 258) in his memoir. Compare Leidy ('81, pp. 425-428). 



VOL. XXXI. — NO. 8. 



