472 



TELOSPORIDIA 



Coccidium schubergi Schaudinn, 1900. 



Coccidium schubergi begins its life-history in the intestinal cell of the centi- 

 pede [Lithobius forficatus L.) by a sporozoite pressing its anterior end against 

 an intestinal cell, and thus forcing a way into its interior. 



Inside this cell it becomes the young trophozoite, an oval body which grows 

 rapidly at the expense of the protoplasm of the cell, and in twenty-four hours 

 attains its full size. 



/2.a. 



Fig. 146. — Diagram of the Life-History of Coccidium 

 schubergi Schaudinn. (After Schaudinn.) 



I, Sporozoite entering an intestinal canal; 2-3, trophozoites; 4-5, schizonts; 

 6-8, merozoites; 9, young gametocyte; loa-iia, microgametocyte ; \ob-\\b, 

 macrogametocyte ; 12a, microgametes; 126, macrogamete; 13-16, oocyst; 

 17, sporocysts; 18, sporozoites. 



It is now called a schizont, because its nucleus divides into a number of 

 daughter nuclei, which are formed into merozoites in the usual way. These 

 merozoites, set free by the breaking up of the schizont, attack new intestinal 

 cells, thus increasing the infection of the host. 



This process cannot, of course, go on for any length of time, for a limit to 

 the nutritive power of the host is reached in five days, when the parasite must 

 attempt to infect a new host, and this is done by sporogony. 



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