490 



TELOSPORIDTA 



1912; and T. franccB de Melo, 1915; with two unnamed species by 

 Plimmer, 1916, and five by Carini and Maciel in 1916. In snakes 

 one species unnamed was found by Plimmer in 1916. 



Toxoplasma gondii NicoUe and Manceaux, 1908. 



Endoleucocytic crescentic parasites 6 to 7 by 3 to 4 found in the spleen 

 and other organs of Ctenodactylus gondii. 



Toxoplasma euniculi Splendore, 1909. 



Found by Splendore in the spleen and other organs of the rabbit, in which it 

 produces lesions resembling kala-azar. Shape, oval or reniform; length 

 5 to 8 jtt; breadth. 2-5 to 4 [A. 



Toxoplasma pyrogenes Castellani, 1913. 



Definition. — ^Toxoplasma pathogenic to man. 



History.— Found by Castellani in 1913 in a case of splenomegaly in 

 the tropics. In 1916 a similar parasite Was found by Fedorovitch 

 in the peripheral blood of a case of splenomegaly in a child on the 

 Black Sea coast, and also in the blood of a dog from the same 

 neighbourhood. 



Morphology. — Roundish oval or crescentic bodies 2 •5-6-0 microns 

 in diameter, with blue staining cytoplasm, and with one large 

 roundish mass of chromatin at one pole or in the centre. In one 

 instance the faintest appearance of a flagellum seemed to be present. 

 Occasionally the bodies Were larger, roundish or pear-shaped, and 

 possessed two chromatin masses, one at each pole or close together. 

 The bodies were generally free, and only in one specimen were a few 

 found in a leucocyte. 



While in the spleen numerous bodies of this description were found in this 

 case, in the peripheral blood they were absent. In the peripheral blood some 

 peculiar structures were observed of roundish or pyriform appearance. 

 They were mostly vacuolated, and took a pale blue colour with Romanowsky, 

 and showed several large masses of chromatin. Castellani at first thought 

 that these might be related to Koch's bodies or plasmaki'igel, which are 

 roundish, oval, or irregularly shaped cells, 8-12 microns in diameter, found by 

 Koch in African cattle suffering from East Coast fever. Koch's bodies were 

 later classified under Piroplasma by Gonder. who believed them to represent 

 a stage in the life-cycle of Theileria parva. 



Against this hypothesis Castellani observed that the}^ were only present in 

 the blood and not in the spleen, and the chromatin masses were much larger 

 than those in typical Koch's bodies. Castellani was inclined to believe that 

 these bodies found in the blood were related to Toxoplasma found in the 

 spleen in some similar manner to that by which Koch's bodies are related to 

 Theileria. It must be remembered that Castellani's slides were examined 

 by a number of protozoologists and medical men, all of whom agreed 

 as to the parasitic and protozoal nature of the bodies; but while the majority 

 regarded them to be Toxoplasma, others held the view that they might 

 represent a new genus between Toxoplasma and Leishmania, and a few 

 thought that they might be a mixture of Toxoplasma with Theileria and 

 Anaplasma. 



Life-History. — Unknown. 

 Cultivation.— So far not cultivated. 



Pathogenicity. — Probably the eause of a splenomegaly in man. 



