TR YPA NOPLA SMA 



337 



B. Without an undulating membrane, but a kinetonucleus may 

 or may not be present : — 

 I. While swimming all flagella are posterior. (Genera 

 with which we are not concerned, as yet not found 

 in man.) 



II. While swimming all flagella are not posterior : — 



{a) Body with antero-posterior groove — -Colponema. 

 [h) Body without such a groove : — • 



1 . Food believed to enter anteriorly : — • 



(1) Kinetonucleus absent — Bodo. 



(2) Kinetonucleus present — Prowazekia. 



2. Food believed not to enter anteriorly. (Genera 



with which we are not concerned, as not 

 yet found in man.) 



Trypanoplasma Laveran and Mesnil, 1901, emendavit, 1904. 



Definition. — Bodonidae living in the blood and alimentary canal of vertebrates 

 with two flagella — one projecting anteriorly and the other running posteriorly, 

 and raising the periplast into an undulating membrane. Kinetonucleus 

 altnost as large as the trophonucleus . Sporogony in the Hirudinea. 



Remarks. — This genus, which was first described by Laveran and Mesnil, is 

 interesting, first, because it shows definitely an anterior flagellum, which has 

 disappeared in most trypanosomes, and a posterior flagellum, which, like all 

 trypanosomes, carries the undulating membrane; secondly, because, according 

 to Leger and Keysselitz, members of this genus are parasitic in the alimentary 

 canal of fish, and not in the blood. 



Morphology. — The body of a trypanoplasma is flattened, and often curved, 

 with a concave side thicker than the convex, to which the undulating mem- 

 brane is attached. The body is soft and of changing form. At the junction 

 of the anterior and middle thirds of the body can be seen two masses of chro- 

 matin. The one on the convex side is the trophonucleus, and the other on the 

 concave side the elongated kinetonucleus, in front of which are two small 

 chromatic granules, one of which gives rise to an anterior flagellum which be- 

 comes free at once, and the other to a posterior, which, turning backwards, 

 runs the whole length of the cytoplasm, raising the periplast into an un- 

 dulating membrane. 



Life-History. — Division is longitudinal, the kinetonucleus dividing first, and 

 then the flagella. 



Of ten Trypanoplasmata show seasonable variation, the infection being more 

 intense in hot weather. They are evidently pathogenic, producing anaemia 

 associated with serous fluid in the peritoneum, pericardium, and oedema of 

 the organs. 



The parasite appears to be spread by leeches, in which the sexual forms 

 conjugate by a fusion of nuclei, after reduction, and of the cytoplasm, from 

 which results an ookinete possessing a trophonucleus and a kinetonucleus. 



These ookinetes give rise to male, female, and indifferent forms, which 

 multiply abundantly. Parthenogenesis may occur. 



Brumpt infected fish by the bite of leeches, hut Keysselitz failed with 

 Pisciola geometra, and it is hardly surprising, for he describes the leech as 

 becoming ill, with swelling of the clitellar region, alteration in colour and 

 activity, and finally death, thus showing that this leech could hardly be the 

 usual definitive host. He has already noted the initial stages in Hirudo 

 medicinalis . Another genus of leech which spreads these parasites is Hemi- 

 clepsis. 



CSlassification. — Crawly considers that the generic name should be Cryptobia 

 Leidy, but the diagnosis of this genus is vague. With regard to classification, 



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