184 
H. M. WOODCOCK. 
the forms I have described of Karyolysus are phases in tlie 
development of the schizoutj i. e. tlie form which undergoes 
schizogony or endogenous multiplication. A point in regard 
to which I cannot be certain is whether these young schizouts 
are the hrst to be developed, as the result of a fresh infection, 
or whether the infection is of some standing and these forms 
have been produced by a prior schizogony ; in other words, 
whether the small, free individuals are developing sporozoites 
or merozoites. The only indication bearing upon the point 
which I can note is that the nuclear constitution of the young 
individuals, showing a distinct excentric karyosome, agrees 
markedly with the nuclear condition found in the developing 
merozoites of certain Coccidia and differs from that present 
in the sporozoites. I intend to discuss this agreement more 
particularly later, and will merely say here that this evidence 
favours the view that the schizouts which we have been con- 
sidering are developing from merozoites. 
The Question of the Specificity of the Hmmogre- 
garines of Lizards. 
I wish now to discuss the question of the speciffcity or true 
distinctness of certain of the many alleged species of llfemo- 
gregarine (Karyolysus) which have been described from 
Lacerta spp., chiefly from the common European species 
agilis, muralis and viridis; my object is to show that 
some, at any rate, of these new s])ecies are almost certainly 
nothing more than different forms or phases of one and the 
same parasite, Karyolysus lacertm. As I have had occa- 
sion to point out more than once in previous papers, tlie 
custom is far too ]irevalent of regarding any difference in 
appearance, or variation in size or form, observed in indi- 
viduals of a certain genus of blood-parasites (and particularly 
in the case of Trypanosomes and Eannogregariues), as indi- 
cating a distinct species, even though this “new sjiecies” 
occurs in a host in which a parasite of the same kind is 
already known. Often the view which is at least quite as 
probable, and in many instances more so, namely that the 
