440 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
Observations on various Sporozoa.* — Mr. J. Jackson Clarke de- 
scribes the result of an examination of the seminal vesicles of Lumbricus 
agricola taken in the month of May. His observations on Klossia were 
made in some common grey slugs examined in July. In conclusion, 
attention is drawn to the recent work of L. Pfeiffer on the Myxo-, Sarco -, 
and Micro- sporidia ; as that author has presented Mr. Clarke with a 
number of preparations, he has been able to confirm his results. 
Development of Spermatobium. j* — Mr. G. Eisen describes a new 
genus of parasitic Sporozoa under the name of Spermatobium. The genus 
is found in two Oligochsetes from the Pacific Coast of North America, 
and it is confined to their sperm-sacs. In the young stages it occupies 
the interior of a sperm-cell, but, later on, it lives free in the sperm-sac 
outside the sperm-cells. The author describes various stages in the 
life-history of the form, the various phases of which are stages in spol- 
iation. These he divides as follows : — A. Preparatory stages and 
amitosis ; (1) Diffusion or budding of the macronucleus ; (2) formation 
of numerous micronuclei. B. Formation of the spores : (3) attraction 
by the micronuclei of cytospheres forming sporoblasts ; (4) divisions 
of micronuclei by karyokinesis ; (5) transformation of each sporoblast 
into a shuttle-spore; (6) to these may probably be added another 
stage, the formation of sickle-sperms in the shuttle-spore, but this 
stage has not been observed, and its existence can only be inferred 
from what takes place in other Sporozoa. With regard to the division 
of the adult, of which a short account is given, the author thinks that 
the object of this division is not the propagation of the species, but rather 
a convenient subdivision of the large forms. New macronuclei are 
sometimes formed in the new individual, but not always. Micronuclei 
are always formed previous to the segregation of the new individual. 
In one of the principal stem-separating individuals the process of spol- 
iation may be more advanced than in any of the other parts while all 
yet connected together. Spermatobium appears by its characters to be 
intermediate between Klossia and Monocystis, and the author thinks that 
it demonstrates that Gregarines cannot properly be systematically 
divided according as their habitat is intracellular or coelomic. In 
Spermatobium the young individual inhabits the mother-cell just as 
does Monocystis , and the adult dwells free in the fluid surrounding the 
sperm-cells. While Spermatobium , like Monocystis , developes a shuttle 
and pseudo-navicellar spores, the formation of the sporogonium, the 
sporoblasts and the spores resembles much more that of Klossia. 
Trichomonas in the Urine of Man.{ — Dr. F. Marchand, Mr. K. 
Miura, and Dr. G. Dock, almost simultaneously call attention to the 
presence of Trichomonas vaginalis in the urine of man. It is not certain 
how the parasite passed into the urinary ducts, but it is not unreasonable 
to suppose that it occurred during coition. 
Molluscum contagiosum and Pigeon Pock.§ — Sig. P. Mingazzini 
has studied the acne varioliforme of man and that of birds, and concludes 
* Quart. Journ. Micr. Sci., xxxvii. (1895) pp. 285-302 (3 pis.), 
f Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci., v. (1895) pp. 1-33 (1 pi.). 
x Zool. Centralbl., ii. (1895) pp. 110-1. 
§ Bull. R. Accad. Med. di Roma, xx. (1893-4) 27 pp. (2 pis.). See Ann. de 
Microgr., vii. (1895) p. 123. 
