ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
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were Coccidia must have been the case, and he therefore regards them as 
amcebo-sporidia. 
Influence of Cold on Vitality of Malaria Parasites.* — Dr. N. 
Sakharoff finds that the malaria parasite can retain its vitality for about 
a week, though exposed to a freezing temperature. The parasites were 
obtained by cutting off and freezing the limbs of birds, and also by 
leeching men suffering from malaria. The leeches were then packed in 
ice. In the latter instance a drop of blood was squeezed out daily and 
the leech replaced in ice. The non-pigmented plasmodia were found 
to have preserved their mobility. In dried preparations of this blood 
stained with a mixture of methylen-blue and eosin the nucleus of the 
parasite was completely demonstrated. 
The author inoculated himself with the blood of one of these leeches, 
and twelve days after the symptoms of malaria declared themselves. In 
the blood a very small number of parasites were found ; these were non- 
pigmented, circular, nucleated bodies, identical in appearance with those 
of the original source. 
Further observations from a case of double tertian ague, in which 
all forms of the parasite were present, led to the conclusion that the 
younger forms of the malaria parasite are more resistant to cold than the 
older and larger. 
The author’s observations on preparations stained with methylen-blue 
and eosin indicate that the flagellate forms are the result of influences 
affecting the nucleus, the chromatic filaments becoming split up, and 
thus forming the flagella. The general conclusion drawn from this is 
that the degree of sensitiveness depends on the complexity of the nuclear 
structure and on the chromatin of the nucleus, because in the course of 
development the nuclear structure becomes more complicated and mitosis 
occurs, while in the younger stages the chromatin is condensed into a 
compact little mass. 
Hsematozoa of Birds. f — Dr. N. Sakharoff inquires into the nature 
of the flagellate bodies, regarded as independent organisms (malarial 
parasites) by Laveran, as Infusorians ( Polimitns ) by Danilewsky, as 
abnormal forms by Grassi and Felleti, as stages in the development of 
haematozoa by Canalis. By following the history of the Haematozoa and 
their nuclear changes, Sakharoff has convinced himself that the flagellate 
bodies are the disrupted and liberated chromatin filaments of moribund 
Haematozoa. 
He goes on to discuss the “leucocytozoaires” described by Danilewsky 
— colourless, slightly granular, nucleated spheres or spindles which may 
give rise to flagellate bodies, and which the discoverer regarded as intra- 
cellular stages in the development of Polimitus. In ravens, Sakharoff 
finds that these parasites destroy the nuclei of the leucocytes ; they are 
karyophagous. In rooks they occur in cells with normal nuclei, and 
there are several within one leucocyte. They destroy the leucocyte, but 
leave the nuclei intact. Young forms and spores are most frequent in 
lymphocytes and haematoblasts, whose phagocytic properties are insuf- 
ficient to destroy them. The spores are oval or fusiform bodies ; as they 
* Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Paiasitenk., xv. (1894) pp. 158-62. 
f Ann. Inst. Pasteur, vii. (1893) pp. 801-11 (1 pi.). 
