ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
755 
minutes after the preparation of the specimen these flagella may be 
observed to set themselves free, while within the body of the parasite 
certain changes are observable. 
Doubts having been expressed as to the nature of the flagella, the 
author considers it desirable that these should be allayed. He is quite 
convinced that the flagellum is a normal organic constituent of Polymitus , 
while the most common objection is that they are moribund or post- 
mortem phenomena. Against the objections the author brings various 
arguments, the most powerful being that these flagella are remarkable 
for the unusual rapidity, duration, and energy of their movements (half 
to one hour or longer). 
The appearance of the parasite and its relation to the corpuscle are 
depicted in six illustrations, which show the outline of the corpuscle 
distended by one to four spheroidal bodies, some of them flagellated, 
pushing the nucleus to one side. 
The author’s remarks and descriptions are based on observations 
made from the avian parasite, but the views expressed are considered to 
hold good for the human parasite also, since from a morphological and 
biological standpoint no real differences can be detected between the two 
varieties. 
The author considers that he has surmounted the difficulties of his 
case by affirming that “ the parasite is in a certain sense a polymorphic 
organism which easily adapts itself to external conditions.” 
Biological Cycle of Haematozoon falciforme.* — Sigg. Antolisei and 
Angelini confirm the observation of Canalis, Celli, and Marchiafava on 
the Hsematozoon falciforme : this was to the effect that in the irregularly 
intermittent fevers prevalent in summer and autumn a special variety of 
the malaria parasite is to be found, and that this differs from that found 
in tertian and quartan ague. This variety sometimes passes through its 
developmental cycle very quickly, passing from the phase of the non- 
pigmented amoeba to that of the round form with a single pigment mass 
and to the sporulation phase, or the last condition may supervene without 
the parasite showing a trace of pigment; but at times development is 
more slow and the parasite attains to the spiral or crescent form ere it 
reproduces itself. The latter forms are better found in the blood 
extracted from the spleen than in that of the general circulation. In 
the blood from the spleen more phases of development are met with than 
in the fingers, and as a rule the most advanced (non-pigmented) stages 
of development- and sporulation-forms there appear. 
Malaria-Parasites in Birds. f — In a series of short notes Prof. B. 
Grassi and Prof. B. Feletti make some preliminary observations on 
malaria-parasites found in birds. They find that in birds two kinds of 
parasites exist — the one kind belonging to the genus Bsemamoeba and 
the other to the genus Laverania. That these are real existences, and 
not alterations of the red corpuscles, is shown by the fact that the 
malaria-parasites of birds are possessed of a nucleus. 
Of the Hsemamoeba there are three species — H. pr decox, cause of 
* Riforma Mediea, 1890, Nos. 54-6. See Centralbl. f. Bakterioh u. Parisitenk., 
ix. (1891) pp. 410-11. 
f Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. n. Parasitenk., ix. (1891) pp. 403-9, 429-33, 461-7. 
