36 
Philippine Jommal of Science 
1920 
Four species of flagellated protozoa, representing four genera 
of the Polymastigida, were encountered in our series. 
Trichomonas intestinalis. — This was the most frequently en- 
countered flagellate. It was first seen in a child between 1 
and 2 years of age. Thereafter it was distributed fairly uni- 
formly through the series. It occurred ten times. 
All of the trichomonads we encountered are referable to this 
species, careful study having failed to discover either Tetra- 
trichomonas or Pentatrichomonas. A case of infection with 
Pentatrichomonas in a Filipino child has recently been described 
by Haughwout and de Leon (28) in which large numbers of 
the organisms were seen to contain erythrocytes apparently 
in various stages of digestion. The stool examined in that 
case contained immense numbers of intact erythrocytes (the 
child was suffering from ileocolitis) that were greedily taken 
up by the flagellates. The authors were inclined to regard 
the ingestion of the red blood corpuscles as indicating a certain 
degree of adaptation to tissue parasitism. In view of this we 
examined our Trichomonas cases with especial care, but not- 
withstanding they occurred, in some cases, in stools containing 
free erythrocytes, in no instance did we And flagellates that 
had ingested corpuscles. 
Yorke and Macfie(57) have recently published a note in which 
they describe the phagocytosis of erythrocytes by an amoeba of 
the Vahlkampfia or “Limax” type which they obtained from 
human fseces. In so doing they cast a doubt on the validity of 
the conclusions of Wenyon and O’Connor that the presence of 
phagocytized erythrocytes is diagnostic of Entamoeba histoly- 
tica. It must be admitted that the experiments of Wenyon and 
O’Connor on Entamoeba histolytica and Entamoeba coli were 
scarcely extensive enough to justify sweeping generalizations, 
but we incline to the opinion that while the ingestion of ery- 
throcytes by different organisms is interesting and suggestive, 
still, it is important to discover whether or not the corpuscles 
are digested. 
Marty ^ has described a case from the Congo the fseces of 
which contained spirochastes, Giardia, and amoebae, some of 
which contained red corpuscles and some of v/hich did not. 
The case was treated with subcutaneous injections of emetine, 
and according to Marty the amoebae that did not contain red 
corpuscles, the spirochsetes, and Giardia were unaffected, where- 
as the amoebae that contained erythrocytes disappeared. This 
^Bull. Soc. path. exot. 10 (1917) 539. 
