W. S. Patton 
121 
Africa are transmitted mechanically by the tsetse Hies, and this probably 
also holds good for leeches and the trypanosomes they transmit. 
We have fully criticised Brumpt’s work on the development of 
T. granulosum in Hemiclepsis marginata and pointed out that, as he 
failed to exclude a natural flagellate of the leech, his work cannot be 
accepted as being altogether correct. From our present knowledge we 
are justified in saying, that the trypanosomes of vertebrates do not 
undergo any developmental ( sexual ) cycle in invertebrates; how then 
can they be considered as representing primitive intestinal or entero- 
coelomic parasites of invertebrates which have become partially or 
secondarily adapted to the blood of a vertebrate ? 
Brumpt concludes his paper with the following remarkable state¬ 
ment: “ Enfin, en juillet 1907, je demontre la transmission hereditaire 
normale de Trypanosomes et de Trypanoplasmes chez les Sangsues, tout d 
fait en dehors du parasitisme d’un hdte vertebre. Ge qui demontre d’une 
fay on definitive que la maladie sanguine du vertebre nest qu’un accident, 
que l’adaptation d’un parasite intestinal banal d’invertebre.” In our 
opinion Brumpt is here obviously confusing the natural Grithidia of 
leeches, which are transmitted hereditarily, with the trypanosomes they 
may ingest. We know of no definite experiments showing that 
trypanosomes of vertebrates may be transmitted through a sanguivorous 
invertebrate to its progeny. Brumpt (1907) has recorded certain 
observations on the hereditar}? transmission of what he considers to be 
trypanosomes and trypanoplasmes of vertebrates in leeches. The first 
experiments described are those with Helobdella algira which transmits 
T. inopinatum. One leech infected with T. inopinatmn gave birth to a 
number of embryos, two out of every ten of which were infected. Four 
of these embryos were allowed to arrive at maturity, and two of them 
laid eggs, which were not infected, while the remaining two gave birth 
to infected embryos, one showing five out of ten and the other nine out 
of ten with parasites. The trypanosomes were generally found in the 
sheath of the proboscis, also in the caeca, but never in the intestine. 
The parent leech referred to above was presumably infected with 
flagellates, but we would like to know on what grounds Brumpt regards 
these as being developmental forms of T. inopinatum ? No figures of 
these parasites are published, and no mention is made of the leech being 
infected or not with a Grithidia ; Brumpt has apparently overlooked 
such a parasite. Further, no experiments are recorded to demonstrate 
whether or not the infected embryos of the first generation are capable 
of transmitting T. inopinatum to healthy frogs; such experiments are 
