328 
Herpetomonm 2)at€llae, n.sp. 
infection of the rodents was by eating the parasitised rat fleas, the 
incubation period being two to three weeks—that is, longer than by 
intra-peritoneal inoculation. 
Mice were also infected by way of the digestive tract with Crithidia 
melo])hagia (Flu), a parasitic flagellate of the sheep ked, Melophagus 
ovinus. 
The authors’ last series of experiments (July 1914) showed that 
mice can be infected by ingesting the faeces of rat fleas containing 
H. pattoni ; also that inoculation of Crithidia fasciculata into a white 
mouse produced cutaneous lesions resembling those of Oriental Sore. 
As was stated by Fantham and Porter (Dec. 1913), when commenting 
on the earlier work of Laveran and Franchini, these experiments 
signify “leishmaniasis in the making.” The spleen was found to be 
enlarged in the various experimentally infected animals. Flagellate 
parasites were very rare indeed in the experimental animals and were 
even absent in some cases, but leishmaniform and uninucleate rounded 
elements occurred in the red blood corpuscles and free leishmaniforms 
were observed. Further, it is possible that the canine kala-azar occur¬ 
ring in the Mediterranean region is really a canine herpetomoniasis due 
to Herpetomonas ctenocephali. 
These experimental results should be compared with certain estab¬ 
lished facts, of which two may be specially mentioned: (1) The various 
species of Leishmania in culture grow into herpetomonad flagellates. 
(2) Franchini (1913) described a herpetomonad parasite obtained 
post mortem from a human subject who had long lived in Brazil. He 
named the parasite Haemocystozoon brasiliense, though as Brumpt (1913) 
says, it might have been placed, probably, in the genus Herpetomonas. 
A third point, which is an inference from Laveran and Franchini’s 
experiments, and is mentioned by the authors themselves, is that 
Leishmania and the trypanosomes probably arose from the flagellates 
of invertebrates. Fourthly, it should be remembered that leishmani¬ 
form elements have been described by Moore and Breinl (1907) and by 
Fantham (1911) as part of the life cycle of trypanosomes in vertebrate 
hosts. These leishmaniform elements or “latent bodies” occur in the 
internal organs. Their occurrence serves further to point out the close 
genetic and even phylogenetic relationship between Herpetomonas, 
Leishmania, Crithidia and Trypanosoma. 
As Herpetomonas patellae occurs in an edible invertebrate, it may be 
remarked that such flagellates are possibly not without pathogenic 
properties, if they should find their way alive in sufficient numbers 
