20 
•MAT.ARTA 
periodicity of the asexual cycle, the clinical 
course of the disease, and the characteristic 
morphology of the parasites are maintained. 
As proof of the separateness of the spe¬ 
cies, patients refractory to the other three 
species are not necessarily immune to P. 
ovale. 
It is hoped for reasons of practicability 
and unity, that an agreement can be reached 
as regards the specific names. For the pres¬ 
ent report, all of the important papers deal¬ 
ing with nomenclature have been studied. 
The conclusions reached by other authors 
have been reviewed and an attempt made to 
bring together the correct synonomy for the 
different species of human plasmodia. It is 
not proposed to give a complete discussion 
on the question of specific nomenclature, 
but only such points as seem essential. For 
a more complete discussion, the reader is 
referred to the papers by the Sergents and 
Catanei (1929,1939), Christophers and Sin- 
ton (1938), Sinton (1939a), Craig (1933) 
and James, Nicol and Shute (1933). 
P. vivax. Students of the subject are 
agreed that the correct name for the para¬ 
site of benign tertian malaria is P. vivax 
(Grassi and Feletti, 1890). 
P. malariae. There has been general ac¬ 
ceptance of the name P. malariae for the 
parasite of quartan malaria, but, seemingly 
since Lube (1900), this name has been 
credited to Laveran rather than to Grassi 
and Feletti. This discrepancy can only be 
explained by assuming that Laveran (1881) 
gave the name malariae to the human ma¬ 
laria parasites in general, which in the light 
of our present knowledge, he did not do. 
Grassi and Feletti (1890) definitely gave 
the name malariae to the quartan parasite 
tinder the genus Haemamoeba, a correct 
procedure if two genera were recognized. 
Celli and Sanfelice (1891) used the name 
P. malariae var. quartanae which makes P. 
quartanae Celli and Sanfelice, 1891, the de 
jure name for this parasite since only one 
genus is recognized. As is pointed out be¬ 
low, the adoption of this name would lead 
to much confusion, and it is suggested that 
the de facto name of P. malariae be con¬ 
tinued for this species and credited to 
Grassi and Feletti, 1890. 
P. falciparum. The correct name for the 
parasite of malignant tertian malaria is not 
so easily determined. Laveran (1881) gave 
the name Oscillaria malariae to the new 
parasite found by him in the blood of ma¬ 
laria patients. The parasites he described 
were undoubtedly those of malignant ter¬ 
tian malaria. This being true, malariae, by 
right of priority is the correct specific name 
for the parasite of malignant tertian ma¬ 
laria and the one which should have been 
retained. Grassi and Feletti (1890) pro¬ 
posed their own name malariae within the 
genus Haemamoeba for the parasite of 
quartan malaria, retaining Laveran’s ma¬ 
lariae within their new genus Laverania for 
the parasite of malignant tertian malaria. 
Such a procedure is zoologically correct if 
two genera are recognized, but, since only 
one genus, Plasmodium Marchiafiava and 
Celli, 1885, is now recognized (Opinion No. 
104 of the International Commission on 
Zoological Nomenclature, 1928), it follows 
that the two generic names Haemamoeba 
and Laverania sink. 
Welch, 1897, proposed the name Hae- 
matozoon falciparum for the parasite of 
malignant tertian malaria. 
The Sergents and Catanei (1929) after 
an exhaustive study came to the conclusion 
that the correct name for the malignant 
tertian parasite should be P. praecox Grassi 
and Feletti, 1890. Giovannola (1935) re¬ 
examined the problem and concluded that 
the correct name should be P. immaculatum 
(Grassi and Feletti, 1892); but, as recently 
pointed out by Christophers and Sinton 
(1938), this specific name should be credited 
to Grassi (1891) if it is to be recognized at 
all. However, they point out that malariae 
was the specific name applied originally to 
the parasite by Laveran and is the de jure 
name. The de facto name for this parasite 
is P. falciparum (Welch, 1897). 
In considering this question, Christo¬ 
phers and Sinton (1938) and Sinton (1939a) 
drew special attention to the difference in 
names for the three classical species under 
the specific de jure and de facto nomencla- 
