Volume . XIV 
DECEMBER, 1922 
Nos. 3 AND 4 
6t' 
V 
ON THE i MORPHOLOGY AND LIFE HISTORY OF A 
\ MYXOSP 3RIDIAN, LEPTOTHECA OHLMACHERI , 
PARASIT T C IN RAN A CLAM IT AN S AND R. IT PI ENS 1 ’. 
By R. KUDO. 
i\ 
(JJ diversity of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, U.S.A.) 
(Witli. Plates XIII—XX, containing Figs 1—111.) 
wt 
CONTENTS. 
\ ^ 
Introduction . ' .. 
PAGE 
PAGE 
221 
The mode of infection . 
236 
Material and methods . 
222 
The relation between the host and 
The amoebula 
224 
the Myxosporidian . 
238 
The trophozoite . 
The spore formation 
227 
Summary. 
240 
230 
References ..... 
241 
Morphology of the sporo 
233 
Explanation of plates . 
242 
INTRODUCTION. 
In 1893 Ohlmacher observed spores of a Myxosporidian in the tubules of 
kidneys of Bufo lentiginosus. Whinery (1893) followed Oblmacher with a 
further study on the Protozoan in the same host species. Both investigators 
obtained their material from De Kalb County, Illinois, U.S.A. They did not 
notice the vegetative form, and confined themselves solely to the descriptions 
of the spore. Gurley (18 )3 ), according to Whinery, named it Chloromyxum 
ohlmacheri after examining' Ohlmacher’s preparations. The same author 
(Gurley, 1894) summarized the results obtained by Ohlmacher and Whinery, 
and recorded the Myxosporidian as Chloromyxum ( Sphaerospora) ohlmacheri. 
Thelohan (1895) gave a new specific name, Leptotheca ranae, to a Myxospori¬ 
dian found in the kidneys of Rana esculenta and R. temporaria without giving 
any description or figure exlept its habitat 2 . Labbe (1899) placed the first- 
named species in the genus Leptotheca, and thought that it was identical 
with L. ranae. 
The description and figures given by the first two American investigators 
show clearly that the shell-vaives of the spore are finely striated, which 
fact had never been seen in any ot her species of the genus Leptotheca. More¬ 
over, it is exceptional to find om t hat infects an amphibian host, because all 
1 Contributions from the Zoological L bo.ratory of the University of Illinois, No. 201. 
2 Thelohan does not mention the locaity v . Judging from the other species described in the 
paper, the host animals were most probabl; collected in France, 
Parasitology xiv , - 
