PARASITES IN CARCASES OF BUFFALOES. 71 
We have instituted feeding experiments upon a dog. After the 
lapse of several months the dog may be examined, but it is not 
unlikely that it will be found that the dog is not a facultative host 
for S. bubali .* 
We are informed by the Municipal Veterinary Surgeon that 
there is a popular belief among cattle dealers that buffaloes 
feeding on plantain leaves are liable to contract the disease. 
At present the mode in which the parasite is conveyed from 
host to host or is introduced into any individual host is one of 
those mysteries of parasitology which await solution in the future. 
All that is known relates to the endogenous generation within the 
body of the definitive host. The exogenous generation or phase 
of development, whatever it may be, remains to be discovered. 
X—Vitality of the Spores of S. bubali. 
When a cyst is teased up on a slide in physiological salt solution 
the spores are set free. They appear as minute crescent-shaped 
bodies with granular contents and are quite motionless. If the 
temperature be raised movements of two kinds may be induced, 
namely, a gliding movement about the centre of their curvature 
and also a spiral rotation of the body giving the effect of an act 
of boring. The latter movement is the more important and 
characteristic. The spores are rounded at both ends, but one end 
is rather more obtuse than the other, and a faint striation may 
sometimes he detected here though not always and never very 
clearly. The blunter end seems to be that which is generally 
directed forwards in locomotion and a minute protoplasmic 
rostrum which can be bent to one side or the other can be 
discerned under high magnification. The body can also be 
bent slightly and the curvature increased or diminished. 
Experiments have been made to determine the conditions and 
duration of life of the spores when removed from the host. From 
these it appears that the spores will not resist excessive heat, that 
is to say, they are killed when the temperature is raised much 
above the blood-temperature of the buffalo, which represents the 
optimum temperature for their existence. They will not resist 
putrefaction nor desiccation and they will not live in running water. 
Perhaps the most interesting and suggestive experiments are 
those in which the cysts were placed in fresh albumen or white 
of egg and in running water. When cysts are placed in running 
water they will retain their shape and normal appearance for days, 
but the spores inside them are killed in about thirty-six hours or in 
shorter time, and their remains are consumed by infusoria. 
* This turned out as predicted. 
