DOI 
In regard to the significance of intracorpuscular conjugation 
üf malarial parasites Calkins (4), has this to say : 
(( Craig’s view is certainly enticing but we miist not forget 
that plastoganiv is a very common phenomenon throughout the 
group of protozoa and occurs frequently when there is no subsé¬ 
quent reproduction. U happens in most of the common rhizo- 
pods, for example, and has been described for cases of Arcella, 
Difflugia, Centropyxis, Amœba, etc., and it has been shown that 
these unions hâve nothing to do with the actual process of ferti- 
lization. It is impossible to State that no stimulation whatsoever 
results from such a plastogamic union, especially if it is follo- 
wed by nuclear union or karyogamy, according to the account 
given bv Craig; but it is difficult to believe that two widely dif¬ 
ferent processes of fertilizatir)n should exist in tlie same orga- 
nism. » 
IMixchin (5) also doubts the interprétation of this process bv 
I^wiXG and Wright and regards it as devoid of reproductive si¬ 
gnificance. 
Parthenogenesis, or reproduction by unfertilized female orga- 
nisms is known in manv species as Hœmoproteus, certain ot the 
rotifera, jellv-fish, worms, entomostracea, acarina, and a num- 
ber of insects, as the sillc moth, moscpiito, gall-tlv, ant, bee, 
wasp, chironomus, etc. Among protozoa, where the destruction 
of life is enormous, and complété annihilation at times seems 
imminent, it is not surprising that such a mode of reproduction 
is impérative. 
Ever since the discovery of the malarial parasite the gametes 
hâve been fcgarded as closely allied with chronic malaria and re¬ 
lapses, being the most résistent forms of the organism. Golgt 
plainly stated it as his belief that the crescents were the parasites 
of the fevers recurring at long intervals. 
Caxalis (6f in i8Sq desciibed and pictured spherical bodies de- 
rived from crescents in the act of sporulation. 
lu T890 Antolisei and Angelini (7) confirmed the observations 
of Canaris. 
Lewkowîcz (7) reported, in 1897, that he had seen sporulating 
crescents some of which contained as many as thirty spores. 
None of these observers, however, construed the process as 
parthenogenetic. 
Grassi (8), in 1901, expressed the opinion that the parasites of 
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