The Morphology and Division of <i>Hexamita gigas</i> n.sp. (Flagellata)

Abstract

A Previous paper (Bishop, 1932) dealt with the cultivation of a Hexamita sp. found in the horse-leech ( Haemopis sanguisugae = Aulastomum gulo ). The present paper deals with the morphology and method of division of the Hexamita above referred to, which I now name H. gigas n.sp. Dobell (1909) gave a detailed history of the nomenclature of the genus, and Wenyon (1926) has dealt with the same subject and given a list of the then known species and their hosts. Two species have since been described: H. pulcher , by Becker (1926), from the caecum of the ground squirrel Citellus tridecemlineatus , and Octomitus (= Hexamita ) pitheci described and figured by da Cunha and Muniz (1928) from the intestine of Macacus rhesus . Apart from the two species ( Hexamita nodulosa and H. inflate ) described by Dujardin (1841) from stagnant water, and in which he saw but six flagella, a single species only has been described hitherto from a non-vertebrate host. This species, Octomitus (= Hexamita) periplanetae , a small flagellate 5–8 μ in length, from the gut of the cockroach, was described by Bělař (1916); a similar flagellate from the gut of Blatta orientalis has been found by me.