Plasmodium sasai n. sp. from the Japanese Lizard Takydromus tachydromoides

SYNOPSIS. This is the 1st reptilian Plasmodium to be described from eastern Asia. It is apparently of limited geographic distribution. Experimental infections may result in the production of more parasites than red cells in the circulating blood. A single erythrocyte may be infected by as many as 11 parasites. Despite the heavy parasitemia and destruction of erythrocytes, the hosts are apparently not affected by the infection. Mature schizonts are frequently fan-shaped; they produce 7–17 merozoites. The asexual cycle has a high degree of synchrony.     

The Early History of Syphilis: A Reappraisal

The historical record and examination of disinterred human bones indicate that venereal syphilis is very old in America but did not appear in the Old World until about 1500. Traditionally it has been believed that the disease was brought to the Old World by Columbus in the 1490s. The most popular alternative hypothesis at present is that venereal syphilis is really only one facet of a disease—treponematosis, appearing as yaws in the tropics, nonvenereal syphilis in the Middle East, pinta in Mexico, etc.—that is present wherever man has settled and has been his unshakable companion for thousands of years in all the continents. Unfortunately, the latter, or Unitarian, theory has no more claim to validity than the Columbian. The diseases mentioned are similar but we cannot be sure that they are all really the same. And the testimony of the sixteenth-century Spaniards, who knew Columbus and his men, that syphilis was an American import cannot be easily brushed aside. The hypothesis of this paper is that treponematosis, originally a single disease, evolved into several related but distinct maladies as man spread through the world and that venereal syphilis is the variant that developed in the remote cul-de-sac of America, from which it probably was indeed introduced to Europe with the return of Columbus.     

Rediscovery of Professor Thomas Bell's type Crustacea (Brachyura) in the dry crustacean collection of the Zoological Collections, University Museum, Oxford

While examining and curating the dry crustacean collection in the University Museum, Oxford, the author verified the presence of type crustaceans of the suborder Brachyura acquired by Thomas Bell and that were believed to be no longer extant. Included is a listing of type material of 70 crab species that were described by Bell in three papers between 1835 and 1855. Complete synonymies and the present condition of each type are included.     

The Photobiology of Fern Gametophytes: I. THE PHENOMENON OF RED/FAR-RED AND YELLOW/F AR-RED PHOTOREVERSIBILITY

This paper shows that the hypothetical yellow-light-absorbingpigment P₅₈₀ is an unnecessary postulate for describing thephotobiology of fern filaments. The existence of P₅₈₀ was originallypredicted on the basis of action and response spectra that assumedthat filament elongation is the growth parameter subject todirect photocontrol. The present work supports an alternativeconcept, that the cross-sectional area at the base of the apicaldome is the photocontrolled parameter. Far-red irradiation reversesthe effects of both red and yellow light, and dose-responsecurves for yellow light parallel but lag behind the curves forred light. These observations indicate that the responses offern filaments to the entire long wavelength spectral region(yellow to far-red) can be attributed to absorption of lightby phytochrome alone.     

In vitro Demonstration of Lactogenic Activity in the Mammalian Placenta

As part of a comparative study of the occurrence of placentalprolactins among mammals, studies were done to see if the placentaeof a variety of mammals produce a prolactin, and if it is produced,during what period of gestation it is demonstrable. The lactogenicactivity of baboon, sheep, chinchilla, hamster, mouse, rat,and rabbit placentae at different stages of pregnancy were examinedby organ co-culture of placental explants with prelactatingmammary tissue, as well as by the addition of placental extractsto mammary organ cultures. The lactogenic activity of humanplacental lactogen (hPL) was also examined. Mammary tissue fromnulliparous (day 11 or 12) pregnant BALB/c Crgl mice were culturedin Waymouth's synthetic medium supplimented with insulin (5µg/ml) and aldosterone (1 µg/ml). The lactogenicactivity of the baboon, sheep, chinchilla, hamster, rat, andmouse placentae was clearly demonstrable. In the rabbit, thelactogenic activity was not detectable.     

Ephemeroptera eggs and their contribution to phylogenetie studies of the order1

Eggs of representative genera of all families of Ephemeroptera except the Palingeniidae were studied. Their external morphology is reviewed, and hypotheses have been proposed to explain the evolution of several chorionic features and types of attachment structure.
The archetypical Ephemeroptera egg is considered to have been round, with a smooth chorion, non-fibrous adhesive layer, funnelform micropyle, and a suprachorionic sperm guide. Subsequent evolution resulted in several different micropyles and many different chorionic sculpturings and attachment structures.
Data obtained from studying the egg stage are utilized as aids to understanding the phytogeny of the Ephemeroptera. The proposed classification divides the order into 21 families arranged into 6 superfamilies.