(5) Vuillemin has also described a case of Sarcosporidia found in the muscles of a man who died from tubercle at Nancy. The author considered that the parasite corresponded to S. tenella.
(6) Darling[237] (1909) found Sarcosporidia in the biceps of a negro from Barbados.
The Myxosporidia, Microsporidia, Actinomyxidia and possibly the Sarcosporidia may be included within the section Cnidosporidia (Doflein), since they possess spores containing polar capsules.
Order. Haplosporidia, Caullery and Mesnil.
The Haplosporidia are a group of organisms having both a simple structure and life-history. The simplicity may represent a primitive condition or may be due to degradation resultant on parasitism, and thus it is possible that the group is not a homogeneous one. The order Haplosporidia was created by Caullery and Mesnil in 1899, and includes parasites of rotifers, annelids (fig. 110), crustacea, fish, prochordates and man. They may be present in the body cavity or alimentary tract, and can also occur in the septum nasi of man, in the nervous system of Cephalodiscus, and in tumours of fish.
As the name implies, the spores of the Haplosporidia are simple, without polar capsules, and are uninucleate. In some genera, e.g., Haplosporidium, Urosporidium (fig. 111) there is a spore-coat or sporocyst which may be elongate or spiny. The developmental cycle of a Haplosporidian, such as Haplosporidium or Bertramia, begins with a small, uninucleate cell, often rounded, possessing a cell membrane that may be prolonged into processes. Growth takes place, coupled with an increase in the number of nuclei, so that a multinucleate trophozoite is produced. Later, this multinucleate trophozoite becomes segmented into a number of ovoid or spherical pansporoblasts, which give rise to few (one to four) spores. Such a spore, when set free, begins the life cycle over again.
More recently (1905–1907) two important organisms have been described and included in this group, namely, Neurosporidium cephalodisci[238] (Ridewood and Fantham) from the nervous system of the prochordate, Cephalodiscus nigrescens, and Rhinosporidium kinealyi (or seeberi) from the septum nasi of man. In the case of Rhinosporidium and Neurosporidium, after the uninucleate spore has grown into a multinucleate trophozoite, the latter segments into uninucleate pansporoblasts, as in the preceding cases. A difference then occurs, for each pansporoblast enlarges, its nucleus divides and a “spore-morula” is formed. Thus a multinucleate pansporoblast or spore-morula, divided into many uninucleate sporoblasts (spore mother cells) is produced, and each sporoblast without further change becomes a uninucleate spore.
The Haplosporidia have therefore been divided by Ridewood and Fantham (1907)[239] into two sections:—
(1) The Polysporulea, wherein the pansporoblast gives rise to a number of spores (nine or more), e.g., Rhinosporidium, Neurosporidium.
(2) The Oligosporulea, wherein the pansporoblasts give rise each to a few (four) spores or to only a single spore, e.g., Haplosporidium, Bertramia, Cœlosporidium, Ichthyosporidium.