Mycotic infections of the eye are more often recognized in recent years as knowledge of the various mycoses increases. As many ophthalmologists are unfamiliar with the clinical and pathologic features of a rather rare fungous disease of the mucous membranes of the eye, called rhinosporidiosis, and as the disease in the eye must be more prevalent than the few reported cases would indicate, the discovery of a case in my own practice has been the incentive for a review of the literature on this subject.
CLASSIFICATION OF PARASITE
The parasite was at first thought to be a sporozoon (Seeber,1 1900) having analogies with the Polysporea (of Schneider), a subdivision of the Coccidia. Other investigators (Minchen and Fantham,2 1905) concluded that Rhinosporidium is an annectent form which shows marked affinities with the typical Neosporidia and also with the simpler Haplosporidia. Beattie3 (1906) placed Rhinosporidium among the Neosporidia and