390 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



cell. This increase was not accompanied bj cell division in these 

 experiments. In connexion with the above results, it may be recalled 

 that the rate of respiratory metabolism in mammals is markedly in- 

 creased after ingestion of food, particularly of protein, while during 

 starvation the respiratory metabolism in general decreases. J. A. T. 



Blood-red Seas. — Ramon Sobrino Buhigas {Mem. R. Soc. Espan. 

 Hist. Nat., 1918, 10, 407-58, 5 pL, 3 figs.)- The remarkable pheno- 

 menon of " hffimatothalassia," or blood-red seas (of which a coloured 

 picture is here given) is frequent off the coasts of Galicia. It has been 

 attributed to superabundance of Nodiluca, and to Radiolarians, but 

 investigation has shown it to be wholly due to a Dino-flagellate, 

 Gonyaulax polyedra, which has a yellowish colour. It forms an impor- 

 tant part of the food of sardines. J. A. T. 



New Diatom-eating Flagellate. — Asa A. Schaeffer {Trans. 

 Amer. Micr. Soc, 1918, 37, 177-82, 1 pi). A remarkable flagellate, 

 Jenningsia diatomophaga g. et sp. n., was found in marshes, among alg« 

 and diatoms. It is cylindrical, 180 microns in length by 40 in breadth, 

 with a flagellum 150 microns long. The cuticle shows spiral striations 

 bearing numerous movable club-shaped appendages about 1 • 5 microns 

 in length. There is a large central nucleus, 35 microns in diameter,, 

 and a large contractile vacuole near the anterior end. There are several 

 rod-like structures in the pharynx immediately anterior to a large mouth 

 at the anterior end. There are numerous bodies like rings or strongly 

 biconcave discs throughout the endoplasra, and sometimes large clear 

 spheres as well. The animal creeps along, feeds exclusively on diatoms, 

 and multiplies by longitudinal fission. J. A. T. 



Relapsing Fever.— H. Werner and 0. Wiese {Arch.f. Srhiffs u. 

 Trop. Hyg., Gassel, 1917, 21, 139). The authors examined eleven 

 Pediculi (Pedicidns capitis) which had been fed on a healthy man for 

 five days and then fed on a relapsing fever patient at the height of the 

 disease. Two of these, eight days later, showed the Spirochseta 

 rerMrrentes multiplying in the body-cavity. The view that the disease 

 may be carried by P. capitis was thus confirmed. J- E. 



Studies on Infusoria.— Ekendranath Gosh {Records oj the Indian 

 Museum, 15, part 3, Aug. 1918, 129) records a new species of 

 Anoplophrya Stein {emend Cepede) to which he gives the name Anoplo- 

 plirya Uoydii. This species, from the seminal vesicles of the earthworm 

 Pheretima jwsthuma, comes nearest to A. striata. It is a "dished" 

 organism, elongately oval with a subtruncate posterior end curved 

 longitudinally. Macro-nucleus irregularly ribbon -shaped, micro-nucleus 

 small, spherical, placed at the side of the macro-nucleus. The recognized 

 species of Anoplophrya now number seventeen, and the author gives a 

 complete synopsis of the genus. He also records two new species of 

 Gonchophthirus Stein, G. etongatus and G. lamellidens, and a new type 

 of G. curtes Englemann. The recognized species of Gonchophthirus are 



