ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 509 



crystals are obtained. The green crystals are unstable and rapidly 

 oxydise ; the yellow crystals are stable, and on chemical analysis are 

 found to be composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. 



Bacillus anthracis and Cold-blooded Animals.*— B. G-alli Valerio 

 and P. Vourloud, employing cultures of B. anthracis kept at 18°-20° C, 

 were unable to infect toads or other cold-blooded animals, although the 

 same cultures remained pathogenic for guinea-pigs. The authors find 

 that when introduced into Bufo vulgaris the bacilli are destroyed, as is 

 the case with frogs and probably also with all other cold-blooded 

 animals, by the bacteriolytic action of the body juices ; the greater 

 number of the organisms are not inclosed in the phagocytes, but remain 

 free and exhibit bacteriolysis. 



Bacillus endothrix.f — F. Gueguen makes a further communication 

 anent this organism.} The pigment is feebly soluble in water ; slowly 

 dissolves in acetone, turpentine, and fatty oils, but more rapidly in 

 acetic ether. The solution, which is of a pale straw colour, deposits a 

 drab waxy substance, exhaling an odour similar to that of the cultures. 

 It is decolorised by acids, and when boiled with acids the solution 

 turns brown. It is therefore not a lipochrome. The bacillus was not 

 pathogenic to laboratory animals, and is only feebly resistant to the 

 action of antiseptics. Under unfavourable cultural conditions the 

 morphological characters of the bacillus are altered ; the cells become 

 irregular, swollen, stunted. 



-o 



Spirochseta flexibilis.§— K. Nagler obtained this organism from 

 mud, which contained also Sp. plicatilis. The new Spirochseta, named 

 on account of the flexibility and variety of its movements, is 

 cylindrical with rounded ends, and measures from 20-70 p.. There is 

 no undulating membrane, but a spiral fibril of periplast runs along the 

 surface of the ectoplasm. There is some evidence that it divides 

 longitudinally. The author has named it S. flexibilis, and suggests for 

 the new genus the term Spirophis. 



Bacillus amylobacter A.M. et Bredemann.||— G-. Bredemann makes 

 an important contribution to bacteriology in an article on the morpho- 

 logical, physiological, and systematic relations of B. amylobacter. The 

 communication has special reference to the assimilative power of this 

 species for nitrogen. The author includes in his species several kinds 

 of bacteria described by other observers, such as Clostridium, Granulo- 

 bacter, and Amylobacter. An elaborate account of the technique is 

 included. The communication, practically a monograph, forms the 

 whole of the number of the Centralblatt. 



Pathogenic Effects of Streptococcus fsecalis and of its Endo- 

 toxin. If — S. Martin reports that the stability of Streptococcus fsecalis 

 renders it easy of manipulation in performing experiments. It grows 

 well and readily in ordinary media, both liquid and solid, and retains 



* Centralbl. Bakt., lte Abt. Orig., xlix. (1909) p. 514. 

 t Comptes Reudus, cxlviii. (1909) pp. 1632-3. 

 % See this Journal, 1908, p. 360. 



§ Centralbl. Bakt. lte Abt. Orig., 1. (1909) pp. 445-7 (1 pi.). 

 U Op. cit., 2te Abt., xxiii. (1909) pp. 1-568 (6 pis. and 13 text figs.). 

 \ Rep. Local Govt. Board, App. B, 1909, pp. 445-56 (8 figs.). 



