ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY. MICROSCOPY, ETC. 491 



cavity ; from these abscesses pure cultures of the bacillus can ^ readily be 

 obtained. 



Clostridium Polymyxa Prazmowski.* — M. Gruber identifies with 

 this organism a bacillus that he isolated from pasteurised milk, tin- 

 decomposition of which he attributes to this organism. Pasteurised 

 milk was kept in sterile Erlemeyer flasks at 18°-20° C. ; after decom- 

 position had taken place and the clear whey had separated from the 

 casein clot, he distributed portions of these into tubes of broth, and 

 after shaking them up thoroughly they were exposed to 98° C. for one 

 minute, and from these broths were made anaerobic shake cultures and 

 three dilutions of aerobic glucose-agar plates ; the shake cultures after 

 several days at :-U° C. showed a number of colonies of the same variety 

 of bacillus, all of which produced the characteristic decomposition of 

 sterilised milk. The bacillus varies in length from 3 • 50 /* to 7 ■ /» ; 

 the young individuals are distinctly motile, and peritrichous flagella can 

 be demonstrated with difficulty ; spore formation occurs in aerobic 

 cultures, but growth is better under anaerobic conditions. On gelatin 

 the surface colonies have peculiar irregular fantastic margins with small 

 worm-like processes ; after a few days the gelatin commences to liquefy ; 

 in broth after 24 hours there is a general cloudiness and a formation 

 of gas, and after 2 or 3 days a pellicle and a slimy thready deposit are 

 noticeable ; in the pellicle the rods are spindle-shaped and exhibit 

 spores that are either central or polar ; it ferments mannite, glucose, 

 maltose, galactose, xylose, arabinose, raffinose, and methylglycosid, and 

 cane sugar, but does not ferment lsevulose. 



Herzog, M. — The Plague, its Bacteriology, Morbid Anatomy, and Histopathology, 

 including a consideration of Insects as Plague Carriers. 



Pub. Bureau Govt. Lab. Manila, No. 23 (1904) 149 pp.. 27 figa. 



Wherby,W. B. — Glanders, its Diagnosis and Prevention, together with a Report on 

 Human Glanders, and notes on the Bacteriology and Polymorphism of Bacillus 

 mallei. Op. cit.. No. 24 (1904) 27 pp.. 7 pis. 



Wright, J. H. — Biology of the Micrc-organism of Actinomycosis. 



Pub. Massachusetts Gen. Hosp., i. (1905) pp. 1-56 (10 pis.). 



Centralbl. Bakt., 2* Abt, xiv. (1905) p. 353. 



