292 SUMMARY OF QUERENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Mycetozoa. 

 (By A. Lorrain Smith, F.L.S.) 



Myxogastres.* — Under this title HansSchinz describes the Mycetozoa 

 of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The present fascicle includes a 

 description of the life-processes of these organisms, with explanations of 

 the various stages and the terms applied. Distribution and culture are 

 carefully gone into, and the methods of fixing and colouring slide 

 specimens are given. In the systematic portion of the work Lister's 

 monograph is general followed by Schinz, even though the division 

 according to spore colour is considered by him to be somewhat artificial. 

 As the larger number of Mycetozoa are ubiquitous, the author has in- 

 cluded genera and species not yet discovered in the territory, but present 

 in all likelihood. The Myxogastres are given as a " class " of fungi. 



Schizophyta. 

 Schizomyoetes. 



Staphylococcus aureus.f — M. T. Dumas has investigated a number 

 of strains of this organism obtained from various suppurative conditions 

 in man and animals. He considers that all his strains belong to one 

 true species. The common characteristics, such as the production of a 

 haemolysin, are very constant. Minor variations in character, such as 

 the fermentation of glycerin, are of rare occurrence. Variations are 

 usually only quantitative, and of limited range. 



M. Nicolle X aud E. Cesari have studied further the characters of the 

 Staphylococci described in the foregoing communication. They find 

 that the Botryococcus obtained from Botryomycosis in horses is identical 

 morphologically, culturally, and biologically with Staphylococcus aureus. 

 This identity is confirmed by experiments on laboratory animals. All 

 these strains grow well on artificial culture, producing pigment of 

 varying intensity, fermenting similar sugars and causing milk to clot. 

 All secrete a hemolysin. Injections into mice, rabbits, and guinea-pigs 

 of cocci or of the filtered toxin produce a well-defined type of lesion, usually 

 causing death. Staphylococcus citreus differs only from the commoner 

 type in the shade of its pigment. In general Staphylococcus albus shows 

 a lower degree of virulence. 



Action of Ultra-violet Light upon Anthrax Bacilli. § — Mdme. 

 Victor Henri has investigated the influence of feeble irradiations with 

 ultra-violet rays of these organisms. The fact that such rays attack 

 onlv certain chemical constituents of the cell, leaving other substances 

 unchanged, led the author to study the effect of controlled irradiation. 

 The present is a preliminary communication on this subject. Emulsions 



* Rabenhorst's Krypt.-Fl., Abt. x. Lief. 122, pp. 65-128 (figs.). 

 t Ann. Inst. Pasteur, xxviii. (1914) pp. 213-18. 

 \ Ann. Inst. Pasteur, xxviii. (1914) pp. 219-32. 

 § Comptes Rendus, clviii. (1914) pp. 1032-5. 





