ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 87 



.4. radiatus and A. cerebriformis. The specific names are derived from 

 the cultural appearances, and an examination of the photographs shows 

 that these befit them well. Both species grow well on most media ; 

 A. radiatus is white to grey, while A. cerebriformis is yellow to yellowish- 

 orange ; both liquefy gelatin ; both form filaments and shorter elements 

 supposed to be spores. 



Hillhousia mirabilis.* — Hillhousia mirabilis, says G. S. West, is a 

 sulphur bacterium of giant proportions, and is much the largest solitary 

 bacterium which has so far been discovered. Its average length is 

 about GO /x and breadth about 26 /*. The organism is a peritrichous 

 bacterium, with a large number of short cilia It occurs among 

 decaying organic matter in the mud of shallow fresh-water pools. Each 

 individual contains a protoplasmic network, in the wide meshes of which 

 large globules of "sulphur (probably not pure, but in loose combination 

 with proteid material) are located. The network includes numerous 

 small granules, a considerable proportion of which consist of some 

 nucleoproteid. None of them are chromatin granules. The cell-wall is 

 firm, and has great power of resistance to reagents. It is not homo- 

 geneous, and 5 p.c. carbolic acid demonstrates its lamellar character. 

 The multiplication of this organism is relatively slow, one division 

 occupying upwards of 24 hours. 



Fixation of the Complement in Glanders.! — Miessner and Trapp 

 make an important communication on the fixation of complement in 

 glanders, and its relation to the syphilis reaction. They describe the 

 complement fixation methods, the antigen, the serum, the amboceptor, 

 the complement, the blood corpuscles, and give details in respect of 

 mallein. Some of the important results were : that complement fixation 

 was positive in 95*7 p.c. of glandered, and in 1*27 p.c. normal horses. 

 A suitable antigen was found in an aqueous extract of glanders bacilli 

 made from an agar culture with 250-1000 of phenol saline. The 

 antigens were very sensitive to daylight, but bore boiling and minus 

 temperatures of -10° to - 15° well. With aqueous extracts of organs of 

 glandered and normal horses and guinea-pigs, there was no complement 

 fixation with the serum of glandered horses ; similar results were 

 obtained when alcoholic extracts were used, and also with oleate of 

 sodium, oleic acid, and lecithin. For further details the original should 

 be consulted. 



Coccobacillus conjunctivas.:!: — Y. Ruata describes a Gram-negative 

 organism which presents itself both as a diplococcus and also as a 

 bacillus. By its morphological, cultural, and pathogenic characters, il 

 is easily distinguished from other Gram-negative germs. Owing to its 

 varying morphology it is termed Coccobacillus conjunctivse. Its patho- 

 genicity is slight, though when injected into a rabbit's eye it causes a 

 panophthalmitis, but seems to have no action on human connective 



tissues. 



* Proc. Roy. Soc. Scr. B, lxxxi. (1909) pp. 398-405 (1 pi.). 

 t Centralbl. Bakt., lte Abt. Orig., Hi. (1909) pp. 115-46. 

 % Tom. cit., pp. 630 44 (1 pi.). 



