ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 637 



such as pityriasis, acne, and others. It occurs in ovoid, bacillary, bottle- 

 shaped, and thread forms. In consequence of this remarkable poly- 

 morphism, it has been difficult to obtain pure cultures. It grows upon 

 all ordinary media. It does not liquefy gelatin nor clot milk. Upon 

 agar, bluish-white colonies of about 2 mm. in diameter appear in 2-1 to 48 

 hours. They have a distinct margin. In acid and fluid media a great 

 variety of forms develop. Glucose and lactose are not fermented. 



Bacterium anthroposepticum.* — E. Frankel and E. Pielsticker give 

 this name to a new organism belonging apparently to the hemorrhagic 

 septicaemia group. It was obtained in cultivations of the blood of a 

 man who developed acute osteomyelitis and septicaemia from an infected 

 wound in the right wrist. The injury was caused by a scratch with a 

 fish-bone. At the autopsy, there were found osteomyelitis and acute in- 

 fective periostitis, and croupous pneumonia of the left lung. The organism 

 is a short, ovoid, Gram-negative bacillus, showing well marked polar 

 staining, and resembling in general appearance the plague bacillus. It 

 is actively motile, and carries a number of long flagella at one end. 

 It grows well on ordinary media, forming raised, pigmented colonies. 

 On blood media it causes marked haemolysis. Important diagnostic 

 points are the following : a peculiar aromatic smell in cultures and a cha- 

 racteristic metallic sheen on agar growths. This organism liquefies 

 gelatin, whereas the bacteria of haemorrhagic septicaemia do not. Animal 

 inoculations showed that fowls and pigeons are immune, but sparrows, 

 white mice, and rabbits can be infected. Inoculation of rabbits produced 

 an early orchitis followed by dyspnoea, increasing weakness of the hinder 

 extremities, and death. Immunising experiments have not yielded any 

 positive results. 



Bacterial Parasites of Barley.f — H. Zikes gives an account of 

 certain bacteria frequently found parasitic upon grains of barley. He 

 carried out a number of cultivation experiments in a Schonjahn's appa- 

 ratus, and observed in many cases the formation of zooglcea, sometimes 

 yellow, sometimes red. From the yellow zooglcea he isolated three forms 

 —Bacterium fiuorescens liqmfaciens, B. herbicola aureum, and B. rubrum. 

 The last-named organism was comparatively rare. B. herbicola rubrum 

 was isolated from the red zooglcea. The author has made a comparative 

 study of the cultural characters of these organisms, the results of which 

 are given in tabular form. B. herbicola rubrum and B. fiuorescens lique- 

 faciens have a deleterious effect upon the roots and cause dwarfing of the 

 plant. Sections of germinating grains infected with these organisms 

 show a destructive infiltration. B. fiuorescens liqmfaciens and B. herbicola 

 aureum in symbiosis have also a marked pathogenic effect. 



New Variety of Mycosis occurring in Man 4 — V. Babes and T. Mino- 

 nescu describe two cases of deep suppuration, due to infection with a 

 Gladothrix. The pus contained a multitude of small black nodules, 



* Centralbl. Bakt., l*e Abt. Kef., xlvi. (1910) pp. 713-15. 

 + SB. k. Akad. Wiss. Wien, cxix. (1910) pp. 11-32. 

 % Centralbl. Bakt. lte Abt. Orig., iv. (1910) pp. 108-15. 



