ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 365 



24 hours. Inoculation into laboratory animals, does not produce lesions 

 of any importance. It differs from S. amerobius Lewkowicz in its be- 

 haviour on gelatin and in milk. Further, it is a true coccus, whereas 

 the organism of Lewkowicz may be lanceolate or bacillary. Micrococcus 

 fwtidus, another similar organism, does not grow on gelatin, and can, 

 moreover, be distinguished by the characteristic odour of its cultures, 

 from which the name is derived. 



Cladothrix vaccinae.*— From samples of glycerinated vaccine lymph 

 7 to 12 months old, G. Proca has obtained in pure culture a tricho- 

 bacterium of the genus Cladothrix. This organism is characterised by a 

 specific polymorphism and pathogenicity. After filtration through a 

 Berkefeld N filter, the bacillary type in the filtrate, with serum-broth, 

 assumes new forms. Firstly, there are undulating fusiform filaments, 

 which give off small spherical or ovoid bodies. Then, there are large 

 spherical bodies, which increase by budding. Inoculated into rabbits, by 

 means of scarification of the internal aspect of the ear, cultures of the 

 organism produce characteristic local lesions. 



Further Study of New Iron-bacteria. f— David Ellis gives an ac- 

 count of the life-history of Nodofolium ferrugineum and Leptothrix 

 ochracea, two members of the group of thread-bacteria recently isolated 

 from iron-water. Nodofolium ferrugineum is a filamentous organism 

 consisting of threads, whose structure is compared to a chain of lozenges 

 viewed alternately in face and in profile. Multiplication is effected by 

 the formation and abstriction of conidia. In germination, the conidium- 

 membrane is burst open, and the new individual assumes, almost at once, 

 the adult form. 



The chief phases in the life-history of Leptothrix ochracea, the com- 

 monest of the iron-bacteria, have been described. The author has in- 

 vestigated the earlier stages, and finds that the stiff cell-membrane and 

 deposition of iron is of comparatively late development. This organism 

 affords a definite example of pleomorphism, as the spiral form, previously 

 allocated to the genus Spirosoma, is now considered to be identical with 

 the straight form, Leptothrix ochracea. The reasons for this identifica- 

 tion rest partly on the observation that curvatures can be observed in 

 the straight form, and partly on investigations of the earlier stages in the 

 life-history. 



Beethelot, A. — Antagonisme du bacille bulgare vis-a-vis du meningocoque. 



C.R. Soc. Biol. Paris, lxviii. (1910) p. 529. 



Bridke, G., & L. Negre — Sur la nature du parasite de la lymphangite epi- 

 zootique. Comptes Rendus, cl. (1910) pp. 998-1001. 



George v itch, P. — Note preliminaire sur la formation et la germination des 

 spores du Bacillus thermophilus jivoini sp. n. 



C.R. Soc. Biol. Paris, lxviii. (1910) pp. 560-1. 



Lesne, E., R. Deb re, & G. Sue on — Sur la presence des germes virulents 

 dans i'atmosphere des salles d'hopital. 



Comptes Rendus, cl. (1910) pp. 1001-2. 



Eepaci, G. — Contribution a la connaissance de la vitalite des Microbes an- 

 aerobies. C.R. Soc. Biol. Paris, lxviii. (1910) pp. 524-5. 



* C.R. Soc. Biol. Paris, lxviii. (1910) pp. 375-7. 

 t Centralbl. Bakt., 2te Abt., xxvi. (1910) pp. 321-9. 



