ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY. ETC. 89 



Ion" chains of oval cocci. With B. enteritidis Gartner the changes more 

 nearly resemble those of B. typhi abdominalis. On B. pyocyaneus the 

 first eifect of nitrate is to produce long non-motile rodlets ; with higher 

 percentages the bacilli show spurious branching and resemble Clado- 

 thrix. 



Agglutination of Bacteria.* — Dr. P. T. Miiller, after dealing with 

 the position taken up by Emmerich and Loew relative to the agglutination 

 of bacteria, maintains that his observations and experiments show that : — 

 (1) There is no proof that the sediment formed in old cultures has any- 

 thing whatever to do with true agglutination ; (2) that with old bouillon 

 cultures (whether in the undiluted or diluted condition or even after 

 heating to 55°) fresh suspensions of Bacillus pyocyaneus do not exhibit 

 typical agglutination ; (3) that the formation of the agglutinating sub- 

 stances must be located in the animal organism and not in the cultures 

 of the bacillus in question. 



Effect of Salt in Nutrient Media on the Growth of Micro- 

 organisms, f — T. Matzuschita found that different microbes are very 

 differently affected by the presence of salt in the medium. Many will 

 stand 10 p.c. without alteration of shape, while others on the slightest 

 addition of salt exhibit striking involution forme. The degeneration 

 forms exhibited by the plague bacillus, cultivated on 2* 5-3* 5 p.c. salt- 

 agar at 37° for 24-48 hours, are very characteristic, and are not likely 

 to be confounded with the changes presented by other microbes culti- 

 vated under the same conditions. 



Bacteria and the Disintegration of Cement. $ — R. Greig - Smith 

 thinks that on the whole there is considerable reason for doubt regarding 

 the action of micro-organisms upon cement. There is more reason to 

 believe that the action is purely chemical and brought about by the 

 decomposing and solvent action of the water alone upon the cement. 

 The presence of free lime in the cement, capable of being dissolved, is 

 the source of weakness. He found that a cement which after exposure 

 to the action of the water for a number of years had become porous and 

 disintegrated, still contained 1*4 p.c. of free lime capable of being dis- 

 solved. The presence of three micro-organisms, Micrococcus radiatus, 

 Vibrio denitrificavs, and Bacterium croceum, was detected in the dis- 

 integrated cement ; but experiments showed that they had no action 

 upon cement blocks. In the course of the investigation it was noted 

 that Bact. croceum was able to grow in bouillon containing as much as 

 5 p.c. by weight of sodium carbonate. 



Metachromatic Granules in Sporiferous Bacteria. §— Dr. E. Krom- 

 pecher has detected the existence of a new kind of granule in anthrax 

 by staining with methylen-blue. The granules are centrally placed and 

 stain red. These granules are not the same as the Babes-Ernst cor- 

 puscles as is shown by the coexistence and different location and colour 

 of the two kinds. 



* Centralbl. Bakt , l u Abt., xxx. (1901) pp. 65-9. Cf. this Journal, 1901, p. 690. 

 t Zeitschr. f. Hygiene u. Infektions., xxxv. p. 495 (36 figs.). See Bot. Centralbl., 

 lxxxviii. (1901) pp. 65-6. 



I Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., xxvi. (1901) pp. 107-17. 



§ Centralbl. Bakt., 1" Abt., xxx. (1901) pp. 585-95, 425-8 (1 pi.). 



