ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 487 



Unusual Growth of Spumaria alba.*— Th. Wulff describes a 

 growth of Plysarum cinereum, which covered large patches of grass in a 

 meadow, and considerably lowered its value. In the same field he now 

 records an equally abundant invasion of Spumaria alba, which showed 

 itself chiefly in great masses on the mowed grass. The field belonged 

 to the Swedish experimental station at Flahult, and consisted of well- 

 drained moss-land mixed with sand and manured with lime and minerals, 

 but not with saltpetre or dung. A very wet season from the middle of 

 June to the end of August preceded the unusual development of the 

 myxomycete. Wulff is unable to say if the grass was injured, but in 

 any case it looked unappetising. 



Schizophyta. 

 Schizomycetes. 



Streptothrix in Chronic Suppuration. f—M. P. Neschczadimenko 

 has isolated a streptothrix organism from the purulent discharge of an 

 umbellical fistula. Microscopically, the pus, when stained by Gram's 

 method, showed stained and unstained cocci and rods, and large quan- 

 tities of long, sometimes branched threads ■ 75-1 yu, in width ; in 

 sterilised water the pus showed irregular white clumps, which, on 

 shaking, broke up into small flocculi, consisting of a tangle of threads 

 and cocci ; these flocculi were transferred to various fluid and solid 

 media, and under strictly anaerobic conditions growth occurred at 

 36°-37° C. More vigorous growth was obtained in broth with yolk of 

 egg after 8-10 days ; it consisted of white granules adhering to the wall 

 of the tube, the medium remaining clear ; microscopical examination 

 showed long threads often branched, and bent and twisted rods with 

 thickened ends. On agar it forms irregular-shaped colonies, grey- white 

 at first, but becoming darker and of a yellow tint, especially at the 

 centre, and consists of rod-forms resembling the diphtheria bacillus. No 

 growth was obtained on gelatin or on potato. The organism did not 

 grow r under aerobic conditions, and it does not appear to be pathogenic 

 for animals ; it is not acid-fast. The etiological relation of this strepto- 

 thrix to the suppuration in this case is not certain. 



Micrococcus catarrhalis (Pfeiffer) and Gonococcus. f — J. Bruckner 

 refers to the difficulty of distinguishing the Micrococcus catarrhalis from 

 the Gonococcus and Meningococcus, on ascitic agar or serum agar, on 

 account of the variable forms assumed, but finds that it is easy to 

 distinguish these organisms in ascitic broth by the formation by 

 M. catarrhalis of opaque white flocculi which are deposited and leave 

 the broth clear, whereas the Gonococcus and the Meningococcus cloud 

 the broth, form a delicate pellicle, and a flocculent deposit, which dis- 

 appears on shaking, but the broth always remains cloudy. 



Differential Diagnosis of Gonococcus and certain other Micrococci. § 

 Rothe finds that the Gonococcus ferments dextrose, but not lasvulose or 



* Zeitschr. Pflanzenkr., xxiii. (1908; pp. 2-5 (1 pi), 



t Centralbl. Bakt. lte Abt. Orig. xlvi. (1908) p. 578. 



% C.K Soc. Biol. Paris, lxiv. (1908) p. 619. 



§ Centralbl. Bakt., lte Abt. Orig., xlvi. (1908) p. G45. 



