ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 89 



from a biological medium, to obtain an expression for the plant 

 nourishment content of the soil. 



The presence of a certain amount of phosphoric acid (and chalk) in 

 the soil is needed for the fermentation of mannite. 



Two anaerobes of Butyric acid group that produce no butyric 

 fermentation in Milk.* — A. Rodella describes two organisms of the 

 butyric acid group, which in milk do not cause butyric acid fer- 

 mentation. (1) A slender bacillus staining by Gram's method, and 

 forming small round spores : on gelatin growth is delayed, the 

 colonies being woolly and not compact as on agar ; growth is slight 

 in ordinary broth, but in Beijerinck's fluid it is vigorous ; no growth 

 occurs on potato ; milk is a favourable medium, but itself seems to 

 undergo no change save slight rise in acidity ; the butyric acid formed 

 in milk is negligible, but in Beijerinck's fluid it is formed, associated 

 with certain amounts of lactic acid. (2) Bacilli 3-5 /x long and 1 /x broad, 

 staining by Gram's method and growing well on gelatin ; there is good 

 growth in milk, which is coagulated, the clot not being dissolved ; from 

 the fermentation of milk sugar lactic acid is exclusively formed. In 

 Beijerinck's fluid it forms besides butyric acid large amounts of 

 valerianic acid. 



Spirillosis of embryo Chick.t~C. Levaditi introduced blood 

 containing spirilla into the wiiites of fecundated eggs — and incubated 

 these at 40° C. The spirilla remained alive and multiplied only in 

 germinating eggs, when a spirillar infection of the embryo resulted. 

 The greater pathological changes occurred in the liver ; phagocytosis of 

 spirilla by the leucocytes of the blood and the macrophages of the 

 hver, the cells of Kuffier being packed with spirilla, Spirillosis of the 

 embryo is more severe than in the adult, and does not terminate in a 

 disappearance of the spirilla in the general circulation. 



The author found also that the Spirillum bresiliense is not trans- 

 missible from infected hens to their embryo ; and that these embryos 

 are immune against tlie infection of Spirillum gaUinarnm. 



Experimental Glanders of Guinea Pigs.:|: — C. Nicolle finds that 

 B. mallei obtained from the horse is usually active against guinea pigs 

 and mice, little or not at all active against rabbits, except after repeated 

 passages through guinea pigs, the same bacilli not increasing in 

 virulence for guinea pigs. The virulence is diminished for rabbits and 

 still more so for mice after repeated passages through rabbits ; the 

 virulence is increased for rabbits, mice, and guinea pigs after passing 

 through mice. 



Bacteriosis of the Fig-Tree.§ — L. Petri isolated from diseased fig- 

 trees a bacterium which is the cause of the malady. He identifies it with 

 Ascobacterii/m Ivieum, an organism described by Babes in 1890. Its 

 most characteristic features are the formation of zooa:la3a masses and the 



^to' 



* Centi'albl. Bakt.. 2te Abt. xvii. (1906) p. 374. 



+ Ann. Inst. Pasteur, xx. (190G) p. 924. % Tom. cit., p. 801. 



§ Atti K. Accad. Lincei, xv. (1906) pp. G44-51 (2 figs.). 



