212 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



35° or 40''. High temperatures binder germination in many species. 

 A dry temperature of 80° can be resisted for one hour by the spores, but 

 at 90° they are killedj- 



The author also gives his notes on the cultivation of plasmodia and 

 the formation of cysts and sporangia. Tables are given of the spore 

 germination in different species, and finally a list of Myxomycetes that 

 occur in the neighbourhood of Halle. 



Studies of Myxomycetes.* — E. Jahn publishes a new genus and 

 species of this group which he has named ListereUa paradoxa. It was- 

 found as tiny black specks on the stalk of a lichen {Gladonia sylvatka). 

 Jahn thinks that probably the plasmodium lived among the vegetation 

 remains at the base of the lichen and crept up the stalk to form the 

 sessile sporangia. The capillitium threads are most peculiar : they are 

 formed of a succession of somewhat pyriform members forming a con- 

 tinuous chain ; the spores are brownish-grey and almost smooth. The 

 affinities of this new form are doubtful ; probably it represents a new 

 family of Listerellaceae. 



Schizophyta. 



Schizomycetes. 



Root-Bacteria of Pulse. + — A. Rodella states that two varieties of 

 root bacteria have been observed — {a) Rhizobium, heijerincki, that grows 

 well on agar, but only with difficulty or not at all on gelatin ; {b) R, 

 radicicola, that grows well on both agar and gelatin. The author has 

 also isolated from tubercles of leguminous plants an anaerobe which he 

 considers to be -identical with CHostrkUum pasteurianum of Winogradsky^ 

 but which differs from that organism by growing on gelatin, and by 

 its greater facility for growth on glucose-agar. The organism also 

 resembles Omeliansky's cellulose bacillus, but differs from it in staining 

 with iodin, and by its Clostridium form. The author thinks that the 

 aerobic growth of anaerobic root bacteria is due to a symbiosis with 

 aerobic organisms. 



Action of Bile on Pneumococcus.^ — Nicolle and Adil-Bey have 

 found that cultures of pneumococcus obtained from various sources 

 were dissolved by the addition of rabbit-bile or ox-bile, and also by 

 choleates or bihary salts. The authors consider that this constitutes a 

 diagnostic test for pneumococcus, and serves to separate the organism 

 from other microbes in a mixed culture. They further showed that 

 rabbits vaccinated with choleate solution acquired a certain immunity 

 against pneumococcus. The coccobacillus of fowl cholera, B. niaUei and 

 B.p)estis, are much less sensible to the action of bile than the pneu- 

 mococcus, and Vibrio choUrm, B. typhosus, B. coU, B. anthracis, B. 

 j)yocyaneus, and B. friedlanderi, are still more resistant ; streptococcus- 

 and staphylococcus are entirely refractory. 



* Ber. Deutsch. Bot. GeselL, xxiv. (1906) pp. 538-41 (1 pi.). 

 t Original Paper by A. Rodella, Padua, 1906. 

 i Ann. Inst. Pasteur, xxi. (1907) p. 20. 



