ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY. ETC. 435 



Gastropod Cyclostoma elegans. It was originally described by Claparede 

 and Lachmaun in 1858, but Issel has found much to add. The animal 

 is referable to the family Urceolaridfe, but there is a remarkable 

 differentiation of pharyngeal armature, and many striking peculiarities. 



Amoebidium parasiticum.*— E. Chatton discusses the nature of 

 this peculiar parasitic organism, which occurs on Crustaceans such as 

 Gammarus pulex, AseJlus aquaticus, and Daphnia. He comes to the 

 conclusion, based, for instance, on the cellulose membrane, the callous 

 nature of the foot, and the variability of shape, that it is not a Sporo- 

 zoon, but a plant of low degree — at the same level as Myxomycetes and 

 Chytridiace^e. 



Nuclear Phenomena in Aggregata eberthi.t — L. Leger and 0. 

 Duboscq, by artificially infecting Fortunus with sporocysts obtained 

 from Sepia, have been able to follow certain nuclear phases in schi- 

 zogony. They ascribe a high complexity to the nucleolus (karyosome), 

 and a role in the separation of the chromatin and the formation of the 

 spireme. They note specially the reconstruction of a new nucleus at the 

 expense of a part of the first (the central area of the spireme), while the 

 residual karyoplasm becomes the " cytoplasme germinatif ." These obser- 

 vations appear to the authors to make clear the hitherto obscure question 

 of the chromidium. 



Chromatin-masses of Piroplasma bigeminum.| — H. B. Fantham 

 communicates some particulars regarding these. He finds that usually 

 more than one chromatin mass is present in each parasite. In the 

 pyriform and ovoid parasites there are usually present («) a rather large 

 and dense chromatin mass, the nucleus ; (Jb) a second, somewhat smaller, 

 usually denser mass of chromatin, the blepharoplast, which is sometimes 

 only punctiform ; and many parasites possess in addition (c) a rather 

 looser mass of chromatin, of a woolly or mesh-like structure (chromidial 

 reticulum). This last is often relatively well marked. Free forms 

 containing nucleus and blepharoplast were sometimes seen. 



Piroplasma of Horse in Italy. § — L. Baruchello and N. Mori de- 

 scribe the horse-sickness which occurs in summer in Rome and the Roman 

 Campagna, as well as many other districts of Italy, and which has 

 hitherto generally been named typhus, typhoid, influenza, etc. It is not 

 a bacterial disease, but is caused by an endoglobular protozoon, and is 

 described as a piroplasmosis. The authors are not prepared at present 

 to identify the parasite as the P. equi of Laveran. 



Bovine Piroplasmosis in Portugal. |1 — A. Bettencourt and I. Borges 



recount the history of investigation of this disease, known for a long 

 time as furrujao {rouille) in cattle in Portugal. It is now definitely 

 established as due to the presence of a piroplasma in the blood, and 

 probably transmitted by a tick. The authors describe the parasite, which 



* Arch. Zool. Exper., v., Notes et Revue, No. 1 (1906) pp. xvii.-xxxi. (8 figs.). 



t Comptes Rendus, cxliv. (1907) pp. 990-2. 



X Quart. Journ. Micr. Soc, No. 202 (1907) pp. 297-324 (1 pi. and 44 figs.). 



§ Centralbl. Babt. Parasiteuk., xliii. (1907) pp. 59.3-604. 



il Arch, do real Inst. Bact. Camara Pestana, i., fasc. 2 (1907) pp. 351-62 (2 pis.). 



