646 SUMMARY OF CUREENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



neighbourhood of Gand, and he takes occasion to supplement previous 

 accounts of the species. He gives an historical account of the species 

 from its first discovery and description by Micheli, and then he describes 

 the different parts of the organism : the peridium, which is finely 

 areolate on the surface, and composed, as he finds, of four different 

 layers ; the capillitium, a series of anastomising and branching filaments ; 

 the gleba, or mass of contents ; and the hypothallus, which he has 

 specially studied and here describes as a membranous expansion or 

 network. 



German Mycetozoa.* — Hans Schinz has undertaken the preparation 

 of the Myxogasteres for Kabenhorst's Kryptogamen-Flora, and has 

 recently issued the first fascicle, which is wholly an introduction to the 

 group. He reviews the historical classification, and considers that there 

 is as yet scarcely sufiicient knowledge to assign them to their true 

 systematic position. He then discusses the general characteristics of 

 spores and protoplasts, including the minute cytology ; the plasmodium 

 in all its various forms ; the formation of the fruiting bodies with 

 capillitium, etc. 



Schizophyta. 

 Schizomycetes. 



Bacterium chromoflavum.f — A.Naraygivesthisnametoan organism 

 isolated from milk, which has the property of producing an intense 

 yellow pigment upon certain media. It is a Gram-negative, non-motile, 

 non-sporing organism, with rounded ends, and of a length which varies 

 from L' to 'S jx, according to the nature of the culture medium. It grows 

 well upon ordinary media, causing rapid liquefaction of gelatin ; milk is 

 peptonized, develops an intensely bitter taste, and an acrid smell. After 

 a few days a yellow colour develops in the milk. Other yellow pigment- 

 producing milk bacteria differ from this organism in certain respects. 

 Bacterium synxantlnmi does not liquefy gelatin. Bacterium erythrogenes 

 produces red colonies on agar and gelatin, renders milk alkaline, and is 

 Gram-positive. Bacillus ochroleucus shows motile vibrio forms, and 

 liquefies gelatin slowly. Bacterium fulvum is Gram-positive, liquefies 

 gelatin slowly, and produces at first an orange pigment. 



Spore-formation in Tubercle Bacilli. J— A. Kirchenstein considers 

 the nature of the clear spore-like Ijodies so often found in tubercle 

 bacilli, especially in certain long forms {Jiumano longus of Spengler). 

 These bodies are referred to by Spengler as " splitter," by Much as 

 " granules," and by Babes as " metachromatic granules." The author 

 proceeds to a comparison of the relative merits of the Ziebl-Neelsen and 

 the Spengler method § of staining tubercle bacilli, laying stress upon the 

 advantages of the latter. For the demonstration of these spore-like 



* Rabenhorst's Krypt.-FL, Abt. s., Lief. 121 (1912) 64 pp. (37 figs.). 



t Ceutralbl. Bakt., 2te Abt. xxxv. (1912) pp. 222-33. 



X Centralbl. Bakt., Ite Abt. Orig., Isvi. (1912) pp. 144-59. 



§ See this Journal (1912) part 5, pp. 571. 



