ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 647 



bodies he recommends that thin films stained l)y Spengler's method 

 (care being taken to apply only gentle heat) should be further treated 

 by the iodin-osmium method. After staining for half a minute with 

 alcoholic iodin (iodine 2*5, potassium iodide 1"25, 80 p.c. alcohol 100) 

 this solution is poured away and the film treated with 0"5 p.c. osmic 

 acid vapour for 10 to 15 seconds, washed in running water, and dried 

 carefully. 



Bacillus of Schmorl.*— This organism, first observed by Loeffler, 

 and later investigated by Schmorl, is the causal agent of certain necrotic 

 and suppurative conditions in domestic animals. In the present paper, 

 E. Cesari and V. AUeaux consider its cultural and morphological 

 characters. It exists in two forms, a long filamentous form and a short 

 form. The filaments may have a length of 10-20 yu,, or may extend to 

 50-100 /x.. They contain a clear protoplasm condensing at intervals into 

 chromatinic granules. The short form, found principally in long- 

 standing lesions and old cultures, are of an average length of 2-3 fx. 

 They result from the division of the filamentary forms. The organism 

 is Gram-negative, and does not form spores. It possesses no flagella and 

 is non-motile. It is a strict anaerobe, and grows best in liquid media 

 containing calcium sulphide. This reagent has proved to be useful for 

 the isolation of the bacillus. 



Intestinal Amylolytic Bacteria. f — E. Wollman has made attempts 

 to isolate micro-organisms possessing the property of converting starches 

 and cellulose into sugar, from the intestinal flora of man and of animals. 

 In man, he found tliat no organisms, when obtained in pure culture, 

 possessed this power to any perceptible degree. A mixture of organisms 

 acting in symbiosis appeared, however, to possess distinct diastatic pro- 

 perties. In herbivorous animals, rabbits and hens, the author was more 

 successful. By repeated sub-cultures on starch-containing media, he 

 isolated two types of amylolytic bacteria, glycohacter proteolyticus and 

 glycolacter peptolyticus. As representative of the former group, the 

 author describes a bacillus isolated from the ileum of a monkey. It is 

 a long, sporing form which stains badly by Gram's method, and is 

 motile. It acts readily upon starch, and attacks albumin slowly. Gelatin 

 is rapidly liquefied. Casein is digested, and after a fortnight gives a 

 biuret reaction. Tyrosin, histidin, and tryptophan reactions are 

 negative. Glycohacter peptolyticus, from the intestine of a dog, is shorter 

 and thicker than the type above described. It is feebly motile, and 

 forms spores with great readiness. It does not liquefy gelatin, and, 

 unlike other amylolytic bacteria, possesses no proteolytic power. 



Lemming Disease.| — The lemming {Myodes lemmns) is a small 

 rodent living in mountainous regions in Norway. In certain years 

 these animals multiply in great excess of their natural numbers, with 

 the result that great masses of them are forced to come down into the 

 valleys. The animals which thus leave their natural habitat succumb 



* Ann. Inst. Pasteur, xxvi. (1912) pp. 625-.34. 

 t Ann. Inst. Pasteur, xxvi. (1912) pp. 610-24. 

 X Centralbl. Bakt., Ite Abt. Orig., Ixvi. (1912) pp. 169-93. 



