BY OSCAR KATZ, PH.D., M.A. 917 



elongated, superficial layer, the edges of which are smooth and 

 well defined, and thinner, and, therefore, more translucent than the 

 other parts. 



The culture of the above bacillus in or on the nutritive media 

 here mentioned, did not cause any offensive smell. 



With one or two exceptions, its colonies were always met with 

 on the cultivation -plates sometimes in proportionately large, 

 sometimes also in proportionately small numbers. It is the most 

 common among the liquefying bacteria from the water. 



Bacillus B. 



Microscopical Characters. Short rods, '002 mm. long and about 

 •0007 mm. thick. Occur singly or in twos ; motile; extremities 

 rounded off. 



On gelatine-plates. At the surface of the gelatine the micro- 

 organism grows in gelatinous, glistening, compact, but easily 

 separable patches, (PL XI, fig. 3, 4 b,) which, in reflected light, and 

 viewed from above, have a bluish-grey, in transmitted light 

 (especially if condensed), and viewed from the side, a beautifully 

 bluish-opalescent colour. Contours or edges quite irregularly 

 shaped (PI. XI. fig. 3, 4. b,). In the centre of these masses, as 

 a rule, one finds a small, somewhat elevated part, forming as it 

 were, a sort of nucleus, from which the spreading of the vegetation 

 takes place. Under a low magnifying power the contents of these 

 colonies look finely granular, and are translucent with a light grey 

 tint. 



In the interior of the layer of the gelatine this bacillus is met 

 with in characteristic lenticular, or Cyclas- Anodonta- and Unio- 

 like colonies, which are very often placed edgewise or obliquely in 

 the mass of gelatine. (PL X, fig. 1, b ; pi. XI, fig. 3, 4, b). They 

 are of a nearly white colour, and rather viscid consistency. Under 

 Jow magnifying power, and if not too old, these interior colonies 

 are of a, greyish colour (transmitted light), having their contents 

 finely granular and their contours smooth. In their optical section 

 they sometimes strikingly resemble the long contour of lemons. 



