614 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



this be accepted, it indicates that this group of bacilli are not natural 

 intestinal inhaliitants of any known animal species. 



Relation of the Tarbagan to Plague.* — In the first report of the 

 North Manchurian Plague Prevention Service, Wu-Lien-Teh discusses 

 the question of plague epizootics among tarbagans {Arctomys bobac) in 

 their relation to the human disease. This rodent, widely distributed 

 over Northern Manchuria and Siberia, is extensively hunted, as its fur is 

 of some commercial value. An account is given of the habit of the 

 animal and the methods of its hunters. The tarbagan harbours two 

 kinds of blood-sucking parasites, a tick and a flea, Ceratophyllus silantievi. 

 A few experiments showed that the flea could be induced to bite man, 

 but experiments with the tick were negative. Investigations of the 

 incidence of plague amongst these animals, supported by the evidence of 

 tarbagan hunters, leads to the conclusion that although the tarbagan 

 occasionally suffers from plague, the epizootic is never extensive, and 

 the animal does not play nearly so important a role in the spread of 

 plague as does the rat. Its direct relationship to human plague may 

 indeed be considered neghgible. 



Anaerobes in Respiratory Disease.f — R. Tunnicliff describes two 

 new types of anaerobe obtained from persons suffering from disease of 

 the respiratory tract, and perhaps causally related to such disorder. 



The first is a long slender flexile organism. It is Gram-negative, 

 and stains faintly with even carbol-fuchsin. It is a strict anaerobe, 

 growing slowly at 37° C. It was first isolated on goat-blood-agar. It 

 grows on glucose-agar, serum-agar, and other media of this type. 

 Examined by dark field, the bacilli from cultures are at first motile, but 

 soon come to rest. Artificially cultivated organisms are capable of stain- 

 ing a little more deeply than those in smears. This organism has been 

 isolated from a number of persons in the early stage of acute coryza, 

 and also from the noses of rabbits and other animals. 



The second organism was obtained from a case of chronic bronchitis. 

 It was found in enormous numbers in the sputum, generally in clumps. 

 It was non-acid-fast and Gram-negative. It grew slowly at first, under 

 strictly anaerobic conditions. The colonies on the surface of blood sgar 

 are round, convex, and white. They are hard and cohere firmly to the 

 culture medium. The bacillus is non-motile, and does not possess a 

 capsule. Typically it is a short, thick bacillus, but on certain media a 

 great variety of forms appear. It is slightly pathogenic to guinea-pigs. 



Characters of Bacillus violaceus.J — This organism has the property 

 of forming colonies of a deep violet colour. It is found not infrequently 

 in the bacteriological examination of water supplies, and, being easy 

 to recognize, has been used in the same way as Bacillus prodigiosus in 

 experiments for testing the efficiency of sand-filtration of water. In 

 the present paper J. H. Bampton discusses the characters of eighteen 

 strains of this organism obtained from various German and English 

 sources, as well as those of four strains of Bacillus membranaceus 

 amethi/stinus, another water-organism which produces a similar pigment. 



♦ Journ. of Hygiene, xiii. (1913) pp. 237-90. 



t Journ. of Infectious Diseases, xiii. (Chicago, 1913) pp. 283-93. 



X Centialbl. Bakt., Ite Abt. Orig., Ixxi. (1918) pp. 129-46. 



