454 NOTES AND MEMORANDA. 



must with the spores of mould which accompanied them, fermentation 

 did not result, and we may therefore 8uj)pose either that they helong 

 to Cryptogams whose physiological functions differ from those of 

 the alcoholic yeasts, or that their germination may be hindered by 

 the rajiid development of the moulds. In the course of the experi- 

 ments several cases were observed of fermentation suspended by the 

 excessive growth of microphytes. 



Experimental Researches on a Leptothrix found during life in 

 the blood of a woman suliering from a severe (and mortal) attack of 

 puerperal fever. — A note on this subject by M. V. Feltz, is to be found 

 in the ' Comptes Eendus.' * Two days before death a number of 

 transparent, immobile filaments, which were simple or jointed, straight 

 or curved, were found in the blood of the patient ; they were • 003 to 

 •006 mm. long, and '0005 to "0003 mm. broad; they differed from 

 the Leptothrix found in the mouth in the absence of the mobile spores 

 from which the latter are developed. While they are destroyed by 

 putrefaction, they increase in great quantities when introduced into 

 the blood of the living animal. The state thus induced is marked 

 by an incubation period of varying length, and a diseased stage, in 

 which there is a slight rise in temperature, and an affection of the 

 mucous membranes, and difficulty of respiration, terminating in 

 death by asphyxia. Post-mortem examination reveals the presence of 

 an enormous quantity of immobile rods, by which the small vessels 

 may be obliterated. Multiplication is most rapid in the rabbit. 

 Small, and even infinitesimal doses produce the same effects, but 

 successive inoculations do not, as in septicoemia, increa.se the viru- 

 lence of the attack. The poisonous matter does not dialyse, and 

 neither desiccation nor cooling has any effect on it. Solutions 

 containing the poisonous body may be rendered innocuous by filtra- 

 tion in vacuo through thick layers of charcoal. "When cultivated in 

 alkaline urine, the develoj^ment of the rods from ovoid spores may 

 be followed out ; the rods become granular and break up under the 

 action of alcohol or the prolonged action of carbonic acid, as well 

 as by heating to 130° or 140°. 



The Lejitothrix of the gums does not produce any toxic effect on 

 the blood of the rabbit, and the form now under description appears 

 to be inoffensive to the dog. 



Sexuality of the Ascomycetes. — The Italian cryptogamist Borzi, 

 in accordance with the views of De Bary, Woronin, Janczewski, 

 and others, but in opposition to those of Tulasne, maintains "j" 

 the existence of a sexual mode of reproduction in these fungi. He 

 confirms the view of previous observers that the sexual organs are 

 to be found on the scolecite, a mycelial branch so called in conse- 

 quence of its vermiform shape, at present known only in the Dis- 

 comycetes. Janczewski has already described this organ in five 

 species, Ascobolus pulcJierrimus, A. furfuraceus, A. carnens, A, saccha- 

 rinus, and A. pilosits ; to which Borzi now adds five more, viz. A. im- 

 mersus, A. cerucjineus, Saccobolus violascens, Ascophaniis gramdiformis, 

 * Ixxxviii. (18710 610. f ' Giorn. Bot. Ital.,' x. (1878) 43. 



