1887.] NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 69 



composed of chains and detached individuals of the chains 

 above noted, immersed in the jelly-like substance of the cylin- 

 der. It seemed as though this was built up by the multiplica- 

 tion of the S. mycoderma and the deliquescence of its cell walls. 



The liquid contents of this bottle with the gelatinous cylin- 

 ders were placed in a loosely corked preserve jar of three inches 

 exterior diameter, the bottle being broken in extracting the 

 cylinders. 



On August 1st, one week after my first examination, this 

 liquid was covered with a film of the gelatinous material 2 mm. 

 in thickness. 



On August 14th this film had increased to 6 mm. 



On October 3d it had reached a thickness of 12 mm. and "was 

 completely covered with a vigorous growth of the mould, Peni- 

 cillium glauciim, in spore condition. There were two spots of 

 another mould of an orange color,;and bearing globular sporo- 

 gonia. 



On November 1st the Penicillium hyph^e had almost entirely 

 disappeared, and an enormous number of black spores were all 

 that was left to represent it. Some of these spores still remain 

 on the jelly, which seems to be gradually decomposing. 



Bottle No. 3. — The liquid had been mainly poured off from 

 this bottle and its contents disturbed before my attention was 

 called to these phenomena; only a small turbid portion re- 

 mained in the bottom. The character of this was jDrecisely the 

 same as that of the turbid liquid in No. 2, containing some of the 

 larger Saccharomycetes cells, multitudes of chains of S. myco- 

 derma cells, and myriads of vibrating microbes. The gelatinous 

 matter in this bottle had apparently been less abundant than in 

 the others and had dried and contracted considerably, so I 

 could not tell what its original shape had been. The bottle 

 was similar in shape to No. 1. When I examined the mass it 

 was resting on one side of the conical base and was itself coni- 

 cal, 60 mm. high with a base diameter of 40 mm. It clung 

 closely to the surface of the glass and was only detached with 

 considerable force. Its surface was completely covered with a 

 white, downy coating about 1 mm. in thickness, which, under 

 the microscope, was seen to consist of transparent, irregularly 



