CONTRIRUTIOXS TO THE CYTOLOCIY OF THE EACTERTA. 441 



The smaller forms measured about 2 jn-'l'o /i in length. 

 They were of short, oblong- form (fig. 61), and each contained 

 a very distinct spiral or S-shaped nuclear filament. I give 

 pictures of three individuals of this form in fig. 61, and will 

 not describe them in greater detail. 



(c) Bacillus sac cob r an c hi n. sp. and Associated 



Forms. 



I shall now describe a new Bacillus which shows a form 

 of nuclear apparatus differing in many ways from typical 

 flexilis or spirogyra organisms. As it is convenient to 

 have a name for this organism, I propose to call it Bacillus 

 saccobranchi. 



(1) B. saccobranchi n. sp. — I obtained this Bacillus 

 in the followino- manner. Whilst 1 was working- at the 

 Colombo Museum, I examined the blood of a number of fish 

 for trypanosomes. Among these I examined a number of 

 individuals of Saccobranchus fossilis caught in the 

 Colombo Lake. Some of them contained T. saccobranchi 

 Cast, et Will, in their blood, but the majority showed no 

 blood-parasites of any sort. 



One day two Saccobranchi were brought to me for 

 examination. As I was unable at the moment to examine 

 their blood microscopically, I placed them in water in a large 

 earthenware chatty. On the following cl^iy, when I was 

 about to make an examination of the blood of these two fish, 

 I found that one of them had died during the night. As it 

 appeared quite fresh, however, I decided to examine its 

 blood for Protozoa. The fresh blood, taken from the heart, 

 showed no Protozoa, but contained some very large and 

 actively motile bacilli, together with a number of smaller 

 Bacteria.^ As the bacilli seemed to me particularly suitable 

 for study — both on account of their size and the medium in 



1 I never found Bacteria in the l)lood of other fisli which I killed and 

 examined immediately after killing. It is possible that these Bacilli 

 caused the death of this particular fish, though there is no conclusive 

 evidence that this is so. 



