i 3 o THE MICROSCOPE. 



Barassius vulgaris — by letting the animal's blood flow into a half- 

 per-cent. salt solution. The parasite of the first named fish occurs 

 in several varieties, and is named Hsematomonas cobitis. It is 

 worm-shaped, pointed at both ends, has a flagellum on the front 

 end, and an undulatory membrane on the side. It is 30 to 40 fx 

 long, and 1 to 1} // thick, and is very active in its movements. The 

 second species is named H. carassii, and differs from the first by its 

 greater length and more developed membrane. 



In connection with this subject, the author criticises Gaule's 

 views regarding the cytozoa observed in the frog's blood, and ex- 

 presses his agreement with Lankester's description of them as para- 

 sites, given in the Quart. Jour. Microsc. Sc, Jan., 1882. — C. S. M., 

 in Science. 



Vegetable Parasitisms in fishes appears, from recent observa- 

 tions made by Messrs. Olivier and Richet, to be so constant that it may 

 be regarded as normal. These gentlemen examined about 150 fishes 

 taken in the Channel and the Mediterranean, and in all of them 

 they found in the peritoneal liquid, in the lymph, in the blood, and 

 so in all the tissues, microbes more or less numerous, having all the 

 characters of land microbes and being capable of similar reproduc- 

 tion. These organisms were mostly the bacterium called bacillus. 

 The authors cultivated these microbes successfully. They also re- 

 peatedly made an experiment which consisted in putting a whole 

 fish or part of it in paraffin melted at 120 or 140 . After solidifica- 

 tion, the paraffine was coated with several layers of collodion and 

 Canada balsam. The tissues thus guarded from atmospheric germs 

 all showed, after a few weeks, an extreme development of microbes 

 which were not those of putrefaction. The authors propose to in- 

 vestigate the mode of penetration of these parasites and their in- 

 fluence on the vital functions. — Scientific American. 



An Internal Mite in Fowls. — Professor Thomas Taylor, 

 microscopist of the Department of Agriculture, had occasion recent- 

 ly to dissect a sick chicken, and he found that all parts of the lungs, 

 the bronchise, and the linings of the thorax and abdominal cavities 

 were covered more or less thickly with a mite. An examination we 

 were requested to make showed it to be in all respects identical with 

 Cytoleichus sarcoptoides, Megnin. This parasite is known in Europe 

 to inhabit the air passages of gallinaceous birds, giving the trans- 



