]18 NOTES AND MEMORANDA. 



composed of numerous upgrowths ; such examples differ in many 

 respects from the forms described by Cohn and IJilh'oth. The 

 ultimate morphological elements into which they can be divided 

 are^ as in the former species^ gelatinous spheroids with enclosed 

 Bacteria. 



All the properties of the " Frog-spawn," and nearly all the 

 phenomena which accompany its formation, are in harmony with 

 the supposition that these jelly-masses of the sugar factories are 

 produced by Bacteria. Only in the extraordinary rapidity of 

 their production (half an hour according to Feltz), do we come 

 upon a difficulty, the explanation of winch can only be looked 

 for when we have a fuller knowledge of the developmental history 

 of Bacteria. As a starting-point for further researches in this 

 direction the following facts are of value : 



(I) That in very viscid saccharine solutions all the Bacteria, 

 without forming individualised Zoogloia-masses, are embedded in 

 a common gelatinous substance which is coagulated by alcohol. 

 (2) The capability possessed by the Bacteria of forming balls of 

 this substance around themselves. (•"}) That a mechanical 

 movement of the nutrient fluid appears to act favorably on the 

 formation of the ball-like masses. A very viscid decoction of 

 beet takes, as Cienkowski says he has often seen, a marked 

 gelatinous consistence almost immediately when agitated. The 

 mechanical movement of the beet-juice during the process of 

 squeezing it out of the roots, will probably enough prove in this 

 way to be one of the essential conditions of the rapid formation 

 of " Frog-spawn.^' 



Cienkowski's observations show then, that the "Frog-spawn" of 

 the sugar-factories is no peculiar isolated phenomenon, but with- 

 out any difficulty can be assigned a place in the category of the 

 processes of jelly-formation so widely spread among the Algse. 



E. EaY LANKESTi!.E,. 



stein's ' Organismiis der Infusionsthiere.' — The first volume 

 of the third part of this great work has just appeared, consisting 

 of 150 pages of letterpress and 24 folio plates. The third 

 part is devoted to the Flagellata, and in the present volume we 

 have an exhaustive history of the discoveries and writings of 

 previous observers, from Ehrenberg to Carter, Busk, Williamson, 

 Hicks, and James-Clarke. The plates are accompanied by full 

 explanations ; the systematic description of genera and species 

 will follow. Forms allied to those described in Professor 

 Biitschli's paper, an abridged translation of which appears in the 

 ])re3ent number of this Journ^d, are figured in profusion. A 

 most remarkable form is the Rhipidodeiiclron splendidum, a tube- 

 making Flagellate^ the tubes of which are aggregated in dense 



