614 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Collecting and Preserving Volvox globator.* — F. St. J. Parker 

 has discovered that Volvox globator can not only be kept alive, but also 

 will multiply amazingly for months if vigorous specimens collected from 

 a clean pond be placed in a glass bottle, and the bottle, fully exposed to 

 the light, be laid on the meeting-rail of a window facing west. The bottle 

 should be a clear glass, hand-made, round, wide-mouthed bottle, 5| in. 

 high by If in. in diameter. 



Studying the Development of Thelebolus stercoreus.f — G. Rarnlow 

 used sterilised dung or dung-agar (dung decoction + 1 ■ 8-2 p.c. agar) 

 as cultivation medium. Pure cultures were obtained by inoculating the 

 medium with spores. The growth was fixed with Flemming's fluid, 

 Merkel's platinum-chloride-chromic-acid mixture, Keiser's 2 p.c. sub- 

 limate-acetic-acid, and with Hermann's mixture. Weak Flemming gave 

 the most satisfactory results. The osmic acid mixtures blackened the 

 mycelium, but this was obviated by after-treatment with hydrogen 

 peroxide. The best preparations were obtained by fixing for from 

 2-3 minutes, except in the case of sublimate-acetic-acid, which required 

 15-20 minutes. 



The agar pieces thus fixed were cut up into thin plates, and having 

 been passed through chloroform, were imbedded in paraffin and 

 sectioned. 



The preparations were stained with Flemming's safranin-gentian- 

 violet-orange solution, or with Heidenhain's iron-ha3matoxylin. The 

 effect of the latter was increased by contrast-staining with orange G- or 

 with light-green (1 : 400 alcohol). The sections were mounted in 

 balsam, and the agar pieces preserved in glycerin. 



Cultivation of Gonococcus.J — E. A. Rothmann, after reviewing the 

 history of the cultivation of Gonococcus, remarks that media containing 

 serum, and especially ascites-agar, are by far the most satisfactory for 

 the artificial cultivation of this organism. 



(2) Preparing- Objects. 



Studying Discomycetes.§ — J. Lagarde examined the carpophore and 

 hymen ium in the fresh condition and also after treatment with a mixture 

 of methylated spirit and formalin (75 parts 5 p.c. formalin and 25 parts 

 alcohol 05°). The hymenium was examined by teasing out and by 

 compression after treating the fragments with potash. Sections made 

 by hand were treated for a long time with eau-de-favelle to get rid of 

 their cell-content. On removal from the eau-de-favelle the sections 

 were washed in water for at least 10 minutes, and then placed in 1 p.c. 

 acetic acid or in 1 p.c. ammonia, according to the nature of the staining 

 solution to be used. The dyes mentioned are anilin-blue, methylen- 

 blue, " bleu Poirrier lactique," vesuvin, ruthenium red, and Congo red ; 

 stock 1 p.c. solutions were diluted for use with five to ten times their 

 volume of water. 



* English Mechanic, lxxxiii. (1906) p. 461. 

 t Bot. Zeit., lxiv. (1906) pp. 85-99 (1 pi.). 



t Russki Vratch., No. 27 (1905). See also Centralbl. Bakt., Ref., xxxviii. (1905) 

 p. 220. § Ann. Mycol., iv. (1906) pp. 125-201 (2 pis.). 



