1897] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 391 



fresh, pure cultures of this org-anism produces g-enerally 

 better butter than the same cream ripened in the usual 

 way. 



The g^eneral characters are these: A micrococcus oc- 

 curring- g-enerally in pairs; 0'5 to 0*7 thousandth of a milli- 

 meter in diameter, occasionally reaching- 1; non-motile; no 

 spores; g-rows rapidly at 37 degrees and 20 deg-rees C; 

 aerobic; slow liquefier of g-elatin; non-chromog-enic(white); 

 stains well with carbol-fuchsin. — Popular Scienc News. 



The Bacillus Icteroides — Is a small rod with rounded 

 ends, united by pairs in cultures, from two to four micro- 

 millimeters in leng-th, being three times as long- as broad. 

 It grows readily in all the ordinary culture media, and is 

 easily stained by the usual solutions used for such pur- 

 poses. "When the colonies are g-rown in the incubator 

 they do not present marked differences from other species 

 of microbes; they are rounded, of a slig-htly irridescent 

 gray color, transparent, even in surface, and reg-ular in 

 outline. But if the colonies are allowed to evolve at a tem- 

 perature of 20 degrees, to 22 degreesC, theylooklikedrops 

 of milk, opaque, projecting-, and with pearly reflections." 

 By exposing cultures for twelve hours in an incubator and 

 then to the temperature of the air for the same leng-th of 

 time, they show themselves as constructed with a flat 

 nucleus, transparent and azure, with a prominent peri- 

 pheral circle that is opaque. This, the discoverer claims 

 will disting-uish the bacillus from all previously known va- 

 rieties. "It IS a faculative anaerobe; ferments glucose 

 and saccharose; very resistant to drying-; dies in water at 

 60 deg-rees, or after exposure to sunlig-ht for seven hours, 

 and lives for a long time in saltwater." 



Microbe of Ambergris, — According- to professor Beau- 

 regard, the intestinal concretions of the cachalot are 

 caused by a microbe very similar to the comma bacillus 

 of cholera. Here is a new field for the enterprising- phar- 

 macist; he mig-ht inoculate a few sperm whales in confine- 

 ment and patiently await the formation of the calculi. The 

 difficulty is, as usual , first to catch the cachalot. 



