1894.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 299 



cular showing the number and percentage of deaths from 

 taberculosis as contrasted with other infectious diseases, 

 stating the chief sources of infection and giving full di- 

 rections as to the disinfection of the sputa, table-ware, 

 clothing, and the rooms occupied by tubercular patients. 

 And the city has established a large plant for the proper 

 disinfection of clothing. In this at least, one of the 

 public hospitals (Freedman's) has caused the segregation 

 of the cases of tuberculosis and adopted other proper 

 measures, including disinfection of the sputa and wards, 

 to prevent the inoculation or infection of other patients. 

 The State of New York has enacted a law requiring the 

 inspection of cattle and the destruction of those found to 

 be diseased. One-half the value of the condemned ani- 

 mals is paid to the owner by the State, and, in case the 

 autopsy reveals no tubercular lesions, the full value. 



On "Species" in the Desmidiae. 



By ARTHUR M. EDWARDS, M. D. 

 NEWARK, N. J. 



What are known as '• species," that is say forms which 

 are thought to be distinct one from the other I do not 

 believe exist. We must distinguish forms by some other 

 mode, by physiology for instance. By that method they 

 grow, and this I have attempted to make plain in the 

 BacillariacesB, a group of the Protista. Another group 

 of the Protista now claims our attention. With the Des- 

 midiae of course I am not so familiar as with Bacilla- 

 riacea?. 



I have had growing in a large jar, this spring, some 

 aquatic matter which I gathered when the frosts of late 

 winter disappeared, and I have been studying it long 

 and often. In it I found Ankistrodesmus falcatus J. E,., 

 a slender Desmid, green and looking like a straight 

 shuttle, that is to say sharply pointed at each end, some- 

 times straight, sometimes sigmoid and 1-550 in. long an4 



