FABRICATION OF VINEGAR. 133 



tube. The eggs are placed at about the centre of the body in 

 two tubes which unite to a plainly perceptible aperture. The 

 average length of the female is 0.0682 Paris inch and that of 

 the male 0.0486, the former being larger than the latter in the 

 proportion of 1 : 1.3. 



Vinegar eels can exist in dilute alcohol of the strength used 

 in the fabrication of vinegar as well as in dilute acetic acid. In 

 alcoholic liquid containing much alcohol and acetic acid they do 

 not thrive as well as in weak liquid. Their part in the fabrica- 

 tion of vinegar is under all conditions an injurious one. The 

 vinegar ferment can only carry on its function correctly when 

 vegetating upon the surface of the fluid and in contact with air. 

 The vinegar eel being an air-breathing animal always seeks the 

 surface and in an alcoholic liquid which contains it and upon 

 whose surface an abundance of ferment grows, actual contests 

 between animalcule and ferment can be observed, the former 

 striving to force the latter, which is inimical to its existence, 

 under the surface and thus render it harmless. (Submerged 

 vinegar ferment, as is well known, changes its conditions of ex- 

 istence and becomes mother of vinegar.) If the conditions are 

 favorable for the development of the animalcules, the latter over- 

 come the ferment and submerge it so that it can continue to exist 

 only as mother of vinegar, and consequently the process of the 

 formation of vinegar will be considerably retarded. Under con- 

 ditions favorable to the development of the ferment the reverse is 

 the case. The ferment floating upon the fluid consumes nearly 

 all the oxygen contained in the layer of air immediately above the 

 surface and thus deprives the animalcules of a condition necessary 

 for their existence ; a portion of them die and fall to the bottom 

 of the vessel, while another portion escape to the sides of the vessel 

 where they congregate immediately above the surface of the fluid 

 in such masses as to form a whitish ring. These conditions can 

 be readily induced by pouring vinegar containing a large number 

 of vinegar eels into a flat glass dish and adding a fluid upon 

 which vinegar ferment has been artificially cultivated. In a few 

 hours the ferment has spread over the entire surface and the 

 animalcules form the above-mentioned white ring on the sides of 

 the vessel. If by means of blotting paper the veil of ferment be 



