60 



Investigations on the Life- 



(Esophagus. 



No. 69 - 



No. 70 - 



N 71 - 



- ! None. 



d. 



13 bright yellow 

 liquefying. 



60 yellow non-lique- 

 fying and 100 

 minute colonies, 

 probably the same 

 as last. 



9 liquefying with a 

 white deposit. 



Stomach. 



Intestine. 



b. 



Innumerable. 

 Yellow 



and lion-liquefy- 



ing. 



25 coli communis, 

 30 yellow liquefying. 

 20 yellow yeasts. 

 50 small yellow non- 

 liquefying. 



4 small white non- 

 liquefying. 



2 coli communin ; 12 

 bright yellow 



liquefying ; 30 

 opaque yellow noii- 

 liquefying. 



9 small yellow lique- 

 fying. 



2 liquefying with a 

 white deposit. 



50 small white non- 

 liquefying. 



In the two fish from the upper reaches, tubes b, c, d, e, and /showed 

 the presence of a liquefying organism, a small, short, and thin bacillus, 

 which coloured the fluid portion of the medium a bright yellow, and 

 produced a deposit of a similar colour. The third fish presented none 

 of this variety. The organism which did not liquefy the gelatine in b, 

 e, <Z, and e also gave a yellow colour to its growths. Its characters have 

 already been described. In c and e a few colonies of the Bacillus coli 

 communis were found, and iii e some yellow yeasts. 



No. 71 possessed no organism producing pigment, and the number of 

 colonies cultivated from it were small iii number. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



No very definite statement can be made in connection with the 

 character of the organisms cultivated. The characters of the growths 

 varied much more than the total numbers. The entire absence of 

 growths from the whole tract was noted in three fish, all caught in 

 October, and from sections of the tract on 20 occasions in 17 fish, only 

 four of which were caught during the months of July and August. 



Similarly no organisms, save moulds, were grown from 22 separate 

 sections in 16 fish, only two belonging to fish caught during these 

 months. 



These two facts point to the frequent absence of organisms, other 

 than moulds, from the water during the greater part of the year. 



Forms of bacteria capable of liquefying gelatine by their growth were 

 absent in eight sections out of a possible 30 in fish caught in July, in 

 two out of nine in August, and eight out of 21 sections in November. 

 In March and October they were seldom absent. 



Cultivations consisting entirely of non-liquefying forms were most 

 common in November and July. 



Of the total cultivations, containing non-liquefying forms alone, five 

 only were from upper-water fish, and of these two were caught in July 

 and August. 



That is to say, that out of 36 cultivations made from the segments of 

 the alimentary tract of fish from the upper water, five, or nearly 14 per 



