1891.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 259 



genera nature of the results obtained are promised in a future 



paper. — 



The Lancet, June 13, 1891. 



Examining for Spermatozoids. — In examining for spermatozoids, 

 do not try to wash the semen from the clothing which it stains. In the 

 case of thin, translucent cloth place the cloth itself directly under the 

 objective, moistening it by a drop of water placed on the slide. If 

 the garment be of heavy or dark-colored cloth, examine ravelled threads 

 moistened in water. 



Circulation in Spiders. — Prepare a slide by smearing a part with 

 Canada balsam. Then catch a spider and fasten his legs in the balsam, 

 well spread out. Each one show-s tiie circulation admirably. — Int. 

 Jour, of Microscopy. 



Ringworm of Domestic Animals. — From Bulletin No. 16 of the 

 Agricultural Experime?tt Station at Fayetteville, Ark., we abstract 

 the following facts in regard to the disease known in the Western States 

 as " white scab :" 



Although symptoms dirter somewhat in men and animals, the disease 

 is the same as ringworm in man, and is caused by the same parasite, 

 viz : Trichophyto7i tonsurans. 



The parasite can be seen by soaking some of the scales scraped from 

 the diseased parts in moderately strong solution of potash for about 

 twelve hours, and examining the same with a magnification of 100 diam- 

 aters or more. The scurfy mass is composed of epidermal scales, parts 

 of broken and entangled hairs, and fungus threads and spores. The 

 fungus elements are found in great abundance in the hairs and surround- 

 ing them. The relation of the fungus to the hairs can be best demon- 

 strated in the short hairs which have been pulled out by the roots after 

 removal of the superficial scabby mass from a diseased patch. 



The cells of the root sheath, which may come out with the hair, are 

 not usually afiected, but masses of co«/«^/a may be seen surrounding the 

 hair above the beginning of the attached cells of the sheath. These cells 

 or spores are thickly grouped together, without any evident linear ar- 

 rangement. They are, for the most part, spherical. At the outer edge, 

 where the mass is thinner, a few filaments, more or less segmented, as 

 well as spores arranged in linear series, can be seen. In the hairs, run- 

 ning chiefly in the direction of the hair fibres, are long rowsof the same 

 cells which penetrate in the substance of the hair down to a point lower 

 than the beginning of the sheath and lower than they are seen on the 

 outside of the hair. The string of vegetable cells may reach to the bulb 

 of the hair, but it is not usual to find them extending quite to the ex- 

 tremity. 



In the hair we find : (1) Cells resembling those around it, spherical 

 in shape and not distinctly in rows ; these are not numerous. (2) Rows 

 of cells, of considerable length, running in the direction of the long 

 axis of the hair. These cells or spores are closely apposed to each 

 other, and are not spherical but quadrangular in shape. (3) In places 

 we recognize filaments or threads of the same thickness as these chains, 

 or in some cases less, in which no segmentation can be noticed. 



In the scales we find the same elements, but filaments are here more 

 common and the fungus is alwavs most abundant in the neighborhood 



