M. H. Hoffmann on Fermentation. 273 
placed towards the extreme angle of the mouth. Teeth wanting. 
Pectoral fins wanting. Body linear, with a filiform caudal extre- 
mity. Dorsal and anal fins of equal length; the former com- 
mences above the end of the guttural sac, and exhibits one more 
strongly developed and elongated ray; the anal runs up to the 
aperture of the guttural sac. The anus must also open into this 
aperture. Body naked, with no trace of scales. 
I do not know where to place this form, to which I give the 
name of Porobronchus linearis (P\. 111. D). Its place is perhaps 
in the vicinity of Saccopharynz, Mitch., which certainly does 
not belong to the Apodes, and, like the above genus, forms the 
- commencement of some new family, or of one which is not yet 
well established. 
The specimens described are in the Collection of the British 
Museum. 
XXXVII.—Mycological Investigation upon Fermentation. 
By M. Hermann Horrmann*, 
AxtuoveH the phenomenon of fermentation long since attracted 
the attention of observers, its origin was still involved in con- 
siderable obscurity, and various hypotheses, amongst others that 
of spontaneous generation, had been invented to explain it. In 
order to solve this problem definitively, M. Hoffmann undertook 
a series of experiments, of which he gives an account in the 
* Botanische Zeitung’ of Berlin for 1860, Nos. 5 & 6. 
1. If the juice extracted from some vegetables be examined by 
the microscope, it is found to contain here and there, not only 
cells similar to yeast, but also spores of Mucedine (such as 
Cladosporium, Stemphylium, &c.), some of which have even 
begun to germinate. These would be sought in vain in the 
interior of the fruits furnishing the juice under examination ; so 
that it is extremely probable that they are derived from their 
surface. 
Boiling water kills the germs of yeast-cells. Hence, if goose- 
berries, before being crushed, be immersed for four to ten seconds 
in boiling water, it is only after the lapse of four days that a fer- 
mentation with evolution of gas makes its appearance in the 
expressed juice, and then but feebly. If gooseberries be placed 
for three-quarters of an hour in cold water, and agitated from 
time to time, the water, when decanted, will be found to contain 
a small quantity of ferment, which may be employed as yeast, 
and which will evolve carbonic acid with a solution of sugar. 
When the surface of a gooseberry is scraped with a blunt knife, 
* Translated from the ‘ Bibliothéque Universelle,’ 1860, p. 337, by 
W.S. Dallas, F.L.S. 
