August 16, 1912] 



SCIENCE 



219 



covered; only an. examination of the work 

 itself can show the method of treatment and 

 the completeness with which the many phases 

 of the many-sided microbiology are treated. 



The book is well printed, though the type is 

 small and the pages look crowded. There are 

 128 figures in the hook, of widely varying 

 grades of merit. The editing is well done and 

 the errors are few. Whether or not the book 

 will prove useful in classes it will be indis- 

 pensable for a bacteriologist's book shelves. 



H. W. Conn 



SPECIAL AETICLES 



STUDIES ON THE WILT DISEASE, OR " FLACHERIA " 

 OF THE GYPSY MOTH 



For the past six months we have been en- 

 gaged in a study of the cause and nature of 

 the wilt disease of gypsy moth caterpillars. 

 The disease, so far as we are able to learn, is 

 similar to the one attacking the nun moth 

 (Lymantria monacha L.) in Germany. But 

 although the investigations carried on in that 

 country have led usually to negative results so 

 far as the causative agent of the disease is 

 concerned, still the work has been in the main 

 of a scientific character. We are speaking of 

 such work as has been done by Escherieh, 

 Prowazek and Tubeuf. This is more than can 

 be said of some of the attempts made in this 

 country and we thoroughly agree with 

 Escherieh,^ who says, in speaking of a recent 

 paper by Mr. William EeifE" " Es fehlt also so 

 ziemlich alles, was zu einem wissenschaft- 

 lichen Beweis fiir die behaupteten Zusam- 

 menhange gehort." 



Our first attempts were confined to a search 

 for protozoa in the tissues of the caterpillars, 

 and while dissecting and examining these 

 many were seen to contain certain polygonal 

 bodies clustered around their trachese. These 

 bodies have a very high refractive index and 

 resist all stains, with the exception of iodine, 



^ Natunviss. Zeitschr. fiir Forst und Landwirt- 

 schaft, Heft 2 u. 3, Feb.-Marz, 1912, p. 85. 



' ' ' The Wilt Disease, or Flacherie of the Gypsy 

 Moth," published by the Bussey Institution of 

 Harvard University, 1911. 



in which they take on a uniform tint. No 

 definite internal structure can be detected, 

 however, and it finally dawned upon us that 

 we had a case here analogous to the one in 

 the nun moth. Bolle' first found these bodies 

 in sick silkworms, and Tubeuf later discov- 

 ered them in nun moth caterpillars afflicted 

 with the " Wipfelkrankheit," a sickness the 

 symptoms of which seem to be in many re- 

 spects similar to those of the gypsy moth 

 wilt. Wachtl and Kornauth' were the first to 

 realize that the so-called polyhedral bodies 

 have a diagnostic value, for caterpillars 

 afflicted with " Wipfelkrankheit " are never 

 free from them. Wolff° thinks that they are 

 reaction-bodies having nothing to do with the 

 cause of the disease. This he believes to be 

 due to the presence of certain bodies called 

 " Chlamydozoa " by Prowazek. Wolbach and 

 McKee," however, have since shown that the 

 " Chlamydozoa " are products of mucous se- 

 cretions under pathological conditions and 

 not organisms. Escherieh and Miyajima' re- 

 sumed the study of the polyhedral bodies and 

 besides presenting many original observations, 

 confirmed Wachtl and Kornauth's results as 

 to the high diagnostic value of these crystal- 

 like aggregates. The figures and descriptions 

 given by the former authors are very good, 

 and we have no reason to doubt that the bod- 

 ies which we find in the gJTpsy moth are pre- 

 cisely the same. At the beginning of the in- 

 fection these polyhedral bodies are few in 



' ' ' Der Seidenbau in Japan, nebst einem Au- 

 hang: Die Gelb-oder Fettsueht der Seidenraupe, 

 eine parasitare Krankheit, " Budapest, Wien und 

 Leipzig (Hartlebens Verlag), 1898. 



* ' ' Beitrage zur Kenntnis der Morphologie, Biol- 

 ogie und Pathologie der Nonne," Mitteil. forstl. 

 Versuchswesen Osterreichs, Heft XVI., Wien, 1893. 



' ' ' Uber eine neue Krankheit der Eaupe von 

 Bupalus piniarius L.," Kaiser Wilhelm-Institutes 

 fiir Landwirtschaft in Bromberg, Band III., Heft 

 2, 1910, s. 69-92. 



" ' ' The Nature of Trachoma Bodies, ' ' Journ. 

 Med. Besearcli, n. s.. Vol. XIX., No. 2, pp. 259- 

 264, April, 1911. 



' ' ' Studien fiber die Wipfelkrankheit der 

 Nonne, ' ' Ncdurwiss. Zeitschr. fiir Forst und Land- 

 wirtschaft, Heft 9, 1911, pp. 381-^02. 



