492 SUMMABY OP CUBEENT BESEAECHES EELATING TO 



colonies of cells identical with Saccharomyces are produced, and may 

 be propagated by culture for several generations. The author con- 

 cludes that S. ellipsoideus is probably the torula-condition of this 

 Hyphomyeete, which appears to be identical with Dematium pullulans, 

 to which Loew had also referred it. The formation, under certain 

 conditions, of endogenous spores in torula-cells finds its analogue 

 also in the conidia of other filamentous fungi, and cannot be regarded 

 as in itself a special characteristic of the Saccharomycetes. 



Formation of Spores in the Saccharomycetes.* — Herr A. Zalewski 

 has made a series of observations for the purpose of determining 

 whether the spores of the Saccharomycetes are formed by free cell- 

 formation or by division of the protoplasm, whether they contain a 

 nucleus, and what part it takes in the process. The most favourable 

 species for the observations he found to be Saccharomyces ellipsoideus, 

 but S. apiculatus and Mycoderma vini were also examined. 



In the first-named species the formation of spores begins to take 

 place twenty-four hours after being placed in pure water. Th-e proto- 

 plasm loses its strong refrangibility, becomes finely granular, and 

 withdraws from the cell-wall, large vacuoles forming at the same time 

 in the centre of the cell. The protoplasm now becomes denser, but 

 a slight furrow is observed towards the cell- wall ; the protoplasm 

 collects on both sides of the furrow ; and dark spots appear in these 

 accumulations, which the author regards as the rudiments of nuclei. 

 These dark spots afterwards disappear ; the accumulations of proto- 

 plasm increase in size, round themselves off, and, after attaining their 

 full size, invest themselves with a cell-wall. The formation of four 

 spores instead of two in a mother-cell takes place in the same way, 

 and the whole process is completed in four or five days. 



The formation of spores by free cell-formation takes place in 

 precisely the same way in Mycoderma vini, but the nuclei are much 

 more evident. 



The presence of a nucleus can easily be proved in the vegetative 

 cells of the Saccharomycetes by placing them in pure water for a few 

 hours, and then treating with haematoxylin and a solution of alum. 

 It then exhibits a regular ellipsoidal form, with a small nucleolus in 

 the centre, and surrounded by a denser layer of protoplasm. The 

 nucleus can be detected even in the ripe spores, but not in those in 

 which spores are being formed, or in those which are actively budding, 

 possibly because it is in the act of dividing. 



Saccharomyces capillitii.t — MM. C. A. J. A. Oudemans and 

 C. A. Pekelharig propose to unite under this name the S. sphsericus 

 and ;S^, ovalis of Bizzozero, found in the scurf of the human head ; 

 or, since the torulose budding appears to be suppressed, they suggest 

 that it may become the type of a new genus of Saccharomycetes, which 

 they propose to call CercospJisera. It does not produce alcoholic fer- 



* Verhandl. Krak. Akad. Wiss., xiii. (1885) (1 pi.). See Bot. Centralbl., xxv. 

 (1886) p. 1. 



t Nederl. Tijdschr. Geneeskunde, xxi. (1885). See Bot. Centralbl., xxv. 

 (1886) p. 198. 



