450 Transactions of the Society. 



globules. The organisms differed from any I have ever noticed 

 before or seen figured in any papers treating on Bacteria. Slides 

 were prepared, some without staining the objects, others by staining 

 with aniline blue, and much later on were photographed, using a 

 g-inch objective and artificial lamp -light. The exposure upon the 

 (commercially so called) " instantaneous " gelatino-bromide plates 

 varied from four to five minutes. The negatives, from deficiency 

 in actinic power of the light employed, were too thin to furnish fair 

 paper prints ; hence they were copied upon wet collodion into 

 positives, and these by the same procedure into denser negatives 

 with some enlargement compared with the originals. 



The micro-organisms in the pellicle, as seen under the Micro- 

 scope, appeared as minute rods or joints very irregularly shaped, 

 and most of them larger at one end than the other, being either 

 club-shaped or like the handle of a pistol, possibly due to the 

 formation of a spore at that end, though this is doubted by some, 

 for many had lying upon or near to the thick end a round or oval 

 body, as if it had escaped from the adjacent rod. Some of the little 

 bodies tapered gradually from the thick end. Where the placing 

 of the pellicle on the thin cover-glass had not much disturbed its 

 condition, the organisms were seen to lie very generally side by 

 side, though not evenly, and in more or less slightly curved lines, 

 as if the growth had been in a longitudinal direction upon a 

 gentle curve, yet not giving rise to the sharper curve seen in many 

 of the rods forming the mass. Amongst the numerous figures 

 given in the 'Annuaire de l'Observatoire de Montsouris,' for the 

 last three years, by M. Miquel, of the various micro-organisms 

 he has found in the air by daily systematic observation, I have not 

 noticed one similar to the one described. Besides these organisms 

 there were a few small bodies in the pellicle, looking like ordinary 

 bacteria and micrococci ; but the general mass in the scum con- 

 sisted of the large forms. Their size varied considerably, the large 

 ranging from the -^- to j^Vo °f an i ncn > an< ^ ^he small of the same 

 kind, to little more than half this length. Whether these bodies 

 should be placed in the Schizophytes as Bacteria or Bacilli, I was 

 doubtful, as more experienced observers than myself differed in 

 opinion. No movement was seen in those freed from the broken 

 edge of the pellicle. The difference in shape from the ordinary 

 Bacilli rods might have been due to hindrance in their development 

 from the previous severe cold, though if confirmed in future 

 observations, it may be of a specific character. 



The block of ice removed to the pan, furnished on the third day 

 a pellicle which was much thinner, but contained exactly similar 

 rods. There was considerably less contamination. The same was 

 examined at different periods, and after remaining undisturbed for 

 more than thirteen months snowed the rods to differ but little from 



