ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICEOSCOPT, ETC. 785 



Colouring matter of the waters of the Lake of Bret.* — Herr J. 

 B. Schnetzler states that last autumn a red colouring matter, held in 

 suspension in the waters of the Lake of Bret, was brought for his 

 examination. Under the Microscope it appeared as irregularly lobed 

 masses of a red colour, and consisted of micrococci. These the author 

 identified as the zoogloea of Beggiatoa roseo-persicina. A second search 

 was made this spring in the Lake of Bret for the red colouring matter, 

 which, however, could not be found but, instead, a bluish-black substance. 

 When this was examined, a number of diptera were seen, the decomposi- 

 tion of which served as the points of departure of the long colourless 

 filaments of Beggiatoa. 



Saccharomyces ellipsoidens and its Use in the Preparation of Wine 

 from Barley. t — M. G. Jacquemin gives the details of some experiments 

 which were made to determine whether Saccharomyces ellijpsoideus is a 

 stable or merely an abnormal form of beer-yeast developed under special 

 conditions, and liable to revert to the original form ; but these experiments 

 are not yet complete. The action of elliptical yeast on barley-wort pro- 

 duced a liquid with an alcoholic strength of 6°, containing 60 grams of dry 

 extract and 3 grams of ash per litre. It had the following percentage com- 

 position : — Alcohol, 4 • 80 ; reducing sugar, 1 • 00 ; dextrine, 3 • 00 ; albu- 

 minoids, &c., 1*28; glycerol, 0'20; succinic acid, O'Od; acetic acid, 

 0-02; potassium hydrogen tartrate, 0*25; ash, 0*23; water, 89 'IB. 

 This liquid has an agreeable flavour, and contains a greater proportion 

 of albuminoids and phosphates than wine from grapes. It differs from 

 the latter in giving an abundant precipitate with tannin. In these 

 experiments it was found that the elliptical wine-yeast remained stable 

 for eighteen months, and it would therefore seem to be quite distinct from 

 beer-yeast. When wine obtained in this way from barley is distilled, 

 it yields brandy of good flavour, whilst the brandy from wine produced 

 by beer-yeast has a bad flavour. 



Organic nourishment of Beer-ferment. J — M. E. Laurent has tried 

 the nourishing effect of different organic bodies on beer-ferment, the 

 object being to find from what organic bodies glycogen could be formed 

 by the ferment ; as there can be no doubt, after the results obtained by 

 Errera,§ that this body plays the part of reserve carbohydrate in fungi as 

 in animals. The author then gives a long list of bodies which were to a 

 greater or less extent assimilated : — e. g.. acetates, lactates, glycerin, 

 mannite, asparagine, salicin. In many cases the presence of glycogen 

 has been determined in these bodies. 



Scheuerlen's Cancer Bacillus. II — Dr. E. Van Ermengem concludes 

 from experiments made on dogs, guinea-pigs, and rats that Scheuerlen's 

 cancer bacillus is non-pathogenic. Two ccm. of the pure cultivation were 

 injected, and after two months all the animals were quite well. The 

 author finds that the pseudo-cancerous bacillus is an organism very 

 common in the air, dust, soil, &c., and identifies it with the " bacille 

 rose " found in an impure cultivation of bacillus tuberculosis. 



* Bull. Soc. Vaud. Sci. Nat., xxiii. (1888) pp. 152-5. Cf. this Journal, 1887, 

 p. 1007. t Comptes Kendus, cvi. (1888) pp. 613-4. 



X CR. Soc. R. Bot. Belg., 1888, pp. 131-40. 

 § See this Journal, ante, p. 96. 

 II Bull. Soc. Belg. Micr., xiv. (1888) pp. 92-5. 



