284 SUMMARY OF CUBRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



this disease, whether it is due to a microscopic fungus or not, 

 M. Poincare calls attention to the appearances observed in the lungs 

 of some cows which died of this disease. He found the bronchial 

 and pulmonary cavities loaded with a mixture composed of epithelial 

 cells and nuclei, of particles of hay, straw, and starch-grains. The 

 lung tissue itself contained a fungoid mycelium which penetrated in all 

 directions, and might be observed to grow, especially in fresh pulmonary 

 tissue. The fibres are flattened, branched, without septa, and contain 

 irregularly scattered vacuoles ; they vary in diameter from 0*0084 to 

 • 0035 mm. The fructification, which may be studied by keeping the 

 fresh tissue for two or three days under a watch-glass at blood-heat, 

 then giving out a strong odour of mildew, forms immense numbers 

 of spores resembling animal cells in appearance. Whether this 

 fungus is or is not to be considered as the cause of the disease can 

 only be determined by experimental inoculation and examination of 

 other diseased subjects. 



Influence of Antiseptics on Mucor.* — M. B. Wenkiewicz culti- 

 vated Mucor in a nutrient fluid (Bucholtz's modification of Pasteur's) 

 consisting of 10 grammes candy-sugar, 1 gr. ammonium tartrate, and 

 ■^ gr. potassium phosphate, in 100 c.c. water ; and then experimented 

 on the retarding eifects on the resulting Miicor-grovfth of various 

 antiseptics in the following manner. The freshly prepared and 

 clearly filtered fluid was poured, while still hot, into flasks of 20 c.c. 

 capacity. Measured quantities of the antiseptic of known concentra- 

 tion were then added by means of a pipette in which hundredths of 

 a cubic centimetre could be easily read oft'. The fluid was then freely 

 shaken up, and about three drops of the Mucor-cultnre added, and the 

 flask closed by a carbolized wad. The flasks were then laid aside for 

 twenty-one days at a temperature of 20°-30° C. A list is given of the 

 relative quantities of the various substances required to neutralize 

 the i>fMcor-growth, the most powerful being corrosive sublimate, 

 iodine, and chlorine. 



Two New Mucorini.f — M. Bainier describes and figures two new 

 species of Mucorini. Bhizopus reflexus was observed on leaves of 

 Arum maculatum, but can be readily cultivated on boiled bread. It 

 is characterized by the recurved sporangiferous filaments. The stem is 

 from 2 to 2 • 5 mm. in height, while the spores measure from • 0084 

 to 0"0105 mm. Helicostylum piriforme, like the rest of the genus, 

 possesses sporangia of two kinds ; the spores contained in them being, 

 however, of the same size, about 0'021 mm. The smaller sporangia 

 are pear-shaped. 



New Coloured Bacterium.:]: — C. Bergonzini records the discovery 

 of a new coloured bacterium on a solution of white of egg which had 

 been evaporated to less than half its volume, and had lost its white 



* Wenkiewicz, B., ' Das Verhalten des Schimmelgeuus Mucor zu Antisepticis 

 u. einigen verwandten Stoffen,' Dorpat, 1880. 



t Bull. Soc. Bot. France, xxvii. (1880) pp. 226-8 (1 pi.). 



X Ann. Soc. Nat. Modena, xiv. (1880) pp. 149-58. See Bot. Centralbl., i. 

 (1880) p. 1528. 



