162 



&CIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 395. 



something of a collector withoiit being an 

 ophiologist of experience. The high probabil- 

 ity that some of his snakes had become mixed 

 has prevented a public record of this alleged 

 locality, in the absence of further evidence. 



The collector of living specimens needs 

 especially to guard against being misled by 

 errors of this class, for the reason that living 

 animals are not usually labeled when collected, 

 beyond the possibility of confusion. 



A few such cases taken at random from 

 memory in the experience of the Zoological 

 Society are the receipt of a South American 

 heron, said to have been captured near Port- 

 land, Oregon; a tayra from west Africa; a 

 bald eagle from Brazil; a southern fox squir- 

 rel from Java; a North African species 

 of hedgehog from Manila; and a coyote cap- 

 tured in Porto Rico by soldiers of a volunteer 

 regiment which served in that campaign. 



Ahthue Erwin Brown. 



Zoological Gakdens, Philadelphia. 



SHORTER ARTICLES. 



PRELIMINARY NOTE ON A NEW ORGANISM PRODUC- 

 ING ROT IN CAULIFLOWER AND ALLIED 

 PLANTS. 



During August and September of 1901 

 my attention was drawn to a disease of 

 cauliflowers in the vicinity of Guelph, On- 

 tario. The plants, which were well grown and 

 cared for, showed symptoms of rot, the in- 

 terior of the stem, and often all the flowering 

 or edible part being changed into a dark-color- 

 ed soft mass. Examination of this rotted ma- 

 terial revealed the presence of enormous num- 

 bers of bacteria. Subsequently, the causal or- 

 ganism was isolated in pure culture, and its 

 jsathogenicity and relation to the rot were es- 

 tablished by inoculation of healthy cauliflower 

 plants, the production of rot in these plants, 

 and the reisolation of the germ, and its culti- 

 vation on various media. 



The organism is a medium-sized motile ba- 

 cillus, with peritrichous flagellse, five to nine 

 in number, stains slowly with methylene blue 

 (Loefiler), better with carbol-fuchsin. Grows 

 best under aerobic conditions, but is able to 

 grow slightly in atmosphere of hydrogen. 

 Liquefies gelatin ; grows on surface agar as a 



moist, whitish, slightly opalescent growth, 

 which becomes more massive with age; cur- 

 dles milk slowly, producing slight digestion, 

 with acid reaction (litmus). Produces heavy 

 cloudiness in bouillon. Changes the red color 

 of rosolie acid peptone bouillon to a light 

 brown. On slices of raw potato, produces a deep 

 creamy growth; the potato is completely soft- 

 ened, with the production of a considerable 

 amount of ammonia. Grows well on raw 

 slices of the following vegetables, producing 

 softening or rotting: cauliflower, cabbage, 

 turnip, rape, radish, horseradish, kale, cele- 

 ry, artichoke, asparagus, carrot, onion, to- 

 mato and parsnip. It does not grow on raw 

 beet, and on sugar beet but very sparingly. 



The growth on some of the above vegetables, 

 notably cabbage, horseradish and onion, is 

 frequently accompanied with the production 

 of gas bubbles, and disagi-eeable, offensive 

 odors. 



The organism grows best at 25-30° C, but 

 grows well at both 20° and 37° C. 



The action of the bacillus on the plant is 

 similar to the Pseudomonas described by Pot- 

 ter. It dissolves the middle lamella; the en- 

 zyme produced by the bacillus may be isolat- 

 ed from the rotted cauliflower or from bouil- 

 lon. 



The name proposed for the organism is 

 Bacillus olereacece. 



F. C. Harrison. 



July 1, 1902. 



RECENT MUSEUM REPORTS. 

 The annual reports of three of our great 

 museums have appeared within the last few 

 months and may well be considered together. 

 These, in their order of appearance, are the 

 Field Columbian Museum at Chicago, the 

 American Museum of Natural History of 

 New York City, and the United States Na- 

 tional Museum at Washington. This last is so 

 far behind the others in date, being for the 

 fiscal year ending June 30, 1900, that it is a 

 little difiicult to make exact comparison with 

 them. Each of these institutions expresses a 

 need for more money for current expenses and 

 the National Museum makes its regular an- 

 nual plea for more room. How necessary more 



