ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 425 



brownisli after the absorption of the wall of the sporangium, wall 

 swollen at the summit ; sporangiophore separated from the column by 

 a flat broad apophysis. Spores colourless, mostly globular, smooth, 

 very minute, 5-6 fx in diameter. Several characters, besides its 

 pathogenous properties, distinguish this species from M. stolonifer. 



Mucor corymhifer. — Mycelium snow-white, afterwards light grey ; 

 filaments often very stout, 15 fjL in diameter, unseptated, dichotomously 

 branched; membrane and protoplasm colourless. Sporangiophores 

 not erect, branched in an umbellate manner, bearing at the apex one 

 or more (up to twelve) sporangia with longer or shorter stalks ; other 

 smaller sporangia being arranged in a raceme below the terminal 

 umbel. Sporangia colourless even when ripe, pear-shaped, rounded 

 at the end, passing gradually into the sporangiophore, varying greatly 

 in size, the largest 70 fjb, the next in the umbel 45-60 fx, and the 

 smallest detached sporangia 10-20 /x in diameter ; membrane colour- 

 less, transparent, quite smooth ; the colourless mass of spores seen 

 through the wall of the ripe sporangium ; the column appears only 

 after the absorption of the wall of the sporangium and dispersion of 

 the spores. Spores colourless, minute, elliptical, 3 fi long by 2 /a 

 broad. This species is also distinguished by several very striking 

 characters independent of its pathogenous properties. 



If the spores of these two species of Mucor are sown in any 

 quantity in the blood of rabbits, a severe disease is caused, which is 

 always fatal. The two species act in very nearly the same way, but 

 the Mucor mycosis diflfers considerably from that of Aspergillus. The 

 localization is also different ; the Mucor entered chiefly the kidneys 

 and the lymphatic apparatus of the intestinal canal, seldom the 

 medulla of the bones, and only very rarely the liver ; never the trans- 

 verse muscles. In the brain neither Mucor nor Aspergillus was 

 found. 



Micrococci of Pneumonia.* — 0. Friedlander has examined the 

 micrococci contained in the alveolar exudation, and in the fluid of 

 the lymph passages of the lungs, in cases of acute genuine pneumonia. 

 Their presence was subsequently determined in the pneumonial fluid 

 taken from the living patient. They were found in the greatest 

 numbers in the pleuritic and pericardial exudations, the turbidity of 

 these fluids often arising from enormous quantities of the micrococci. 

 All or the greater number of these micrococci are surrounded by a 

 more or less broad layer resembling an envelope or capsule, coloured 

 light blue or red by gentian-violet or fuchsin respectively, and 

 usually sharply defined externally. Sometimes each micrococcus is 

 surrounded by an envelope of this kind of the same shape ; sometimes 

 two or three are inclosed in the same envelope ; but the micrococci 

 of pneumonia are never collected into zoogloea colonies. These 

 envelopes are soluble in water and dilute alkalies, but insoluble in 

 acids, and may therefore consist essentially of mucin or some similar • 

 substance. 



* Fortschr. d. Medicin, i. (1883) pp. 715-33 (1 p].). See Bot. Centralbl, xvii. 

 (1884) p. 50. 



