ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 651 



epidermis. These are best and most numerously seen in tlie lowest layers 

 of the stratum Malj)ighii ; thence they can be traced through the whole 

 of the epidermis as far as the uppermost layers. 



Parasitic Protozoa in Hooping Cough.* — Some time since Dr. C. 

 Deichler asserted that parasitic Protozoa were to be found in the 

 matter coughed up in hooping-cough, and that they had some {etiological 

 connection with tbe aflection. As tliis conclusion was not accepted, he 

 lias made some further observations. There appears to be a cycle of 

 forms belonging to a ciliate animal. Those which are regarded as 

 embryos are circular in form and have a double contour ; the circle 

 varies in size, but is ordinarily as large as the larger epithelial round 

 cells found in the sputiuu. In the vacuolar space inclosed by the ring 

 tliere is a clear vesicle or a corpuscle provided witb highly refractive 

 granules of the size of a lymphoid cell. This vesicular or granular 

 body carries a circlet of fine, clear cilia wliich move actively. The 

 ciliated and actively moving embryos come to rest after a time and 

 undergo further development. In the more developed bodies the 

 contents break up into a granular protoplasm, and the nucleus has a 

 d(nible contour. The embryo gives rise to a distinctly characterized 

 unicellular organism. The amoeboid cells of this stage vary b;)th in 

 form and size, and are provided with hairs. The author has also 

 observed ency station ; the encysted forms often break up into a number 

 of more or less large, rounded or oval fragments, and this breaking-up 

 appears to be due to cold or to the drying up of the mucus. From these 

 fragments cells are again produced, which vary in size with the fragment 

 from which they take their origin. 



Of similar parasites observed in Man the author remembers only 

 Balantidium coli, which, though more highly organized, exhibits many 

 analogies with the parasite here described. 



Micro-Organisms in Paunch of Euminants.f — M. A. Certes calls 

 attention to the presence of glycogen in the Infusoria found in the 

 paunch of Ruminants, and especially of Roedeer. In Entodinium there 

 is a certain localization of this material, while iu Isotriclia it a2)i5ears to 

 be uniformly distributed through the organism. In the iloebuck there 

 was found a single species of Ophnjoscolex which is very small and has 

 no caudal appendage ; the species is very abundant, and has associated 

 with it a cruciform Flagellate, some of the examples of which have two 

 flagella instead of one; the author proposes to call this form Ancyromonas 

 ruminantium. Microbes characterized by their physiological i>roperties 

 rather than by their form are found in abundance in the paunch of 

 Ruminants, and it is very probable that they play an important part in 

 digestion. 



Intimate Structure of the Plasmodium Malarise.^ — Prof. Celli and 

 Dr. Guarnieri have by the methylen-blue method made observations on 

 the intimate structure of the plasmodium, both in the amoeboid and cres- 

 cent-shaped conditions. 



They find that in all plasmodial forms two substances can be distin- 

 guished : the first peripheral, a kind of ectoplasm, is more refractive and 



* Zeitschr. f. Wiss. Zool., xlviii. (1889) pp. 303-9 (1 pi.), 

 t Journ. de Micrograpliie, xiii. (1889) pp. 277-9. 



I Kiforma Medica, 1888, Nos. 208 and 236. See Oentralbl. f. Bal<twiol., v. 

 (1889) pp. 91-3. 



2 'A 'J. 



