ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 631 



Green colour of decaying wood.* — Herr H. Zukal has carefully 

 examined the green colouring matter of Peziza Jungermannise and P. 

 seruginosa, both of which are frequently found on decaying wood. He 

 finds the pigment of the two sjiecies to behave the same with various 

 reagents, and that it can jiass out of the mycelium into the adjacent wood. 

 This is probably the cause of the green colour often seen in i-otten wood. 



Protopliyta. 



Chemical constituents of Bacteria.f — Herr L. Vincenzi gives details 

 of experiments I'elating to Bacillus stihtilis. A pure culture was obtained 

 by Koberts's method. The fluid containing them was filtered through 

 asbestos, the bacteria remaining on the filter were washed with water 

 and 0*5 per cent, sodium hydroxide solution, digested with artificial 

 gastric juice for twenty-four hours, washed free from peptones ; finally, 

 they were washed with alcohol and ether and dried. In the cell-wall, 

 which was all that remained after this treatment, no cellulose was found ; 

 but it was nitrogenous, yielding from 5" 3 to 11 "15 per cent, of nitrogen in 

 difierent specimens, the amount seeming to depend on the different stages 

 of growth of the bacteria. No opinion is expressed as to the nature of this 

 nitrogenous substance. 



New Species of Spirillum.^ — Prof. N. Sorokin found in the hollow 

 stem of an old and rotting poplar a whitish foul-smelling fluid. The white 

 colour was found to be due to crowds of a very motile Spirillum. No other 

 microbes were present, so that there was quite a pure cultivation. The 

 contents of the Spirillum were transparent, granules in the protoplasm not 

 being observed. Multiplication took place by simple division. Occasionally 

 the micro-oriiauisms were collected into not very large zoogloeas. 



Among the forms which rapidly flitted across the field of vision, there 

 were some which were either quite immobile, or at most turned from one 

 side to the other. In these, spores could be perceived. Their diameter 

 was less than that of the parent cell, and their number greater according 

 as the organism was longer. The reproduction-organs germinated in the 

 parent cell. The germs developed into rodlets, which in fifteen to twenty 

 minutes began to twist and separate. The young Spirillum had usually two 

 turns, the adult not more than three. The curvature might be more or less 

 marked. As the young Spirilla did not always separate from the parent 

 cell, large specimens were frequently seen still attached to the parent 

 Spirillum, so that a branched form was produced. It is noteworthy that 

 the spores, so long as they remain within the parent cell, possess no cell- 

 wall, and present only a small collection of minute granules. From 

 this characteristic development, the author has called this organism 

 Spirillum endoparagogicum. 



New Micro-organisms obtained from Air.§— Messrs. G. C. and P. F. 

 Frankland have cultivated a number of organisms fi'om the atmosphere, 

 and have studied their distinctive characters ; a list is given, among which 

 are five Micrococci, ten Bacilli, and two Saccharomyces. 



Distribution of Micro-organisms in the Air.|] — Since the last report 

 on the subject by Dr. P. F. Frankland,l[ he and Mr. T. G. Hart have made 



* Oesterr. Bot. Zeitschr., xxxvii. (1887) pp. 41-6. 



t Zeit. Physiol. Chem., ii. pp. 181-3. See Journ. Chem. Soe. Loud., Abstr. 1887, 

 p. 393. 



X Centralbl. f. Bucteriol. u. Parasitonk., i. (1887) pp. 465-6 (1 fig.). 



i} Proc. Roy. Soc. Loud., xlii. (1887) pp. 150-1. 



li Ibid., pp. 2G8-82. ^ See this Jom-nal, ante, p. 453. 



