Literature and Notes. 185 



The species of Sarcina which I am able to distinguish are characterised 

 as follows : 



a. Sarcina ventriculi, Goodsir (see Fig. 14 of this book). Large cube- 

 shaped packets, with very many members, that is, consisting usually of 

 64-4096 cells, the single packet brownish-gray in transmitted light under 

 the microscope, of a dirty greyish-white colour when seen in mass by the 

 naked eye in reflected light. Single cells, 3-4 ^ in size, stained a dirty 

 violet by Schulze's solution. 



In large quantities of material from the human stomach I generally find 

 two distinct forms side by side, a large-celled one which is represented in 

 Fig. 14, and another in which the cells are smaller (2 //) and less clearly 

 translucent. I can give no information respecting the genetic relations of 

 the two forms. 



b. Sarcina Welckeri, Rossmann (Welcker in Henle's u. Pfeffer's Zeitschr. 

 f. rat. Med. V, 199). Small cube-shaped packets, containing at most 64 

 cells, quite colourless. Single cells about i /* in size, membranes not 

 coloured by Schulze's solution, protoplasm coloured yellow by the same 

 solution. It occurs in the urinary bladder of the living human subject ; 

 repeatedly found in patients. I know the species as coming from a 

 young man, who, according to his own observation, voided them with the 

 urine for more than twelve months, in varying, often in very large, quanti- 

 ties. The urine is usually abnormally rich in phosphates ; the patient is in 

 other respects in good health. The Sarcina did not grow with me on 

 gelatine and agar ; once doubtfully and not in any abundance in sterilised 

 urine at a temperature of 35°C. Most of the attempts to cultivate it in urine 

 gave negative results. 



c. Sarcina flava. Small packets, containing from 16 to 32 cells, con- 

 nected together in the majority of cases either into large regular cubes or 

 into irregular heaps ; the single packet colourless in transmitted light under . 

 the microscope, of a beautifully bright yellow colour when seen in mass in re- 

 flected light. Single cells 1-2 /i in size. Reaction with iodine as in Sarcina 

 Welckeri. Grows well on gelatine, which it quickly liquefies, on agar and 

 on other substances. Appears to be comparatively abundant ; is cultivated 

 in laboratories, and described without statement as to the source from which 

 it is obtained. See Crookshank, Introd. to practical Bacteriology, London, 

 1886. My material comes from the Pathological Institute at Greifswald, 

 where the yellow Sarcina made its appearance spontaneously as an isolated 

 colony in a gelatine culture of vomited matter, in which Sarcina ventriculi 

 had not been found. It is at all events distinguished from S. lutea of 

 Schroter by its power of liquefying gelatine. 



d. Sarcina minuta, provisionally a new species (see Fig. 15 of this 

 book^. Small cube-shaped packets, formed of 8-16 cells, connected 

 together in the majority of cases in irregular heaps, less frequently in 

 larger cubes ; quite colourless. Single cells about i /j in size. Reactions 

 with iodine as in Sarcina. Welckeri. Made its appearance once spon- 



