90 Synopsis of the Bacteria and Yeast Fungi. 



109. B. virens, Van Tieghem {Bull. Soc. Bot. France, 

 1880, p. 175). 

 ? Leptothrix tenuissima, Rabenhorst. 

 ? L. subtilissima, Rabenhorst. 

 ? Sporonema gracile, Perty. (Fig. 78.) 

 Filaments slender, of a greenish-yellow colour, usually 



immotile, but sometimes 

 '^ ^ moving ; cells long, re- 



sembling those of B. an- 

 thracis, forming a very 



Fig. ji.-^Sporonetm gracile (after Perty). refringent, OVal, COloUrleSS 



spore, slightly thicker than the threads. Spores in ger- 

 minating put forth a slender filament, soon septate, at first 

 colourless, but becoming green like the original threads in 

 the light. 



In stagnant water among Spirogyra. 



Perty observed the spores of this species, if it is identical with his 

 Sporonema. It seems a doubtful Schizomycete. 



no. B. beribericus, De Lacerda. 



This has been discovered in the blood of patients suffer- 

 ing from the disease known in the tropics as beri-beri. It 

 consists of cylindrical, articulated, branched (?) filaments, 

 containing sometimes brilliant refringent points, which are 

 believed to be spores. - The filaments cultivated after 

 Pasteur's method, with due precautions, and injected into 

 rabbits, caused all the symptoms of beri-beri. M. de 

 Lacerda believes that the parasite is originally derived from 

 rice which has undergone a peculiar alteration (Lancet, 

 February 9, 1884, p. 268). 



Bacillus of Cholera. 

 The Commission sent out by the German Government, 

 under Dr. Koch, has observed in the bodies of cholera 



