456 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VoL XXXII. 
similar and still more recent manual by the same author, and called 
the Pruning Book. It is also one of Professor Bailey’s “ Garden-craft 
series,” and, like its companion volumes, is full of well-told and 
practical information upon its subject, which, of course, primarily 
interests those engaged in the care of ornamental trees, shrubbery, 
orchards, or vineyards. KER 
Sulphur Bacteria. — Prof. Manabu Miyoshi gives an interesting 
preliminary account? of some of the organisms found in the hot 
sulphur springs of Japan. The first part of the paper consists mostly 
of field observations on a long scythe-shaped, peritrichiate, colorless, 
gelatinous bacterium which grows in masses in the hot springs of 
Yumoto and is covered with sulphur. The second part consists of an 
account of species of cophromatium and various other one-flagellate 
purple or rose-colored water organisms which frequently occur in 
patches in pools and swamps in the vicinity of the sulphur springs. 
The scythe-shaped peritrichiate form is mostly 20 X 1.4 m in size, 
but other much smaller curved rods occur. In places, also, species 
of Beggiatoa and Thiothrix may be found. The gelatinous masses 
grow only near the surface of the water in rapid-flowing hot streams 
charged with sulphide of hydrogen. They do not occur in quiet 
water, or in the depths, or in water cooler than 51° C. They are able 
to grow in very hot water, having been found in rapid streams, the 
temperature of which was 68° to 69.8° C. (154.4° to 157.6° F.). 
They have only been found in water containing sulphide of hydro- 
gen, and this gas is believed to be necessary to their growth. Free 
access of oxygen is necessary to bring about the deposit of the 
sulphur crystals. The organisms will grow in closed conduits, but 
no macroscopically visible sulphur is deposited on them. When 
such masses were removed and put into open running water there 
was an immediate deposit of sulphur, and in an hour they became 
indistinguishable from the surrounding flocks. The sulphur deposit, 
which is very copious, and always, or at least usually, on the out- 
side of the rods, covers even the thinnest threads, and appears to be 
in some way connected with specific properties of the gelatinous 
covering of the organisms. No deposits of sulphur at all comparable 
could be obtained by putting into the water fine linen threads 
covered with starch jelly, half coagulated albumen, concentrated gela- 
1M. Miyoshi, Studien iiber Schwefelrasenbildung und die Schwefelbacterien 
der Thermen von Yumoto bei Nikko, Journ. College Sci., Imp. Univ., Tokyo, 
vol. x, Pt. ii, pp. 143-173, 1897. 
