720 The American Naturalist. [September, 
tioned by Reichl and Wiesner. Boiled with sulfuric acid it 
was converted into dextrose. A watery solution gave a bluish 
flocculent precipitate with Fehling’s solution, and on boiling 
the latter was reduced. On the addition to a watery solution 
of ferric chlorid and calcium carbonate the well-known pre- 
cipitate of gum solutions resulted. No red coloration appeared 
on treatment with iodin. The formation of oxalic acid could 
not be detected on long boiling with nitric acid. All these re- 
actions indicated a gum. In the beet this could be derived 
only from carbohydrates, and most likely from dextrose. 
Working on this hypothesis, a fluid culture medium was pre- 
pared containing 3-4 per cent. of dextrose, a slight quantity of 
peptone, and the necessary mineral ingredients. In this solu- 
tion pure cultures of the organism were grown 8 to 14 days 
at a temperature of 24° C., and from the resulting products of 
growth a gum-like substance was obtained which proved to be 
identical with that secured directly from the diseased beets. 
These cultures were protected from contamination by cotton 
plugs, and at the close of the experiment cultures therefrom 
showed them to have remained pure, consequently this bacillus 
must have converted the dextrose into gum. 
2. Morphology. 
(1) Shape, size, ete—The organism as isolated and grown in 
pure cultures is a thick rod with rounded ends, or often nar- 
rowed at the ends (zugespitzt), of variable length, so that not 
rarely coccus or ellipsoidal forms appear. These rods are 
about 1.30-2.00 x 0.7-1.0 ». In cultures they occur singly or 
in pairs, which latter are more or less biscuit-shaped. Chains 
- aTe rarer. 
(2) Capsule—No mention of any capsule. 
(3) Flagella.——No statement as to motility, except mention of 
the trembling motion inside the cells of the beet, which can 
scarcely be taken as a proof of motility. 
(4) Spores.—“Apparently spores are formed.” This matter 
is left in considerable doubt. Rods in the stage of spore forma- 
tion are said to be 1.35 x 2.00 z. 
(5) Zooglea—No mention of zooglea. 
(6) Involution forms—No mention of any distorted forms. 
