314 The American Naturalist. [April, 
giving in tabular form, so that it may be seen at a glance, some of the 
principal peculiarities of these 60 organisms, i. e., size, flagella, whether 
staining by Gram’s method, aerobic or anaerobic, liquefaction of gela- 
tin, growth in bouillon, growth in milk, spore formation, pigment on 
agar, formation of H,S, indol reaction, amount of acid produced from 
grape sugar, gas production, growth in CO, and finally amount of 
growth in various media titrated as follows: (1) Neutral to phenolph- 
thalein; (2) No. 1+10 ce. per litre of 2 Na OH; (3) No. 1+10 ce. 
per litre of N H, SO,; (4) No. 1+20 cc. per litre of F H, $0, 
1 
Authors have used phenolphthalein for titrating media regularly since 
1894 and recommend it for general use. “ Jedenfalls kann der mittelst 
Phenolphthalein neutral hergestellte Nährboden unbedingt als Uni- 
versalnährboden empfohlen werden.” All the bacteria figured in the 
Atlas were grown on media slightly alkaline to phenolphthalein, and 
most of the 60 sorts bore the extra 10 ce. of alkali and the 10 and 20 
cc. of acid. This seems rather surprising to the writer and certainly 
cannot be assumed to hold good for all species. My experience would 
lead me to select for a universal medium a grade of alkalinity consid- 
erably less than the zero or neutral point of phenolphthalein, i. e., one 
nearer the zero of the best neutral litmus paper, as I am satisfied that 
some species will not grow on media as alkaline as here recommended. 
In conclusion this book may also be commended to the physician and 
general reader who wishes to know something about bacteria without 
becoming swamped in details. Its remarkably low price (15 marks) 
puts it within the reach of everybody.—Erwin F. SMITE. 
Science Sketches.’—This small book of twelve reprints needs little 
comment, Those who read the sketches in Popular Science Monthly and 
elsewhere will doubtless desire to have them collected into one volume. 
It may be noted that the papers “ Agassiz at Penekese,” “The Fate 
of Iciodorum,” “ The Story of a Strange Land ” and “ How the Trout 
came to California” have taken the place of certain others in the first 
edition. —F. C. K 
Recent Papers Relating to Vertebrate Paleontology.’— 
The first paper below cited is a review by Dr. Baur, of Chicago, of a 
? David Star Jordan, 2d Ed. A. ©. McClurg & Co., Chicago, $1.50. 
3 Bemerkungen über die nb ae der Schildkriten, von G. Baur, Anatom. 
Anzeiger, XII, 24-25, 1896, p Jena. 
On the Morphology of he fee of the Pelycosauria and the Origin of the 
Mammals, by G. Baur and E. C. Case; Anatomischer Anzeiger, XIII, u. 4 &5, 
1897, p. 109. Jena. 
