of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



341 



liquefaction in the surrounding jelly, the liquid portions having an orange- 

 yellow colour. 



Test Tube Cultivation. — A delicate opalescent film surrounds the point of 

 inoculation of gelatine the first day, along with slight haziness of upper 

 part of needle-track. Liquefaction of gelatine very rapidly takes place, so 

 that on the third day about a quarter of an inch of the surface is liquid. 

 Floating on the liquid jelly a very delicate yellowish film is seen. The 

 liquid portion is opalescent, and a very copious orange sediment falls to 

 the bottom. 



Bread Paste Cultivation. — Growth is also rapid on bread paste. It 

 spreads as an orange-yellow moist-looking film, which at first follows the 

 depressions on the surface of the bread paste, subsequently covering 

 the small elevations. The colour becomes much darker after a time, and 

 assumes a dark -brownish or brownish-yellow in the centre, where at first 

 it is deeper than at the circumference. 



Microscopically. — Very slender delicate bacilli from 1*6 \l to 2*4 jx, or 

 even 4'5/x in length, and. from "25 /x to *3 ft in breath. They occur singly, 

 or in clusters. Many of them are straight, others are slightly curved. 

 Several show a clear, bright, unstained portion, which is not round or 

 ovoid, but which extends for some distance longitudinally within the 

 sheath of the organism. This unstained portion is commonly situated 

 near the centre of the bacillus, and frequently a curve in the organism is 

 seen at the clear portion. It is probably due to commencing segmentation 

 without constriction. No spores were seen. 



We have been unable to find any description corresponding to this 

 organism. So far as we can judge, it appears to be of tolerably frequent 

 occurrence. 



6. Fluorescing Bacillus. — Mill-stream. Melrose. 



Plate Cultivation. — The individual colonies have a greyish rounded 

 appearance on the third day, and under a low power the usual globular 

 form with granular-looking contents is seen. There is no liquefaction of 

 the gelatine. 



Test-Tube Cultivation. — A greyish growth forms on the surface of the 

 gelatine around the point of inoculation. This slowly advances over the 

 surface, its margin being slightly elevated above the surface, whilst the 

 centre is somewhat umbilicated. It has a glazed appearance when looked 

 at from above. Along the needle-track extension is by means of fine 

 serrated points, which penetrate into the surrounding jelly. The surface 

 growth gradually increases in size until it reaches the side of the test-tube. 

 It then obtains its nutriment from the subjacent jelly, which it causes 

 ultimately, almost entirely to disappear, leaving merely a very thin 

 coating of gelatine on the interior of the test-tube, and a layer of gelatine 

 and bacilli at the bottom. 



The peculiar feature of this organism consists in its power of communi- 

 cating to the gelatine in which it grows a characteristic series of colour 

 changes, when viewed by transmitted and oblique light. After a time — 

 varying, according to the temperature, from about six to ten days — the 

 upper part of the gelatine in the tube assumes a faint greenish-yellow 

 tinge, as seen by transmitted light, changing to a delicate blue on oblique 

 illumination. The intensity of these colour-changes deepens with the 

 development of the growth up to a certain point, when gradually it gets 

 fainter, and the colour changes disappear. 



There is no liquefaction of the gelatine. 



Bread Paste Cultivation. — At first a very faint whitish film is, with 



