ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
157 
effective substance may be chemically isolated; and this view is sup- 
ported by tbe fact that a cold alcoholic extract combines with oxygen in 
a remarkable manner. 
Fossil Bacteria.* — M. B. Renault, in an exhaustive memoir dealing' 
with fossil bacteria, claims to have proved that Bacteriaceae are coeval 
with the first living organisms. The coccoid form appears to have been 
more frequent than the bacillar, and the cocci to be divisible into small 
and large. The action of both kinds of cocci is essentially destructive ; 
for in most cases disorganisation of structure is associated with their 
presence. According to this, it would seem to follow that coal contain- 
ing skeletons of organised structures is not the result of a complete 
microbic fermentation, while amorphous coal may be so. As certain 
bacilli, B. Tieghemi, B. vorax, B, gramma , and others are found only 
where there is evidence of considerable decomposition, the inference is 
that they appear after microbic fermentation has been set up by cocci. The 
cocci and bacilli found in fossil bone, teeth, scales, and coprolites have 
much the same size and appearance as those described by Yignal, Miller, 
and others in caries of bone and teeth. Certain bacilli, such as B. ozodeus , 
and B. gramma , are constantly found inside the sporanges of ferns, 
attacking first the spores and later the spore-cases. The destructive 
action of bacilli seems also to be great, and the reason why so much 
has been preserved is apparently the presence of ulmic acid in con- 
siderable quantity. In regard to coal formation, the presence of a 
coccus of a very dark colour, measuring 0 * 4 fi, is mentioned, but it is 
not affirmed that there are specific coal-forming bacteria. Before cell- 
destruction is complete, the bacteria often assume the zoogloea form ; 
and under these conditions spheroliths are formed. In the space at our 
disposal it would be difficult to impart an adequate notion of the author’s 
researches in the little known field of fossil bacteriology, but it is 
obvious that there is a future before it. The numerous illustrations are 
extremely effective. 
Bacterial Disease of Solanacese.f — Mr. E. F. Smith finds several 
species of Solanacese — the potato, tomato, and egg-plant, Solarium melon - 
gena , attacked by a disease which he calls “ brown-rot,” due to an unde- 
scribed parasite, Bacillus Solanacearum , resembling B. tracheiphilus and 
that known as “ Kramer’s bacillus,” but differing in several characters. 
Bacteriosis of the Hemp.J — Dr. Y. Peglion describes a disease 
which attacks the stem of the hemp, and which, though always accom- 
panied by a number of mould-fungi, he believes to be primarily due to 
the attacts of a Schizomycete. This organism, which is of the nature of 
a bacillus imbedded in mucilage, closely resembles B. cubonianus, a 
parasite of the mulberry, and may possibly be identical with it. 
Influence of the Cerium and Zirconium Groups on the Growth 
of Bacteria.§ — Dr. G. P. Drossbach states that the salts of cerium, 
didymium, lanthanum, yttrium, erbium, thorium, and zirconium have 
* Ann. Sci. Nat. (Bot.), ii. (189G) pp. 275-349 (46 figs.). Cf. this Journal, 1S96, 
p. 555. 
f U.S. Department Agriculture, Div. Yeg. Phys., Bull. No. 12, 1896, 26 pp. and 
2 pis. % Malpighia, x. (f896) pp. 556-60. 
§ Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., l te Abt., xxi. (1897) pp. 57-8. 
