ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
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Coccidia. Danilewsky has demonstrated their presence in lizards and 
birds. Of the pathogenic influence of these parasites little is known 
beyond that the spleen of the affected animals becomes enlarged. 
The blood parasites bear much resemblance to the plasmodia of 
malaria although the plasmodium form is absent. According to the 
author tropical fevers owe their origin to other micro-organisms than 
the malaria plasmodia found in Europe. 
Miescher’s Tubes containing Micro-, Myxo-, and Sarcosporidia.* — 
Dr. L. Pfeiffer describes some infectious diseases which he has observed 
in the muscle-fibrils of the European mud turtle, in the muscles of 
barbel, and also in the pleura and peritoneum of sheep. The cornalia- 
or pebrine-corpuscles are identical with the exciting cause of the pebrine 
of silkworms and other insects. In the turtle the Microsporidia tubes 
are confined to the muscular system, while in insects they appear in all 
parts of the body, though in each species of silkworm a definite organ 
may be attacked by preference. 
The Myxomycetes found by Muller, Telohan, Lutz, and others in 
different organs of fishes were first found by the author in 1890, in 
the muscles of diseased barbel from the Moselle-Saar-Hhine district. 
The barbel showed discoloured swellings of the skin and deep crateri- 
form ulcers on the head, trunk, and tail, in which, together with cell- 
detritus and bacilli, psorosperms were found in quantity. The primary 
seat of the latter is within the muscle-cells. The other organs were 
found free in barbels but in tench the gall-bladder, swimming-bladder, 
spleen, and arteries were diseased. Whether this form of micro- 
organism possesses a resting phase is left in doubt. 
Miescher’s tubes are found in sheep, in goats and horses, and another 
species in pigs. Blanchard has also described them in the kangaroo. 
The disease is chronic and not unfrequently the micro-organisms 
become calcified. Feeding experiments made on rabbits, pigs, sheep, 
and dogs were devoid of result. 
Cancer Parasites.! — Prof. P. Foa describes and depicts parasites 
which he has found in four out of seventy examinations of carcinoma 
of the mamma. The parasites have the appearance of coccidia and 
though not exactly alike possess certain general resemblances. They 
are spheroidal bodies, for the most part intracellular, but are also free 
between the cells, as is well shown in one of the illustrations. In 
number they seem to vary considerably, though most cells contain only 
one body. The general characters of these parasites are that they are 
spheroidal vesicular bodies with distinct investing membrane and central 
granular contents. The character of the contents varies : it may be 
gathered, in the centre, having the appearance of an ordinary nucleus, or 
striations may proceed from this central mass towards the periphery ; 
the whole of the “ body ” may be filled with small granules having 
the tendency to central aggregation. The contents in some instances 
are represented as being yellow, but whether this colour is intrinsic or 
* Virchow’s Archiv, cxxii. pp. 552-73 (1 pi.). See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. 
Parasitenk., xii. (1892) pp. 110-1. 
f Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., xii. (1892) pp. 185-91 (2 colrd. pis.). 
