88 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
Dr. P. Baccarini * * * § attributes the mal nero of the vine to the attacks of 
a pathogenous Schizomvcete which he finds universally in the dis- 
organized tissues of the part affected. It consists of short rods 1-1*5 p 
long and 1 p broad, rounded at the ends ; the author proposes the name 
Bacillus vitivorus sp. n. 
MM. E. Prillieux and G. Delacroix j find the vines in certain dis- 
tricts of France subject to a disease shown by gummy degeneration of the 
tissues. It is apparently caused by two microbes of a bacillar form, 
which are found in large quantities in the diseased tissues. One of these 
consists of septated filaments, which may assume the length of a Lepto- 
thrix ; the other is apparently identical with that which causes mal nero 
in Italy. 
Anaerobiosis and Suppuration.^ — Herr W. Lubinski has examined 
the effect of anaerobic cultivation on some of the ordinary pyogenic 
microbes by the method previously described. § Among the more 
important results it is stated that Bacillus pyocyaneus , which is an 
essential aerobe, will retain its vitality, in the absence of oxygen, 
for a period as long as seven months. Streptococcus pyogenes (vel 
erysipelo-pyogenes) grows well without oxygen, and no difference can 
be detected between aerobic and anaerobic cultures. Staphylococcus 
pyogenes aureus thrives just as well without as with oxygen, but 
the anaerobic cultivations are devoid of pigment, and are also distinguish- 
able by differences of growth. The formation of pigment gradually 
returns when air is restored. The gaseous atmosphere appears to have 
a certain influence on the intensity of pigment formation ; for H-cultures 
are permanently weakened, while in C0 2 -cultures the pigment may be 
increased after the air has been restored. The virulence of this microbe 
is increased by anaerobic cultivation. The chromogenic function was 
found to be lost after ten consecutive generations, and then the organism 
had all the characters of S. pyogenes albus. By cultivating Staph, 
pyogenes albus in pure oxygen it was found to lose its virulence and 
liquefying property, but did not acquire any chromogenic power. It 
thus became indistinguishable from Staph, cereus albus. These facts 
lead to the suspicion that the foregoing Staphylococci (and perhaps also 
Staph, cereus flavus) are not independent species, but are merely physio- 
logical varieties of one and the same organism. 
Disease of Wood Pigeons. || — M. E. Leclainche describes a disease 
peculiar to wood pigeons, belonging to the group of haemorrhagic 
septicaemias, which occurred at Saint-Jean-de-Luz during October and 
November 1893, the most prominent symptoms being diarrhoea and 
general enfeeblemenfc, and the principal anatomical appearances being 
haemorrhagic enteritis and enlargement of the spleen. 
From the tissues was isolated an ovoid bacterium of the same shape 
as, but of larger size, than that of fowl-cholera. It was best stained 
with alkaline methylen-blue, and was found very abundantly in the 
sjdeen, liver, and kidneys. Cultivations were easily made on peptonized 
* Bull. 8oc. Bot. Itfll., 1894, pp. 228-37. Cf. this Journal, 1893, p. 82. 
t Bull. Soc. Bot. France, xli. (1894) pp. 384-5. Cf. this Journal, 1894, p. 492. 
t Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., xvi. (1894) pp. 769-75. 
§ Cf. this Journal, 1894, p. 628. \\ Ann. Inst. Pasteur, viii. (1894) pp. 490-4. 
