ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
89 
media and on potato. Gelatin was not liquefied. Inoculation experi" 
ments (intravenous and feeding) gave positive results with wood pigeons* 
rabbits, and guinea-pigs, while fowls, cats, and dogs were refractory) 
Cultivations kept in closed tubes, protected from the influence of light 
preserved their virulence for months, but when heated to 60° for only 
five minutes the microbes perished. 
Acute Infectious! Disease of young Pheasants.* — Dr. E. Klein de- 
scribes an acute infectious disease belonging to the group of infective 
septicaemias, which attacks young pheasants. Drowsiness and its in- 
tensification are the most prominent symptoms, though in some cases 
diarrhoea is also present. 
Cultivations from the blood and viscera showed a bacillus having 
much resemblance to B. coll communis , but differing from this latter in 
possessing greater motility, in being smaller, and in not possessing the 
power of coagulating milk. Inoculation experiments proved that this 
organism was lethal to pheasants, but not to other animals (chickens, 
rabbits, pigeons, guinea-pigs). 
Chromogenic Bacteria from the Mouth, j — Dr. M. Freund describes 
four new chromogenic bacteria from the mouth. Micrococcus latericeus 
developes at blood heat on agar as flesh-coloured colonies, which be- 
come darker with age. The cells are, on the average, 1 /x thick, and easily 
stainable. Gelatin is not liquefied. On potato the growth is but slight 
and confined to the track, and is of a waxy yellow hue. Both pigments 
are soluble in water, but not in ether or alcohol. Light and temperature 
have no influence on their formation ; they are both destroyed by nitric 
acid, and restored again by caustic potash. 
M. citreus granulatus developes both at room and blood heat, forming 
a slimy chrome-yellow looking film, mostly confined to the inoculation 
track. The cells are 0*7-1 /x in diameter, and stainable, except by 
Gram’s method. The gelatin is liquefied, but not till the cultures are 
some weeks old. The growth along the track in thrust cultures is 
defective, though pretty free on the surface. On potato there is a moist- 
looking overlay somewhat darker in colour than that on agar, and by 
8 weeks the whole surface is overgrown by a granular film. The pig- 
ment is soluble in water, but not in alcohol or ether ; light and heat have 
no influence on its formation. It is at once decolorized by nitric acid, 
and strong alkali restores it. 
Bacillus griseoflavus is 1-1 • 5 /x long and about 0 * 7 /x broad ; the ends 
are rounded. It forms filaments, is without motion, and stains well. On 
gelatin yellow colonies develope in 2 or 3 days, attaining a diameter of 
1 * 5-2 mm. Gelatin is softened, and assumes a kind of violet reflex. 
On agar, temperature does not affect the growth, but the pigment is only 
formed at low temperatures, and not at incubation heat. On potato a 
yellowish deposit is produced. The pigment is soluble in water and 
not in ether or alcohol. Nitric acid destroys it ; caustic potash imparts 
to the bleached pigment a red-brown hue. The formation of pigment is 
greatly inhibited by light and heat. 
* Journ. of Pathol, and Bacteriol., ii. (1893) pp. 214-6. 
t Inaug.-Diss., Erlangen, 1893 <2 pis.). See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. n. Parasitenk. 
xvi. (1894) pp. 640-2. 
