ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
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blood, bile, urine, as well as the viscera of persons siek of bilious fever, 
were examined bacteriologically, the cultivation medium was agar in 
combination with pepton and gelatin. Along the inoculation track 
there appeared in 24 hours a long white streak of colonies surrounded 
by numerous gas-bubbles. From all the cultivations colonies with 
similar characters developed. 
The bacillus is about 9 /x long and 3 /x broad. It is motionless, but 
numerous mobile spores are in its company. It is easily stained by 
fuchsin and by methyl- violet. The bacilli subdivide in the middle, 
and in the segments terminal spores develope. The bacillus is patho- 
genic to guinea-pigs. 
Bacillus membranaceus amethystinus mobilis.* — Dr. E. Germano 
describes a bacillus which forms violet colonies on gelatin plates. It 
is purely aerobic and grows only at ordinary temperatures. Transferred 
to gelatin it liquefies very slowly, the medium forming thereon a pretty 
thick membrane of a distinctly violet hue. In bouillon and on agar 
the characters arc similar, but on potato the violet colour is not deve- 
loped, the colonies being brownish. 
Milk was completely coagulated in 3-4 days. 
Hanging drop cultivations showed that the bacilli wero very mobile, 
and about the same length as anthrax, though thinner. 
From the general characteristics the author names the microbe 
B. membranaceus amethystinus mobilis. 
Bacillus methylicus.f — Dr. 0. Loew describes a bacillus capable 
of assimilating formic acid, formaldehyd, and derivatives of methyl- 
alcohol. It was noticed that 0*5 per cent, formaldehydsulphate of 
soda became cloudy after exposure to the air for 1-2 weeks, and that 
the turbidity was due to the presence of flakes of a faint reddish colour. 
The bacillus, which is a short thick rodlet, is about 1 /x broad and 2-2 * 25 /x 
long. It is strongly aerobic and does not apparently form spores. It 
was also cultivated in 0*5 per cent, soda formate and in sterilized 
methyl-alcohol solution. The red scum which had grown on the formate 
of soda solution was employed for further culture-observations on gelatin 
plates, meat-pepton-gelatin, saccharated (2 per cent.) gelatin, agar, and 
potato. The gelatin was liquefied and the colonies on plates were 
sharply defined, round or oval, and yellowish. 
The micro-organism is chiefly interesting from its chemical relations, 
its power of assimilating formic acid recalling the assimilative capacity 
of Nitromonas for carbonic acid. 
Diagnosis of Bacillus entericus from Bacterium coli commune. :£ 
— Herr L. Luksch points out that the number of flagella on Bacterium 
coli commune serves to render the diagnosis of this micro-organism from 
the bacillus of typhoid fever comparatively easy. The former schizo- 
mycete possesses from 1 to at most 3 flagella, while the latter has from 
8-10 ; moreover the staining of the flagella of Bacterium coli commune 
is always more difficult than in other bacteria. 
* Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., xii. (1892) pp. 516-9. 
f Torn, cit., pp. 462-5. X r Iona. cit., pp. 427-31. 
