682 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
According to the author the rice chaff is the peculiar residence of 
Amylomyces Bouxii. 
Choleroid Vibrio from Well-water.* — Dr. E. Weibel isolated a form 
of Vibrio from a well which had some time before been infected with 
cholera. The colonies liquefied gelatin and somewhat resembled those of 
cholera. Morphologically it was very like cholera, Finkler-Prior vibrio, 
V. saprophiles a, and had many characters in common with Gunther’s 
V. aquatilis. It was successfully cultivated *in all the usual media except 
on potato. The colonies on gelatin are circular sharp-edged homogeneous 
discs, by which the gelatin was liquefied in the presence of air. The 
movements as seen on hanging drops are described as molecular, though 
at times some pass rapidly across the field. The vibrio is killed at 
55° C. No experiments on animals were made. 
Bacillus choleroides a and /3.f — Dr. 0. Bujwid has isolated from 
Vistula water two new Spirilla which were at first thought to be cholera 
bacilli. The first of these grew somewhat slowly on plates at from 
10°-12° R., the colonies having a remarkable resemblance to those of 
cholera, but at higher temperatures they were broader, more superficial, 
never sank in so deep, and gradually rendered the liquefied gelatin 
turbid, while the odour from the plates recalled methyl-mercaptan and 
not indol. Under a low power the contour of the colonies is sharp and 
regular and their surface smooth or finely granular. In puncture culti- 
vations in gelatin their growth was quite superficial and the surface 
only was liquefied ; at low temperatures, 10°-12° R., the gelatin was 
liquefied more slowly, and gas-bubbles like those of cholera were 
developed. Deep down the growth was scanty. On oblique agar these 
bacteria throve luxuriantly, giving off the methyl-mercaptan odour. 
Bouillon was rendered only slightly turbid and no scum was formed. 
In hanging drops at 37° this species bore great resemblance to cholera 
Vibrio, curved short and long Spirilla being seen, though their move- 
ments are not so lively. Under the Microscope, no obvious differences 
were detectable. 
The second species was found in well-water from a place in which 
there had been a good many cases of cholera. The characters of B. 
choleroides /3 resemble those of a, except that it is more anaerobic 
and the funnel of the liquefied gelatin is deeper. 
Bacterium vernicosum.t — Prof. W. Zopf has isolated from American 
cotton-seed meal which, as fodder, caused disease, a suspiciously 
pathogenic Schizomycete, termed, on account of its gelatin -cultivation 
appearance, Bacterium vernicosum sp. n. The author’s account is 
chiefly devoted to the physiological properties of B. vernicosum , its 
morphological characters receiving only scant notice. Experiments on 
sheep and calves showed that the suspicion of pathogenesis was un- 
founded. The ferment action of the organism is examined in greatest 
detail; in presence of carbohydrate solutions carbonic acid is evolved 
and lactic acid formed. Cane-sugar is fermented without inversion. No 
* Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., xiii. (1893) pp. 1F7-20. 
t Tom. cit., pp. 120-1. 
X Beitr. z. Physiol, u. Mosphol. niederer Organismen, i. (1892) pp. 57-95. 
