ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
725 
containing crystals of calcium carbonate. Cultivated in a saccharine 
nutrient material, roundish conids are abstricted of about 7 /x diameter ; 
spherical bodies are also formed about 1 mm. in diameter, which contain 
large quantities of spores and of lime crystals. On the mycelial fila- 
ments cell-fusions were also observed, which the author compares to 
the conjugation of Spirogyra. Swollen toruloid filaments are formed in 
the interior of the fluid. The infection of the water previously 
attributed to Crenothrix Kuliniana he believes to be due to the Selono- 
sporium. 
Actinomyces Gruberi sp. n.* — Dr. C. Terni describes a new species 
of Actinomyces which he found in earth. It is pathogenic to guinea-pigs, 
but its action is merely toxic. At the inoculation site a small abscess 
forms in which the germs develope. The animals die suddenly after 
10-12 days, with symptoms of palsy and spasms. By attenuating the 
germs, a sort of vaccine was obtained. A. Gruberi possesses a striking 
tendency to the formation of pigments, varying from red to brown, 
though these pigments are not disseminated through the medium. The 
addition of glycerin to the medium is necessary for the pigment produc- 
tion, especially for the red and yellow colours. The author observed 
that spore formation very soon occurs, if developmental conditions 
become unfavourable (especially drying), and always at temperatures 
between 20° and 30°, and when access of oxygen is slight. 
Protophyta. 
a. Schizophycese. 
Filamentous Form of Protococcus.t — Miss Josephine E. Tilden de- 
scribes a remarkable form of Protococcus , apparently P. infusionum var. 
Poemeriana , found attached to an Entomostracan in submerged meadow- 
land. Some of the Protococcus cells had entered the hairs of the host, 
and had there undergone septation into a number of cells arranged in a 
filament. The rows of cells bore a marked resemblance to the fila- 
ments of an Oscillatoria. 
Parasite of Gunnera.| — According to Herr B. Jonnson, the parasite 
Nostoc punctiforme, which is so commonly found within the stem of 
Gunnera scabra and manicata , finds its way into the cells from the 
copious coating of mucilage which covers the young stem and leaves, 
and which is formed in glandular organs beneath the base of the leaf. 
It is a true endophyte, and does not contribute to the nutrition of its 
host. A species of Chlorococcum was occasionally found associated with 
the Nostoc. 
Stichococcus bacillaris.§ — M. P. A. Dangeard considers that he has 
obtained evidence that this organism is not, as some have supposed, a 
Schizomycete, but an Alga ; the cells contain a true nucleus. Bacterium 
viride is probably a stage in the development of the same organism. 
* Mittheil. XI. Intemat. Med. Kongr. in Rom. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. 
Parasitenk., xvi. (1894) pp. 362-3. Cf. this Journal, ante, p. 604. 
t Bot. Gazette, xix. (1894) pp. 334-5 (1 pi.). 
% Bot. Notiser, 1894, pp. 1-20 (6 figs.). See Bot. Centralbl., lix. (1894) p. 12. 
§ Le Botaniste (Dangeard) iv. (1894) pp. 1-3 (1 fig.). 
1894 3 D 
