196 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
bacterium is a potential anaerobic bacillus, devoid of movement, about 
1 X 1 * 7 fi.. In old cultures there is a distinct odour of hay. Cultures 
of starch and flour paste give the sugar reaction. 
Two New Hailstone Microbes.* — Mr. F. C. Harrison describes two 
new species of bacteria, isolated from hailstones which fell in 1897. 
Bacillus flams grandinis is 1 x 3 />(, in size, has rounded ends, and 
occurs singly or in pairs. It is non-motile, does not form spores, stains 
readily, and does not liquefy gelatin. It is aerobic ; grows well at 20° ; 
the colour of the growth on the usual nutrient media, including Uschin- 
sky’s, being yellow. 
Micrococcus melleus grandinis is a coccus about 1 fx in diameter ; 
grows well at 20° ; is aerobic ; stains readily. It does not liquefy gelatin ; 
and grows well in most of the usual media, the colour of the growth 
being yellow. 
Micro-organism of Faulty Rum.f — In their monograph on “ faulty 
rum,” Mr. Y. H. Veley and L. J. Yeley give an interesting description 
of a micro-organism, designated Coleothrix methystes, which has the 
faculty of existing in very strong alcohol (nearly 75 per cent.) Faulty 
rum is recognised by the turbidity and deposit which occur after admix- 
ture with water in amount sufficient to reduce its alcoholic strength to 
25 per cent, under proof. Previous to the researches of the writers, 
faultiness of rum was ascribed to the presence of a resin extracted by 
the alcohol from the cask-wood, or to the presence of certain salts in the 
water used for testing the rum. The “ turbidity ” of the fluid is shown 
by the authors to be partly a turbidity properly so-called, i.e. due to the 
presence of suspended demonstrable particles, and partly a fluorescence 
due to the fact that the organism extracts and assimilates that particular 
ingredient of the caramel which is fluorescent. 
Microscopical examination of the sediment showed cocci occurring in 
pairs, groups, singly, and in chains. The cocci were yellowish in colour 
and surrounded by a thick highly refractive colourless envelope. In 
diameter they varied from 1-5 /x. 
Cultivations were made in various media, and three forms, coccus, 
bacillus, and filament, were observed. From this coalition the authors 
infer that Coleothrix methystes is a polymorphic organism belonging to 
the higher bacteria, and probably allied to the Streptothrix group. The 
organism is preferentially aerobic, but potentially anaerobic ; direct sun- 
light appears to favour its growth ; it is not pathogenic to animals ; 
it produces acid, and reduces nitrates to ammonia. Under certain cir- 
cumstances it produces a colouring matter having a yellow or reddish- 
yellow hue with green fluorescence. 
It would be difficult to overestimate the value of the observations 
recorded in this monograph, or the methods employed in the careful in- 
vestigation, and the authors are to be congratulated on being the first to 
show that life can exist in alcohol of nearly 75 per cent, strength. 
Histology and Bacteriology of the Oyster.J — The primary object 
of Prof. W. A. Herdman and Prof. E. Boyce was to study the oyster 
* Bot. Gazette, xxvi. (1898) pp. 211-4. 
t London (Henry Frowde), 1898, 64 pp., 7 pis. 
X Proc. Koy. Soc., lxiv. (1899) pp. 239-41. 
