ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
423 
A report on the toxins of the organism is promised later. 
A comparison of this organism with a cancer parasite described by 
Dr. Bra* has proved the identity of the two microbes, and has substan- 
tiated the claim of Dr. Bra to priority of publication. 
Oospora Form (Streptothrix) of the Microsporum of the Horse.f 
— M. E. Bodin, who recently demonstrated that the Microsporum of the 
horse presents two cultural forms, the euconidium and the acladium, 
and that it was possible to interchange these two f >rms, has discovered a 
third phase derived from the acladium form, and brought into existence 
by slow and interrupted drying. This third form of Microsporum be- 
longs morphologically to the genus Oospora, while from its size, from 
the details of its structure, and its cultural characters, it is clearly con- 
nected with that little group of Oospora formerly known as Streptothrix 
of which Actinomyces is the type. To this oospora-form of Microsporum 
a twofold interest attaches ; for firstly, it shows that the oosporae of the 
streptothrix group are Mucedineae ; and secondly, it establishes a bond of 
relationship between the parasites of actinomycosis, madura foot, bovine- 
glanders, and the pseudo-tuberculosis of Eppinger on the one hand, and 
ringworm fungi on the other. Even apart from the foregoing consider- 
ations, the fact of the pleomorphism is worth attention. 
Mycetozoa. 
Biology of the Myxomycetes.J — Herr C. Lippert thus describes the 
development of the sporange from the plasmode in PJiysarum cinereum , 
which occupies a period of about 48 hours. The formation of the capil- 
litium commences almost immediately after that of the sporange, in the 
form of bladders composed of granules of lime; these anastomose with 
one another so as to form a network of cavities, which gradually in- 
creases in size. At first the wall of this bladder is composed of particles 
of lime only ; after about two hours it is seen to be enclosed in a delicate 
hyaline membrane, and this network is the first origin of the capillitium. 
At the same time minute refringent granules make their appearance in 
the protoplasm of the sporange, which subsequently increase in number, 
and are the nucleoles of the future spores. The spores are formed, about 
20 hours later, by an accumulation of protoplasm around these particles. 
The process is similar in Didymium microcarpum and C'tondrioderma 
difforme. 
Protophyta. 
a. Schizophyceae. 
Classification of Schizophyce9e.§ — In Engler and PrantPs { Natiir- 
liche Pflanzenfamilien,’ Herr O. Kirchner classifies the Schizophycese 
as follows : — 
* Comptes Rendus, cxxviii. (1899) pp. 1480-1. 
t Tom. cit., pp. 1466-7. 
X Verhandl. k.-k. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien. xlvi. (1896) 8 pp., 1 pi. and 9 "figs. See 
Bot. Centralbl., lxxvii. (1899) p. 199. 
§ Engler u. Prantl, Die natiirl. Pflanzanfam., Lief. 177, l te Abtb., Leipzig, 1898, 
4^ pp. and 15 figs. 
2 f 2 
