ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
281 
capillaries, and formed aggregations similar to those found in enteric 
fever, whence the author calls this bacillus B. tgphi murium. 
From experiments made with this bacillus the author found the 
duration of the disease to be thirteen days, and that the virus was 
introduced into the system through the digestive tract, and concludes 
that the great sensitiveness of certain kinds of mice to this microbe 
suggests the possibility that it may be of great practical value in 
husbandry. The experiments further showed that the short-tailed field 
mouse ( Arvicola arvalis) was extremely sensitive to the presence of 
B. typM murium, while the long-tailed field mouse (ilfas ctgrarius), c its, 
rats, dogs, small singing birds, pigeons, guinea-pigs, and rabbits were 
quite unaffected by it. 
The author concludes by speculating on the origin of the disease, 
negativing the hypothesis that the B. typlii murium might be a variety 
of some of the pathogenic bacteria studied from time to time in the 
Greifswald Institute, and that it was due to something in the food ; the 
latter supposition is disproved by the fact that only mice in a particular 
cage caught the disease. Altogether three epidemics of this disease 
have occurred.' 
Fodor’s Bacteria-fisher.* — Trof. J. Fodor has devised an instrument 
which he calls a bacteria-fisher, for removing from a cultivation plate a 
specimen of any particular colony, with certainty and without contami- 
nation. The apparatus, no illustration of which is given, is mounted 
on a Microscope stand, and consists of a series of rods and rings, 
fixed at various angles, and maintained in position by screws. At the 
end of the apparatus is a glass rod carrying a platinum needle. By 
altering the length of the various rods, and fixing them at different 
inclinations, the needle is brought under the Microscope, and in contact 
with the colony from which it is desired to remove a specimen. By 
this means tolerable certainty is arrived at, as the trembling of the hand 
is avoided, and the position of the needle can he seen. 
Bacteriological Examination of Water. | — Dr. F. Krai, in order to 
obviate the great inconvenience arising from the size of some of the 
apparatus employed in the bacteriological examination of water, has 
devised an apparatus consisting of so many flat glass capsules fitting in 
a case. Each capsule has a diameter of about 9 cm., the sides are 
4 mm. high, and the glass 1 mm. thick. The top and bottom of these 
capsules are quite flat, and can therefore he placed directly under the 
Microscope. Twenty of such covered capsules are, when piled one on 
top of the other, about 15 cm. high. 
In order to hasten the setting of the gelatin, or to prevent any 
subsequent liquefaction, a double tin case may be used, so that the 
jacket can he packed with ice. 
Keeping Cestoda alive.| — Dr. E. Lonnberg records some fourteen 
experiments made for the purpose of keeping Cestoda alive under artificial 
conditions. Trisenophorus nodulosus, a parasite of pike, was selected 
because it is easy to obtain. The basis of the medium was a slightly 
* Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., x. (1S91) pp. 721-2. 
t Op. cit., xi. (1892) pp. 19-20. J Tom. cit., pp. 89-92. 
