H. B. Fantham 
393 
While on a visit to Banjuls-sur-mer (Pyrenees orientales) in March 
and April 1908, I was enabled to examine living specimens of Tapes 
aureus 1 through the kindness of Professor Pruvot and Dr Racovitza. 
The Tapes, which are edible, were sent to the Laboratoire Arago at 
Banyuls from La Nouvelle, and were locally known as “ les clovisses.” 
The specimens in the first consignment of T. aureus were not infected 
with Spirochaetes, but the Tapes of a second consignment nearly all 
contained Spirochaetes in their crystalline styles. The alimentary 
canals of the Tapes were carefully dissected fresh, and a detailed 
examination of the crystalline styles was made. A large and well- 
developed style was found in nearly every Tapes examined. The 
infection with Spirochaetes inside the style was often intense, so that 
the interior of the gelatinous style was literally “ alive,” affording a most 
interesting sight, especially to those who had not seen living Spiro¬ 
chaetes in Lamellibranchs before. 
Owing to pressure of other work, the examination of the stained 
preparations was deferred, and was done in the Quick Laboratory, 
Cambridge. 
Technique. 
The Tapes were kept alive in aquaria containing sea-water at 
the marine laboratory, and were used quite fresh. Crystalline styles 
containing Spirochaetes were divided into small portions, mixed with 
a little filtered sea-water and teased on slides or cover-slips. For 
observations of living Spirochaetes, wet preparations were made, the 
cover-glass being sealed with vaseline. Preparations intended for 
staining were fixed wet with osmic vapour or with alcoholic Bouin’s 
liquid (picro-formol-acetic), graded through increasing strengths of 
alcohols and stained with iron-haematoxylin, Delafield’s haematoxylin, 
thionin or gentian violet. A few preparations were stained with 
Giemsa’s solution, and with Twort’s stain (neutral red and Lichtgrtin). 
The various preparations were carefully compared. 
Other preparations were fixed fresh with corrosive-acetic alcohol 
and then treated with gold-chloride in order to study the action of 
this reagent on the contractile fibrils or myonemes of Spirochaetes. 
Some Spirochaetes were also mounted in methyl alcohol, in a further 
1 Tapes aureus Forb. et Hly. (Venus aurea Gm., V. sinuata Gm,, V. amygdala 
Meuschen.) See J. Victor Carus, Prodromus Faunae Mediterraneae (1889-93), n. pp. 
126—7. 
