THE OCCURRENCE AND GROWTH OF STAPHYLOCOCCI ON PACKED BACON, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS

Staphylococcus aureus occurs and survives in bacon curing brines and may be found on shop sliced and on vacuum packed bacon. Under anaerobic conditions it competes with the indigenous flora of the bacon: its growth is favoured by low numbers of other organisms and by high storage temperatures. Packs of bacon for sale should carry the instruction to keep in a cool place.     

HEMOLYSIS BY SAPONIN AND SODIUM TAUROCHOLATE,WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE SERIES OF RYVOSH

1. The series of Ryvosh is obtained when hemolysis of the red cells of the animals concerned occurs with saponin as the lytic agent. 2. The series of Ryvosh is not obtained when R _∞ is taken as the resistance constant and sodium taurocholate is used to hemolyse the cells of the same animals. 3. The hemolysin sodium taurocholate has been found to differ from saponin in that the time-dilution curves are found to approach their respective asymptotes with different values of κ.     

ON THE STEM AND BULB EELWORM (ANGUILLULINA DIPSACI KUHN) WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO ITS OCCURRENCE ON WEEDS OF ARABLE LAND

The importance of wild hosts of Anguillulina dipsaci Kühn as carriers of infection needs no emphasis. The occurrence of the eelworm in the weeds, cleavers ( Galium aparine ) and duckweed ( Stellaria media ) taken in crops of oats and field beans which were themselves suffering from stem eelworm disease, was recorded by Johnson (1936) and Johnson & Thompson (1937); Walton (1937) confirmed the occurrence of infested cleavers plants in eelworm-infested oats. Walton also stated that experiments indicated that seed oats failed to carry eelworm infection, and from circumstantial evidence similar to that recorded by Johnson (1936) stated that "infestations of oat crops which occur, even after the absence of the crop for more than six years, are in all probability attributable to weeds rather than to infested seed". The present writer failed to obtain living eelworms from oat seed from infested crops in Yorkshire. This paper summarizes the results of field observations and experiments accumulated mainly during the past three years.     

ENDOCYTOSIS OF LANTHANUM NITRATE IN THE ORGANIC ACID-SECRETING TRICHOMES OF CHICKPEA (CICER ARIETINUM L.)

The organic acid-secreting trichomes of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) were exposed to 2.5 mm lanthanum nitrate for 24 hr, and this concentration did not inhibit trichome secretion compared with that of controls. We subsequently used this nontoxic concentration of lanthanum to examine endocytosis. In the stalk cells of these secretory trichomes, exogenously applied lanthanum nitrate was present in cell walls and vacuoles, as well as within both invaginations in the plasma membrane and vesicles in the peripheral cytoplasm between the plasma membrane and the tonoplast. In the head cells, lanthanum nitrate was present in cell walls and in vesicles that form a layer in the cytoplasm around the edge of the head cells, but was not present in vacuoles. We propose that fluid phase endocytosis targeted to the vacuole takes place in the stalk cells and that endocytosis occurs in the head cells to remove excess plasma membrane after the fusion of secretory vesicles with the plasma membrane. This is the first demonstration of endocytosis in secretory trichomes.     

THE LOCOMOTION OF THE LORISES,WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE POTTO

The stealthy locomotion of the lorises is seen to be directly related to catching prey such as insects and roosting birds. The method of stalking prey contrasts strongly with the quick leaping method of food-catching presented by the galagos. The lorises, by virtue of their food-catching habits, are restricted to true forest, whereas some of the galagos, by the same token, have colonized more open country. This throws some light on the nature of the post-Miocene link between Africa and Asia and is suggested as a reason why the galagos are restricted to Africa whereas the lorises are found in both Africa and Asia.