1. There is no denying the fact that many organisms identified biologically as Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae are isolated in a high rate from the body surfaces of dead marine fish through mouse inoculation, while none are isolated from live fish. 2. The organisms isolated from the body surfaces of dead fish must have multiplied after the fish were caught and had come into contact with surrounding articles which were contaminated with various organisms. 3. Most of the fish strains of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae showed, serologically, different behaviours from the pathogenic groups (Groups A and B) of swine erysipelas. Accordingly, they have scarcely any epizootiological significance in relation to swine erysipelas. 4. A discussion was made, in relation to the above mentioned results, on the high isolation rate of Group B organisms obtained from the tonsils of apparently healthy pigs.

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The successful colonial growth of leptospirae was accomplished with many strains under the microaerophil condition. The colonial growth was more distinct under the microaerophil condition than under the aerophil one, although the colonies of some strains developed aerobically. Patterns of suitable microaerophil conditions present differences among strains. Strains of the same serotype occasionally showed different microaerophil character. Specific range of CO₂ requirement was observed in certain serotypes. Of the 5 strains of L. aulumnalis, 4 formed colonies only in a small amount of CO₂. Colonial growth of L. icterohaemorrhagiae usually succeeded in closed dishes or in 1% CO₂ and not under a supply of more than 3% CO₂. The colony type of many strains was usually round, while mosaic or pin-head colonies were observed in some strains. These were considered specific to each strain. Size or figure of the colony of same strain, however, varied with the atmospheric condition. Generally, colonies were larger and thinner in air, while they were smaller, thicker and clearer under the microaerophil condition as the CO₂ concentration increased. Leptospiral cells proliferated hemispherically into the solid medium and never on the surface of the medium, irrespective of aerophil or microaerophil incubations or of the agar content of the medium. The characteristic development and figure of the colonies were sufficiently specific to leptospirae. From these findings, microaerophil incubation is considered to be one of the most important factors for the colonial growth of leptospirae.

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The time series in the logarithmic scale of the discharge interval of a NMU in respiratory muscles are divided into several parts in compliance with the respiratory cycle. The mean value (logτ^^-), and the standard deviation (log S) are calculated in each part. Thus, the functional properties of the NMUs in respiratory muscles can be discussed in the same manner as the τ^^--S correlation in skeletal muscles. Properties of the MNU in respiratory muscles of the dog were examined by means of the log τ^^- - log S correlation under the anesthetized condition, and in forced breathing after the deafferentation by the removal of the dorsal roots and ganglions on both sides in spinal segments at Th 9∼Th 12. (1) Three or four months after the operation, the distribution of the log τ^^- -log S points could be separated into two groups (the left group was designated as A, and the right group as B). (2) Under the anesthetized condition, the log τ^^- - log S points belonging to the A group moved from their own region to that of the B group. (3) The points belonging to the B group in quiet breathing, were displaced to the region of the A group by forced breathing, and these points returned to their own region with the release of the load. On the contrary, no response was observed in the attitude of the points belonging to the A group in this conditioning. (4) The distributions of both groups were clearly distinguished in all activity patterns. From these results, it is presumed that the kinetic NMU and the tonic NMU are recognized in respiratory muscles as well as in skeletal muscles.

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Canine filariasis is a common disease among adult dogs in Japan. Usually the sick dogs die of the impairment of blood circulation caused by a large number of adult heartworms (Dirofilaria immitis) harbored in the right ventricle of the heart or the pulmonary arteries. As a rule, this disease is treated with pharmaceuticals, such as antimonial and piperazine compounds (microfilaricides) and arsenical preparations (adulticides)^{2, 9∼11, 27, 28)<. However, when an infected dog has been suffering from some ailment of the liver or harboring an extremely large number of heartworms, little effect or even danger is expected from the treatment with such drugs. In such case only symptomatic treatment may be applicable and prognosis is not good. Hazard has been recognized in various surgical methods for the removal of adult heartworms<3, 13∼21, 29)}. It does not seem feasible to employ these surgical methods in veterinary practice, beouse accurate laboratory diagnosis is necessary to find the habitat of heartworms before they are carried out and prudent care should be taken after operation. Since 1950 I have been conducting studies on the surgical treatment of canine filariasis, using 235 dogs in total, to cure the impairment of blood circulation caused by the embolus of heartworms harbored in the right ventricle of the heart and the pulmonary arteries. From these studies^{5, 12∼24)}, I devised an angiocardiographic method to locate the habitat of heartworms and a new technique of cardiac surgery, which I called the K technique, for the removal of heartworms. This paper deals with the pre-operative angiocardiographic diagnosis and the operative method, or the K technique, for the removal of heartworms, describing the most typical of 159 cases that I have treated.

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It was reported in the previous papers that the presence of a large quantity of circulating ferritin was proved, by means of the immunological method, to be present in the blood in many cases of infectious atiemia in horses, and that the concentration of the circulating ferritin was closely related with the clinical symptoms and the histopathological changes in the reticulo-endothelial system, especially in the liver and spleen. On the other hand, a large amount of experimental data has been submitted during the last ten years, especially from the laboratories of MAZUR, SHORR, LITT, BAEZ and GREEN, proposing that a small quantity of ferritin (N 0.0005γ/0.5 ml) on the VDM, which inhibits the constrictor response of the muscula capillaries in the mesoappendix of the rat to topical adrenaline, plays an important role in the regulation of the peripheral circulation, and that this vasodepressor activity of ferritin is due to the presence of the surface iron (Fe⁺⁺). In this report, the relationship between the circulating ferritin and the clinical symptoms of infectious anemia in horses has been made clearer. Also, the pathophysiological changes in horses, goats, rabbits and other animals, after the intravenous injection of a large quantity of crystalline horse-spleen ferritin, have been investigated. The results are summarized as follows: 1) It was observed that the clinical symptoms, of the functional obstacles in circulation, respiration and exercise, etc., in the anemia-infected horses, were closely related to the prosperity and decline of the circulating ferritin in the sera of the jugular veins. Especially, an extraordinary high ferritin-nitrogen concentration of 10 γ per ml was measured by means of the complement fixation test, and the precipitin test, on the serum of the anemia-infected horse No. 3 which died after presenting serious symptoms. Cf. Figs. 1 & 2. 2) In the experiments where considerably amounts of the purified crystalline horse-spleen ferritin containing 45-280mg of nitrogen were intravenously injected into horses so that each concentration of the circulating ferritin in the serum of the jugular vein feached 5-25γ nitrogen per ml, the horses began to show signs of lassitude and weakness, especially in the hind legs, after 20 to 50 minutes from the time of the injection of the ferritin, and fell about 60 minutes after the injection showing the serious, acute symptoms similar to the symptoms presented in the case of infectious anemia in horses. At the same time, the horses showed such striking pathophysiological changes as the rising of the pulse rate, the smallness and weakness of the heart beats, the fall of the blood pressure, the congestion of the jugular vein, the obstacles to the peripheral circulation, an increase in the respiration no., dyspnea and leucopenia, etc. Then the horses arose upon recovery, after 30 to 90 minutes, and showed signs of shivering, especially in the hind legs, followed by the febrile attack. Cf. Fig. 3-Fig. 7, Plate I. On the other hand, the tolerance of the horses to the toxicity of crystalline horse ferritin was observed during a series of injections of the horse ferritin every day in the case of the anemia-infected horse No. 1, and every several days in the case of the healthy horse No. 2, but in all cases the antibody to the horse ferritin was not brought out at all in the blood by the means of the complement fixation and precipitation tests. Cf. Fig. 5, Fig. 6 & Fig. 7. 3) It was observed that the susceptibility of animals to the toxicity of the crystalline horse-spleen ferritin was strikingly different in the cases of different species of animals. Goats of the weight of 10∼15 kg showed the same high susceptibility to the toxicity of the crystalline horse-spleen ferritin as did the above horses. [the rest omitted]

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