34 MEMOIES OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



Gelatin stab. — Growth occurs along the puncture for some distance down, while a thin 

 yellowish layer forms on the surface. This becomes concave after a few days and slowly sinks, 

 liquefaction progressing slowly. Liquefaction causes a globe-shaped cavity, the 

 tube wall being reached below the surface, leaving a ring of gelatin attached to 

 the tube at the surface. On the liquid gelatin the original surface growth floats. 

 // I \ \ After three weeks the floor becomes level, and has a slight whitish deposit on it. 

 The xirocess seems to stop here, further liquefaction not being observed. The 

 liquefied gelatin is only slightly turbid. 



Potato. — A greenish-yellow layer covers much of the surface in five or six days. 

 It is quite thin, smooth, moist, and shining, and later acquires a transparent look 

 and becomes more yellow. 



Bouillon. — Diffuse cloudiness, not very intense. No pellicle forms on surface. 

 Rosolic acid. — Becomes slightly darker after four or five days. 

 Gel. stab. Litmus milk. — Becomes a purer blue at end of six days, but the color is 



discharged soon after, being gone at end of the next week. No coagulation occurs. Reaction 

 alkaline. 



Sugar gelatin, deep stab. — -Growth quite deep with button on surface, which slowly sinks. 

 No gas production. 



Indol. — Reaction negative. 



Relation to temperature. — Grows more rapidly at 35° to 30° C. 



Note. — This bacillus was first described by Grace and Percy Franklaud in the Zeitschrift 

 fiir Hygiene, Vol. VI, page 3!M>. They give its growth on only four culture media, however, and 

 its action on nitrates. The organism described above corresponds with their description quite 

 closely, convincing me of their identity, though there are some slight differences. 



Bacillus Gangliformis. 



(Fig. 30, PI. III.) 



Found at a depth of C feet in made soil, which had been paved for a number of years. 



Character. — Grows well in an atmosphere of hydrogen. 



Morphology. — Large straight rods with rounded ends, five to seven times as long as broad. 

 Forms chains of considerable length. 



Motility. — Nou motile. 



Flagella not demonstrated. 



Spores are large, oval, and formed in center of rod. They were found only in cultures on 

 potato. 



Colonies on gelatin plate. — Colonies are seen at the end of twelve hours. The deep resemble 

 bits of asbestos fiber embedded in the gelatin. Those on the surface are circular saucers of 

 liquefaction, with whitish masses in the center, x 80. The deep colonies are made up of coarse 

 lines, irregularly disposed, and running from centers here and there, which are made up of more 

 compact masses of lines. On the surface the colonies have a well-defined margin, which is bordered 

 by a corona of fine spear points. In the liquefied gelatin are tangled masses of the thread-like 

 lines, resembling the colonies of the potato bacillus. Here and there a bunch of lines will pass 

 far out into the gelatin beyond the border. Liquefaction is rapid, and the deep colonies soon 

 reach the surface, where they become like those which began there. At the end of twenty hours 

 some of the colonies have attained a diameter of mm. On the second day a thick mycoderma 

 has formed on each colony. This is somewhat peculiar in its character. In the center is an 

 island, then comes a space uncovered by growth, or very thinly covered; beyond this is a lace- 

 work, the bars running in a radial direction. The edges are somewhat uneven. 



Agar slant. — In twenty-four hours a bluish-white line 2 mm. wide has formed along the line 

 of inoculation, spreading to the tube wall near the bottom. By the second day it has become 

 twice as wide, is a dirty-white, dry-looking band, with irregular, ferny edges. It soon becomes 

 thrown into large wrinkles, which have an elevation of 1 mm. The usual arrangement of the 

 folds is a large one in the middle from top to bottom, with numerous smaller ones at right 

 angles to this. The folding, however, is dependent on the vigor of growth and is different iu 

 each culture. 



