510 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Bacillus hemiphloise.* — R. Greig-Smith has recently discovered a 

 new levan-gum forming bacterium. The author had previously de- 

 scribed Bacillus Uvaniformis and B. eucalypti, the first of which does 

 not form spores, and the latter ferments certain sugars with evolution 

 of gas. The gum, obtained by growing the bacterium in saccharose- 

 pepton fluid and coagulating with alcohol, had all the chemical and 

 physical properties of levan-gum. Like B. Uvaniformis, the microbe 

 could act on unheated saccharine solutions, and, like B. eucalypti, it can 

 cause a fermenting gum-flux of certain eucalyptus trees. B. hemiijldoiee 

 measures 7 /x in breadth, and from ■ 8-1 • 7 /u. in length. It is actively 

 motile and possesses one to nine peritrichal flagella. On most media the 

 growth is raised and white. Milk is coagulated. It forms indol and 

 reduces nitrates to nitrites. On saccharose-pepton fluid there is forma- 

 tion of levan-gum and inversion of saccharose. In dextrose, saccharose, 

 and lactose media, acid and gas are formed. 



* Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., xl. (1915) pp. 174-5. 



