BY R. GREIG SMITH. 867 



tained by the gradual addition of phenylhydrazine-acetic acid 

 mixture to the solution on the water-bath, were purified by 

 extraction with ether and were separated into fractions by 

 repeated treatment with hot water. The precipitates, thrown 

 out upon cooling the several hot water solutions, melted 

 between 180° and 184°, and these, as in the case of the natural 

 gum, could not be resolved into portions with a higher melting 

 point. As in the former case, and indeed in the case of all 

 vegetable and bacterial gums, the impurity was a non-crystalline 

 tarry substance with a melting point near that of boiling water. 

 Like the natural gum, the bacterial gum yielded mucic and oxalic 

 acids upon oxidation with dilute nitric acid and furfural during 

 hydrolysis. 



The bacterial and the natural gums thus gave the same sugar- 

 like body upon hydrolysis, and in view of all the facts there can 

 be no doubt that the bacterium was the producer of the gum 

 exuded from the plant. It appears to be new, and I propose to 

 name it Bacillus macrozamice. 



Bacillus macrozamle, n.sp. 



Shape, etc. — The cells vary in size according to the medium in 

 which they are growing. On nutrient agar they appear as cocco- 

 bacteria and as short rods varying from 0-4-0-5 : 1/x. On saccha- 

 rose-potato-agar they are short rods measuring 0*4 : 0-9-1 -2^, but 

 as a rule are 1/x long. In bouillon they are very variable, 

 ranging from small bacteria 0'4 : O'l fx to comparatively large cells 

 0-8: 2-2/a; in this media thread forms are common, and capsules 

 are sometimes distinct. The cells are motile, and are, as a rule, 

 vacuolated. The motility is due to the presence of numerous 

 peritrichous flagella. Staining by the Gram method is negative. 



Relation to temjjerature, etc. — Slime is formed readily at ordin- 

 ary temperatures. . There is practically no growth under the 

 anaerobic conditions that prevail under the mica-sheet in plate 

 cultivation. 



Glucose-gelatine plate. — The colonies grow readily. They ap- 

 pear white and moist-glistening with a raised centre and an 

 indefinite margin. The nipple-shape was not so pronounced 



