CHROMOBACTERIUM AND ACHROMOBACTERIUM 641 



isms in foods such as synthetic cream and made-up meat dishes suspected of 

 being responsible for conveying food poisoning or enteric fever. 



Litmus milk may be unchanged. More often it is turned alkaline, or peptonized. 

 Some strains produce acid and curdle the milk. The litmus is often reduced to 

 within a few millimetres of the surface. 



Sugar reactions are variable. Most strains have little or no fermentative ability, 

 but some produce acid in glucose, or in glucose, maltose, mannitol, sucrose, and 

 salicin, less often in lactose. There is no record of gas production. Some strains 

 give a positive M.E. or V.P. reaction, or both. Nitrates are not uncommonly 

 reduced to nitrites, but indole is rarely formed. Haines (1933), who studied 

 132 strains isolated from meat, found that 67 strains fermented glucose and maltose, 

 59 fermented glucose only, whereas 6 failed to ferment even glucose. Gelatin 

 may or may not be liquefied ; in Haines's series 115 strains liquefied gelatin in 

 1 to 2 days, and 17 strains liquefied it slowly or not at all. 



Little or nothing is known of their antigenic characteristics. It is probable that 

 they are all non-pathogenic. 



REFERENCES 



Amako, T. H. (1930) Zbl. Bakt., 116, 494, 499. 



BoRDET, P. (1930) Ann. Inst. Pasteur, 45, 26. 



Breed, R. S. and Breed, M. E. (1924) J. Bad., 9, 545. 



BtJRRi, R. and Stutzer, A. (1895) Zbl. Bakt., lite Abt., 1, 257, 350. 



Coyne, F. P. (1933) Proc. roy. Soc, B, 113, 196. 



Cruickshank, J. C. (1935) J. Hyg., Camb., 35, 354. 



Dresel, E. G. and Stickl, 0. (1928) Dlsch. med. Wschr., 54, 517. 



EiSENBERQ, P. (1914) Zbl. Bakt., 73, 466. 



Frankland, G. C. and Frankland, P. F. (1889) Z. Hyg. InfektKr., 6, 371 



Haines, R. B. (1933) J. Hyg., Camb., 33, 175. 



Hefferan, M. (1904) Zbl. Bakt., lite Abt., 6, 311, 397, 456, 520. 



Klein, E. (1894) J. Path. Bact., 2, 217. 



KuNTZE, W. (1900) Z. Hyg. InfektKr., 34, 169. 



Report. (1920) Rep. Comm. Amer. Bacteriologists, J. Bact., 5, 191. 



ScHtJTZ, F. and Laun, H. (1933) Zbl. Bakt., 129, 124. 



Sullivan, M. X. (1905-6) J. med. Res., 14, 109. 



Wrede, F. (1930) Z. Hyg. InfektKr., Ill, 531. 



P.B. 



