296 GENERAL SYSTEMATIC BACTERIOLOGY 



Dispora. A generic name proposed by Kern (1882, p. 135) in a 

 preliminary note for a rod-shaped organism found by him in kefir 

 gi-ains and regarded by him as the organism causing the development 

 of the lactic acid. In a later contribution (1882, p. 141) he described 

 the organism in greater detail. 



The organism in the kefir grains occurs in the form of zoogloeal 

 masses associated with a yeast. The vegetative cells when in active 

 growth are described as 3.2 to 8,u in length by 0.8/x in diameter. Under 

 the influence of acids, of high temperatures, etc., the cells become 

 Leptothrix-like and filamentous. These filaments ordinarily contain 

 spores. The vegetative cells may be motile, when they are supplied 

 at one end with a slender flagellum. The spores are spherical, and are 

 always found in pairs, each cell producing two spores, one in each end. 

 The spores are not large enough to cause anj^ distortion of the cell. 

 Within the cells the spores are apparently O.S^u in diameter, when free 

 Iju. In the Leptothrix forms the spores appear to be in rows. Careful 

 examination, however, shows them to occur always in pairs within 

 separate ceUs. In germination an exo- and endosporium are recog- 

 nizable. 



Kern states that in the vegetative condition this organism resembles 

 Bacillus subtilis Cohn, but that the presence of two spores in a cell 

 is an adequate generic differential character. 



The generic name Dispora is accepted and used by Maggi (1886, 

 p. 176). 



De Toni and Trevisan (1889, p. 1015) included this form in the genus 

 Pacinia under the name P. caucasica (Kern) Trevisan. Cornil and 

 Babes (1890, p. 183) recognized the genus by describing the species 

 D. caucasica. The genus has in general not been recognized by recent 

 writers. Either Kern worked with an organism which has not been 

 since recognized, or he grossly misinterpreted what he saw. Certainly 

 the organism now regarded as the most important in Kefir manufacture 

 does not conform to the description given by Kern. 



If the organism commonly called Bacillus bulgaricus, B. caucasicus 

 or B. lebenis is to be made the type of a genus, it is important to deter- 

 mine the status of the generic name Dispora. If Kern misinterpreted 

 what he saw, and in reality named the high-acid bacillus of Kefir 

 Dispora, the name, in spite of its lack of appropriateness would appear 

 to be valid. If, however, as seems probable, Kern was describing not 

 the causal organism of Kefir but some other, the name can be rejected 

 for this purpose. Inasmuch as the organism described by Kern has 



