86 



White (1906) isolated Bacillus subgastrlcus from the 

 intestine of a healthy honey "bee. He gives a complete 

 description of it. This organism may "be a variant of 

 Bacillus gastricus Ford (see Bergey f s Manual, 5th ed. , 

 p. 603) though the two differ in oxygen requirements, 

 indol production, and nitrate reduction. 



*White, G. F. 1906 The "bacteria of the apiary with spe- 

 cial reference to "bee diseases. TJ. S. Dept. Agr. , Bur. 

 Entomol. , Tech. Bull. No. 15, 50 pp. 



BAC I LLUS SUBT 1 L I S Cohn 



Insects and ticks: The wood-digesting roach, Crytocercus 

 punctulatus ; the "bee moth, Galleria mellonella ; the cecro- 

 pia moth, Platysamia cecropia ; Ceratomia catalpae ; Sinea 

 diadema ; Lygus prat ens is ; Conocephalus fasciatus , var. 

 fasciatus ; and a species each in the families Chrysomilidae 

 and Curculionidae; Gryllohlatta campodeiformis campodei - 

 formis ; Stomoxys calci trans ; Cimex lectularius ; Rhodnius 

 prolixus ; and the ticks Argas persicus and Omithodoros 

 moubata. 



Bacillus subtilus, the common "hay "bacillus," is widely 

 distributed in nature in the air, soil, and decomposing 

 organic materials. For this reason it is perhaps not sur- 

 prising that this "bacillus should "be found associated with 

 insects. It seems very prohahle that some of the early 

 named organisms described as "being associated with insects 

 may have "been Bacillus subtilus or closely related spore - 

 formers. (See Bergey's Manual, 5th ed. , p. 6k6, for a 

 complete description of Bacillus subtilis . 



Metalnikov (1920) found Galleria mellonella to "be very 

 susceptible to infection with Bacillus subtilis , the in- 

 sects dying from extremely small doses. Hatcher (1959) 

 found Bacillus subtilus in the colon of the roach, Crypto - 

 cercus punctulatus . Steinhaus (19^1) found "bacilli of 

 this group in the alimentary canals of normal larvae of 

 Platysamia cecropia , Ceratomia catalpae , in normal adults 

 of Lygus prat ens is , Conocephalus fasciatus , and in normal 

 nymphs of Sinea diadema . Burroughs (19^1) found several 

 strains of Bacillus subtilis in the alimentary tract of a 

 gryllohlattid. 



Hindle and Duncan (1925) found Bacillus subtilis to 

 survive "in the stomach of Argas persicus for a time, and 

 is passed in the faeces, thus "behaving similarly to B. 

 anthracis . " Duncan (1926) found the gut -contents of Argaa 

 persicus , as well as Omithodoros moubata , Stomoxys calci - 

 trans , Cimex lectularius , and Rhodnius prolixus , to "be 

 "bactericidal to B* subtilis. 



