17^ 



Steinhaus (19^-1) found an organism similar to Pseudomonas 

 septica in normal fireflies and potato "beetles. It was the 

 only organism he cultured from "both the alimentary tract 

 and ground-up specimens of the firefly. It also occurred 

 in the alimentary tract of the potato "beetle. 



See Bergey's Manual, 5"th ed. , p. 130, for a complete 

 description. 



Steinhaus, E. A. 19^1 A study of the "bacteria associated 

 with thirty species of insects. J. Bact. , kg, 757-790. 



Stutzer, ¥. J. and Wsorow, M. J. 1927 Cent. f. Bakt. , 

 II Abt. , 71, 113 



Tribe: Spirilleae 

 Genus : Vibrio 



Vibrio comma (Schroeter) Bergey et al. 



Insects concerned: The house fly, Musca domestica; the 

 "blue "bottle fly, Calliphora vomitoria ; the sewer fly, 

 Eristalis tenax ; and cockroaches. 



The specific relationship of Vibrio comma to cholera 

 was discovered "by Rohert Koch in 1883, when he isolated 

 the organism from the intestinal contents of cholera 

 patients. Two years later Maddox (1885) claimed to have 

 found the cholera organisms in the feces of Eristalis 

 tenax and Calliphora vomitoria after having fed the flies 

 on cultures of the vihrios. During the following 25 years 

 several investigators conducted similar experiments and 

 in nearly every case they found the "bacteria to "be taken 

 up "by flies ( including Musca domestica ) . Graham-Smith 

 (1910) found that flies fed on old laboratory cultures 

 passed infected feces for 30 hours. However, the "bacteria 

 soon died on the legs and wings and that after ^8 hours 

 cultures made from the intestines of the flies were nega- 

 tive. For a discussion of other early experiments on 

 flies as vectors of cholera see Howard (1911) and Graham- 

 Smith (1913). 



According to Herms (1939), Grill and Lai in 1931, found 

 evidence that possibly one phase of the life cycle of the 

 cholera vibrio is passed in the "body of the house fly. 

 According to these workers, the "bacteria disappear from the 

 hody of the fly after approximately 2h hours "but reappear 

 ahout the fifth day when the fly is capahle of contaminating 



