26, Azotoftionas 



The genus Azotoinonas has only one species, Azotomonas in- 

 solita (Fig. 28). The organism is described as polar flagellated 

 with one to three flagella, ferments a variety of carbohydrates, in- 

 cluding lactose, with acid and gas. In spite of the lactose fermenta- 

 tion "no change" is recorded for milk which seems improbable 

 unless the organism fails to grow in milk. Gas production from 

 carbohydrates by polar flagellated bacteria is so unusual as to cast 

 doubt on the correctness of the description. 



One strain of A. insolita was obtained from the National Col- 

 lection of Industrial Bacteria in England. This organism showed 

 peritrichous flagellation. It must be stated, however, that in a 

 somewhat sparsely flagellated organism many individuals will be 

 found with polarly located flagella. This was also the case with 

 the strain of A. insolita studied, but lateral flagella were too fre- 

 quent to cause any doubt that it is peritrichous flagellated. The 

 strain studied was rather poorly flagellated with up to four flagella 

 per individual. The wavelength was rather short, averaging 1.4 

 microns. If this culture is an authentic A. insolita strain then the 

 genus Azotomonas must be redefined. Morphologically the or- 

 ganism resembles rather closely some species of Rhizobium but 

 does not resemble the common species of Azotobacter. 



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