N"()Mi;Nci,A'rri{i'; and (;i:m;i{ai, s^s'I'i;ms of ci.assifkwtiox 



()l 



tion into hacillary or coccoiil clcmciils : 

 Vmmly I'rodclinonn/cctaccdc I, iV N . 



1. Aiiaorol)ic or microarropliilic. usually 

 parasitic, notiacid fast organisms: 

 ( \)hn ii^tnptoth ri.r 1 'i tio\ . 



2. Aerobic, partially acid fast or uoiiacid 

 fast: P road i noun/CCS Jcuscii. This ^roup 

 is divided into two subgroups: 



a. Partially acid-fast, uoiiproteolytic, 

 uoudiastatic, utilize paraffin. Usually 

 yellow, i)inl<, or orange to orange red 

 in color. 



b. Xonacid fast, diast;itic, largcls i)r() 

 teolytic. do not utilize parafiin. ^'el 

 low, orange to black in color. 



II. Substrate mycelium normally remains un- 

 divided: 



1. Multiplication l)y conidia foi'ined in 

 chains from aerial liyi)hae: Family 

 Actinomycetaceae Buchanan: Actino- 

 myces Harz. This group is diviiled into 

 five siUigroups: 



a. Straight sporulating hyphae, mono- 

 podial branching, never producing 

 regular spirals. 



b. Spore-bearing hyi)hae arranged in 

 clusters. 



c. Spiral formation in aerial myceliiuii; 

 long, open spirals. 



d. Spiral formation in aerial mycelium; 

 short, compact spirals. 



e. Spore-bearing hyphae arranged on 

 mycelium in whorls or tufts. 



2. Multiplication by spores formed termi- 

 nally and singly on short conidiophores: 

 Family Micromonosporaceae Krassilni- 

 kov; Micromonospora 0rskov. This 

 group is divided into three subgroups: 



a. Simple spore-bearing hyphae. 



b. Branching spore-bearing hyphae. 



c. Spore-bearing hy])hae in clusters. 



Thi.^ system, especially the use of the 

 generic name Cohnistrcptothrix for the causa- 

 tive agent of actinomycosis and of Actino- 

 myces for the aerobic forms producing aerial 

 myceliiuii, was subjected to a certain amount 

 of criticism. It was emphasized that although 

 Harz's description of Actinomijces bovis was 

 perhaps ^'ague, there was no ([Uestion con- 

 cerning the nature of the disease caused l)y 

 the organism, and the chances were over- 

 whelmingly in fa\-or of his having actually 



Figure 29. Typical growth of Micromonospora. 



observed the anaerobic pathogenic fila- 

 mentous form. Under the Botanical Code, 

 the name Actinomi/ce.s had, therefore, to be 

 applied either to the organism of "lumpy 

 jaw" or not used at all. It had to be re- 

 stricted, therefore, to the anaerobic, patho- 

 genic species. A new generic name had to be 

 foiuid for the aerobic, saprophytic, spore- 

 forming species. Waksnian and Henrici 

 (194o) gave careful consideration to all the 

 names previoush^ applied to organisms of 

 this type. They came to the conclusion that 

 the great majority of such names were in- 

 valid and must be rejected either because 

 they were first used as synonyms of Actino- 

 myces or they were pre\-iously applied to 

 entirely different types of organisms. 



The name Nocardia was then gi\-(ni special 

 consideration. After its introduction by 

 Trevisan in 1888, it had been widel}^ used, 

 sometimes for the actinoinycetes as a whole; 

 occasionally only the saprophytic aerobic 

 species were included. I)e Toni and Trevisan 

 placed five species in the genus Nocardia, 

 the first of thes(> being A', farcinica. This 



