\()Mi;\(M.ATri{i'. AM) (;i;\i;i{ \i, s^■s'^l:^Is of ci-assificatiox 



()7 



Tami.k 10 



Distrihiition of cnloniiil chararlcrs of strai»!< inilialh/ dcHiijualcd aft Slrcptoniyccs, XocMrdia, 



or Mycohiicteriuin ((Sonloii jiiul Milim) 



shown in Table 10. These results are of 

 great significance in interpreting the identity 

 of a particular culture recei\ed under a 

 given name. 



Schneidau and Shaffer carried out com- 

 parative cultural studies with 51 cultures 

 received under the name of Nocardia, 10 

 cultures designated as Mycobacterium, and 

 four as Streytomijces. Characteristics that 

 appeared to be stable and of value for group 

 or specific identification were: (a) color of 

 the stroma under uniform cultural condi- 

 tions, (b) temperature tolerance, (c) hy- 

 drolysis of starch, (d) liquefaction of gelatin 

 and /or hydrolysis of casein. Such charac- 

 teristics as paraffin utilization, catalase ac- 

 tivity, or indol production appeared to be of 

 little value for identification inasmuch as 

 \irtually all strains studied behaved simi- 

 larly, irrespective of morphologic or other 

 physiologic differences. 



Inabilit}^ to produce a submerged myce- 

 lium appeared a useful criterion to distin- 

 guish strains of Mycobacterium from mark- 

 edly fragmenting Nocardia with which they 

 might otherwise be confused. Production of 

 aerial mycelium and diffusible pigment, de- 

 gree of fragmentation and acid-fastness, 

 hemolytic and urease activity have only 

 limited value as taxonomic criteria within 

 the genus Nocardia but may be helpful in 

 distinguishing among the genera Mycobac- 



terium, Nocardia, and Streptomyces. N . intra- 

 cellularis did not behave culturally like a 

 Nocardia but appeared more closely related 

 to the genus Mycobacterium (Table 11). 



Table 11 



Effect of composition of medium on aerial mycelium 

 formation by strains of Xocarditi and Myco- 

 bacterium (Schneidau and Shaffer) 



Aerial mycelium on 



Syn- Potato Sabou- Glyc- 

 thetic glucose raud's erol 

 agar agar agar agar 



A', asteroides -j- 



A'. asteroides + 



A', asteroides — 



iV. blackwellii — 



A'^. cuniculi — 



N . minima -|- 



A'. paraffinae -|- 



A^. pol ychromogenes -|- 



X. brnsiliensis -|- 



.V. brasiliensis -\- 



N . corallina — 



A", erytliropolis — 



N. yloberula — 



iV. opaca — 



N. leishmanii — 



A', madurae — 



A', madurae ^- 



A\ pelletieri — 



A^. ranyoonensis -|- 



A'. infrarrlhilaris — 



.1/. hiilyricuni — 



M. leprae — 



