SERIES AM) SPECIES OF GENUS STREPTOMYCES 



119 



Table 11 

 Comparativi characters of Streptomyces albus at 



gelatin. The aerial mycelium was produced 

 readily, the medium remaining colorless. 



The spores were oval, 1 ju in size. ( lela- 

 tin was liquefied. Nitrate was reduced. The 

 culture had no diastatic action on starch. 



Waksman and Curtis (1916) isolated from 

 soil cultures of an organism considered to 

 be .1. albus. It was similar to thai of Krain- 

 sky, although the exact identity of the two 

 was doubted. The diagnosis of Krainsky 

 was, therefore, amended. The aerial my- 

 celium appeared either white or gray, ac- 

 cording to the composition of the medium; 

 the substrate growth varied from white to 

 gray. The sporophores produced short and 

 rare spirals. The spores were 1 .'_' to 1.6 by 

 1.1 to 1.4 ft. The culture was nonchromo- 

 genic, hydrolyzed starch, reduced nitrate, 

 and liquefied gelatin. Jensen (1931) also 



isolated a culture of A. albus from soil. The 

 aerial mycelium was constantly white, and 

 the substrate growth cream-colored or 

 yellow-ochre. The culture was said to pro- 

 duce cylindrical spores, 0.1 to 0.5 by 2.4 ju. 



Duche" (1934) created an excessively 

 broad "A. albus group." He was severely 

 criticized by Baldacci (1939), who said thai 

 "if it is meant by 'albus group' those species 

 that produce white aerial mycelium in cul- 

 ture, they are many more in numbers than 

 those described by Duche\ These are also 



the 'viridis' species and those thai -how 

 analogy with the 'flavus' form-." Baldacci 

 further emphasized thai A. albus is a well 

 characterized species thai doe- not permit 

 confusion with others, while the "albus 

 group" of Duche comprised 18 species, of 

 which 15 were new one-; among these were 



