84 Journal of Agricultural Research voi. xxii, no. 2 



Corn's SOLUTION. — No growth. 



Uschinsky's solution. — Growth was somewhat irregular in the ordi- 

 nary Uschinsky's solution but was uniform and copious in the modified 

 Uschinsky's solution, clouding being very strong on the fifth day. 



Sodium chlorid in bouillon. — Growth slightly inhibited by 3 per 

 cent and more so by 4 per cent; no growth appeared in 5 per cent tubes 

 until the third day, and only occasional tubes containing 6 per cent were 

 clouded after 5 days. Morse reports no clouding for Bacillus atrosepti- 

 cus Van Hall in concentrations higher than 5 per cent. At the end of 

 two months, when conditions remained unchanged, transfers were made 

 from 6 per cent and 7 per cent sodium-chlorid cultures of the western 

 strains to sterile broth. In 48 hours all the transfers from 6 per cent 

 solutions showed growth, and in three days clouding appeared in the 

 majority of the transfers from the 7 per cent solutions, the remainder 

 being dead. 



Growth in bouillon over chloroform. — Growth somewhat re- 

 strained at first, but increasing gradually. On the fourth day there was 

 a strong and uniform clouding in all cultures. 



Best medium for long-continued growth. — Morse considers that 

 in the case of Bacillus atrosepticus neutral beef bouillon is best for this 

 purpose. In the western strains the writers observed that the organisms 

 can live even longer on the agar than on the broth when grown at ordinary 

 laboratory temperature of 22° to 25° C. Their death on agar appears 

 to be primarily associated with drying of the medium, while in broth it 

 seems to be due to certain chemical changes in the substratum and takes 

 place sometime before the liquid dries up completely. Six series of 

 parallel broth and agar cultures were made and tested at diff"erent inter- 

 vals, from 8 to 36 weeks, by making transfers to tubes of sterile broth. 

 It was found that occasional broth cultures showed a somewhat weak- 

 ened vitality, as demonstrated by retarded clouding, at the age of 16 

 weeks; some died after the expiration of 20 weeks, and none lived beyond 

 26 weeks. On the other hand, in no case was the agar culture dead 

 before 26 weeks, and some remained alive even after 36 weeks. The 

 experiment was carried on with 10 cc. of medium in each test tube. 



PHYSICAL and biochemical FEATURES 



Fermentation tubes. — Gas and acid production as well as growth 

 in the closed arm was observed with dextrose, lactose, and saccharose. 

 No acid and no gas with glycerin in cultures 1,3, and 5 days old. 



Ammonia production. — Feeble (tested by Folin's aspiration method). 



Nitrates in nitrate broth reduced to nitrites. 



Indol production. — Positive, but very feeble both in young and old 

 cultures. 



Toleration of hydrochloric acid and sodium hydrate. — The 

 writers' western organism grew in tubes having an initial reaction before 



