GREEN FLUORESCENT BACTERIA FROM WATER 73 



Morphology of strains 



All of the strains studied were motile rods, and usually grew 

 in chains. The cells used in studying the morphology were 

 young and were subcultured on plain agar slants before being 

 stained. The vegetative cells were both long and short rods 

 with rounded ends, some of them being distinguished from coccus 

 forms only with great difficulty. The agar slants were incu- 

 bated at 37°C. for twenty-four hours, and the study of mor- 

 phology was made from these smears stained with carbol fuchsin. 



The cells were measured by means of a Leitz filar micrometer, 

 but the size was not especially significant with these bacteria. 



Only four of the cultures showed spore formation. These 

 were 45, 47, 61, and 70. All of the strains possess a great simi- 

 larity, as is shown by the following group numbers. 



45 and 61 121.2332133 



47 121.2333133 



70 122.2333133 



Culture 70 differs from the other three spore formers in not 

 liquefying gelatin. Nitrate reduction is absent in strains 45 and 

 61. Three of them are from shallow wells, while 47 comes from 

 the Illinois River at Marseilles. A fluorescent spore forming 

 bacillus from water has recently been described by Laubach 

 (1916). The flagella were not studied and he may have been 

 working with a pseudomonas form. 



All of the strains were pseudomonads when Loeffler's method 

 was used for staining the flagella. Most of the cultures pos- 

 sessed a tuft of flagella on one end, while those with but 

 one flagellum were rare. The length of the flagella was not 

 measured. 



Motility was observed with each strain. A few failed to 

 show it upon first observation, but subsequent examinations, 

 however, gave ample proof of motility. 



The staining properties were not especially characteristic. 

 All cultures stained with the ordinary aqueous alcohol stains 

 and were Gram-negative. 



