BACTERIAL GROUPS IN DECOMPOSING SALMON 545 



carbohydrate media would identify as species or strains those 

 forms which ferment the sugars but for the purposes of this 

 investigation it has been considered sufficient simply to deter- 

 mine the group to which they belong. The studies of Winslow, 

 Kligler and Rothberg (1919) on the classification of the colon- 

 typhoid group and the work of Levine (1918) on the classification 

 of the colon-cloacae group make it possible to identify those 

 bacteria which produce acid, gas, or both, in glucose and lactose. 

 On the other hand the inadequate descriptions in the literature 

 of the non-fermenting bacteria from soil and water made it 

 very difficult to identify unknown organisms of this kind. 



In table 1 are tabulated the cultural reactions of 20 organisms 

 which liquefy gelatin. Of these 13 have been identified as 

 resembling Bad. cloacae (Jordan, 1890) in that they are small, 

 Gram negative, gelatin-liquefying bacilli which produce acid 

 and gas in glucose, lactose and sucrose, give a positive Voges- 

 Proskauer and a negative methyl red reaction. Eight of these 

 13 cultures differ from the type in the production of indol. 



Of the remaining 7 cultures described in table 1, 3 are very 

 similar to Bad. formosum as described by Ravenel (1896) while 

 the other 4 resemble nothing described in the literature and 

 evidently belong in a group of unidentified water and soil bacteria. 



The reactions given in table 2 show that of these 17 cultures 

 3 resemble Bad. coli, 2 Bad. communior and 3 Bad. aerogenes. 

 The reaction in litmus milk in each case is not always character- 

 istic but the reactions in glucose, lactose and sucrose broths 

 and the results of the methyl red and Voges Proskauer tests 

 would place them in the groups indicated. Culture 70 closely 

 resembles Bad. alcaligenes. The remaining 8 cultures in this 

 table somewhat resemble a number of organisms described by 

 Chester (1901) in a group of motile, Gram-negative, non-liquefy- 

 ing bacteria from soil and water which form no spores and do 

 not ferment any of the carbohydrates. The original descriptions 

 of these bacteria, however, are inadequate for identification of 

 the organisms studied. Until further work is done on this group, 

 therefore, they cannot be designated other than as belonging to 

 a large group of unidentified bacteria from the water and soil. 



