378 Journal of Agricultural Research vol. xx, No. ^ 



the growth was fairly luxuriant, producing a distinct cloudiness after 24 

 hours' incubation. The other type of Gram-positive coccus encountered 

 grew more luxuriantly on plain agar slants and was found upon staining 

 to occur in irregular clusters. The several obligate anaerobes were inoc- 

 ulated into milk and into the meat medium of Holman. 1 One culture 

 digested the meat with a distinct putrefactive odor. The remaining five 

 caused neither putrefaction of meat nor stormy fermentation of milk. 

 Dextrose was attacked with acid and gas production. Up to the present 

 time they have not been studied further. 



Flora oe swelled cans. — The flora of swelled cans was found to con- 

 sist largely of members of the colon group, for of 85 swelled cans studied 

 this group was obtained from 75, and from 40 of these in apparently pure 

 culture. In the others they were found in mixed culture with the several 

 types of Coccaceae, the aerobic, Gram-positive, spore-forming bacilli, or, 

 more rarely, with an obligate anaerobe, with Proteus, or with a yeast. 

 In three instances spoilage, with resultant swelling of the can, was 

 evidently due to spore-forming anaerobes only. In one instance Proteus 

 was found in pure culture. A few of the swelled cans yielded cultural 

 results from which no evidence could be gathered as to the type of 

 organism causing gas formation within the can. Thus, an aerobic, 

 spore-forming, Gram-positive rod was the only type obtained from 2 

 swelled cans, while from 2 others Gram-positive cocci were obtained in 

 pure culture. Since none of these organisms attacked carbohydrates 2 

 with gas production, it is evident that the gas-producer had disappeared 

 or was overlooked. 



Normal containers. — As previously shown, 8 normal cans and 11 

 normal glass containers were found to contain living microorganisms. 

 Four of these 8 normal cans yielded cultures of the colon group. The 

 others contained cocci and several types of aerobic, spore-forming bacilli. 

 The finding of members of the colon group in 4 of the normal cans was 

 rather surprising. Evidently for some unknown reason the bacilli failed 

 to multiply to any extent in these cans. Without exception, the types 

 encountered in the normal glass jars were aerobic, spore-forming, Gram- 

 positive rods. Several were identified as Bacillus mesentericus and one 

 as Bacillus cereus. 



Spoiled glass jars. — The flora of the spoiled glass jars was as a rule 

 more varied and complex than that of the swelled cans. The contents 

 of several jars were obviously spoiled and disintegrated to a mushy con- 

 sistency with a disagreeable odor, unrecognizable as that of olives. These 

 yielded a diversity of types of which the following are illustrative : 



" Holman, W. L. the value of a cooked meat medium for routine and special bacteriology. 

 In Jour. Bact., v. 4, no. 2, p. 149-155. 1919- References, p. 155. 



8 Chemical analyses by the Food Control Laboratory of the Bureau ol Chemistry showed the liquor in 

 which the olives were packed to contain from o. 16 to 0.23 per cent reducing sugars after inversion, expressed 

 as percentage of invert sugar. 



