544 Marine Microbiology 



were highly variable. The dominant flora of freshly voided chick 

 feces consisted of diphtheroids and gram-negative rods in con- 

 trast to the desiccated feces which contained a "soil-like" flora 

 of Mycococcus albus subsp. lactis and Bacillus sphaericus. The 

 guano pool contained Micrococcus species and Achromohacter 

 guttafus while a recently vacated nest and old nest guano were 

 dominated by Bacillus pwnilus and Bacillus tinakiensis respec- 

 tively. These latter two organisms were proteolytic while most 

 of the other isolates were only saccharolytic. 



A second ringed penguin rookery containing birds past the 

 nesting stage was studied at Deception Island (63°00' S; 60°45' 

 W on 14 February 1959). The data are summarized in Table 3. 

 The volcanic ash which covers most of this crater island appar- 

 ently prevents the accumulation of guano which did not exceed 

 a quarter inch in depth in most areas of the rookery. In contiast to 

 the other rookeries, the alkaline samples were devoid of antibac- 

 terial activity, and the total bacterial counts of the different 

 samples varied considerably. Unlike most pygoscelid penguins 

 studied, the pooled sample (M) of adult and chick feces was 

 dominated by lactose-feiTnenting strains of E. coli. Material from 

 the vacant nest (sample N) contained a mixed flora of Sarcina, 

 Micrococci and Mycococcus species as well as the proteolytic 

 organism, Bacillus tinakiensis. The "soil" on a steep incline of a 

 ridge high above the rookery (sample O), which was free of 

 direct penquin contamination, contained a dominant Mycococcus 

 flora (10' organisms per gm.) and a minor population of E. coli 

 (6xl0"/gm). However the "soil" between nests (sample P) had 

 only a small population (lOVgni) of fastidious organisms. The 

 "soil" in a ravine between nesting areas (sample Q) contained 

 a mixed "soil" and "fecal" flora of 10' organisms per gm. An ad- 

 jacent pond which was green with an algal bloom was free of 

 detectable bacteria. 



DISCUSSION 



The nutritional and temperature requirements of marine 

 bacteria in the phytoplankton rich waters of Antarctica require 

 further study. The ability of marine bacteria to use algal acids 

 such as acrylic and acetic as a carbon source indicates that the ap- 



