298 



ORDER IV. EUBACTERIALES 



Broth: Turbid; thin pellicle; viscid sedi- 

 ment. Gives off ammonia. 



Litmus milk: Alkaline. No other detecta- 

 ble changes. 



Potato: Scant to abundant, yellowish 

 to brownish growth. No detectable acid or 

 gas produced from carbohydrates. 



Indole not produced. 



Nitrites may or may not be produced 

 from nitrates. 



Urea not hydrolyzed. 



The growth of this species has been tested 

 on 18 amino acids, 12 aliphatic amines, 4 

 amides, 5 miscellaneous organic nitrogen 

 compounds and 3 inorganic nitrogen com- 

 pounds. Only aspartic acid, asparagine, 

 histidine and glutathione supported suffi- 

 cient continued growth to give appreciable 

 turbidity in broth and a final pH close to 

 8.0. Almost all of the aliphatic amines were 

 toxic (Denault, Cleverdon and Kulp, Jour. 

 Bact., 66, 1953, 465). 



No characteristic odor. 



Aerobic. 



Optimum temperature, between 25° and 

 37° C. 



Relationships to other species: This pe- 

 ritrichous organism is very frequently con- 

 fused with a polar flagellate organism having 

 almost identical characters. The polar 

 flagellate species has been placed in the 

 genus Vibrio. See discussions under Vibrio 

 percolans Mudd and Warren and Vibrio 

 alcaligenes Lehmann and Neumann. 



Source: Isolated from feces, abscesses 

 related to the intestinal tract and occasion- 

 ally from the blood stream. Miles (Jour. 

 Gen. Microbiol., 4, 1950, 434) reports that 

 an organism having all the characteristics 

 of this species caused a fatal red leg in a 

 batch of European tree-frogs (Hyla arborea 

 L.) received at the London Zoological Gar- 

 dens. 



Habitat: Less commonly found in the 

 intestine than is Vibrio alcaligenes Leh- 

 mann and Neumann. Widely distributed 



in decomposing organic matter. Generally 

 considered to be non-pathogenic. 



2. Alcaligenes viscolactis (Mez, 

 Breed, comb, nov.* {Bacillus lactis viscosus 

 Adametz, Milchztg., 18, 1889, 941; also see 

 Landwirtschl. Jahrb., £0, 1891, 185; and 

 Cent. f. Bakt., 9, 1891, 698; Mez, Mikros- 

 kopische Wasseranalyse, Berlin, 1898, 61; 

 Alcaligenes viscosiis Weldin, Iowa State 

 Coll. Jour. Sci., 1, 1927, 186.) 



vis.co.lac'tis. L. noun viscum glue, bird- 

 lime; L. gen. noun lactis of milk; M.L. 

 viscolactis of slimy milk. 



Description taken from Long and Ham- 

 mer (Iowa State Coll. Jour, of Sci., 10, 1936, 

 262), supplemented by Dr. Rudolph Hugh, 

 Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois. 



Rods, 0.6 to 1.0 by 0.8 to 2.6 microns, 

 occurring singly, in pairs or in short chains. 

 Frequently found as almost spherical cells. 

 Non-motile. Capsules produced in milk 

 cultures. Gram-negative. 



Gelatin colonies: Small, gray becoming 

 yellowish. 



Gelatin stab : White surface growth, some- 

 times with villous growth in stab. No lique- 

 faction. 



Agar colonies: After 3 to 4 days, circular, 

 4 to 6 mm in diameter, white, viscid, shin- 

 ing, entire. 



Agar slant: Abundant, white, spreading, 

 viscid, shining growth. 



Broth: Turbid with thin pellicle and 

 some sediment. Ropiness generally pro- 

 duced. 



Litmus milk: Ropiness produced. Pellicle 

 formed. Alkaline. No coagulation. 



Potato: Moderatel}^ heavy, dirty white, 

 spreading, shining growth. 



Indole not produced. 



Hydrogen sulfide not produced. 



Acid production from carbohydrates 

 slight, if at all. 



Lipolytic. 



Methyl red test negative. 



Acetylmethylcarbinol not produced. 



* The discovery that Mez (1898) used a binomial for this species before Weldin did in 

 1927 has made it necessary to propose a new combination. The specific epithet viscolactis, 

 which is derived directly from the epithets in the original trinomial. Bacillus lactis viscosus 

 Adametz, 1889, is in reality to be preferred over the much-used epithet viscosus. In the genus 

 Bacterium, in which Alcaligenes viscolactis is frequently placed, the epithet viscosum has 

 been applied to at least five quite different species of bacteria. 



