FAMILY VI. BACTEROIDACEAE 



443 



2. Require serum or ascitic fluid for growth. 

 a. Gelatin not liquefied, 

 b. Acid from glucose. 



15. Sphaerophorus abscedens. 

 bb. No acid from glucose. 



16. Sphaerophorus caviae. 

 aa. Gelatin liquefied slowly. 



17. Sphaerophorus glycohjticus. 

 II. Motile. ^\xh-gen\xs Sphaerocillus Pr6vot {loc. cit.). 



18. Sphaerophorus bullosus. 



1. Sphaerophorus necrophorus (Fliigge, 

 1886) Pr^vot, 1938. (Bacillus der Kalber- 

 diphtherie, Loeffler, Mitteil. kaiserl. Gesund- 

 heitsamte, B, 1884, 493; Bacillus diphtheriae 

 vitulorum Fliigge, Die Mikroorganismen, 

 2 Aufl., 1886, 265; Bacillus necrophorus 

 Fliigge, ibid., 273; Streptothrix cuniculi 

 Schmorl, Deutsch. Ztschr. f. Tiermed., 

 17, 1891, 376; Bacillus funduliformis Hall6, 

 Inaug. Diss., Paris, 1898; Bacillus theto- 

 ides Rist, These de Paris, 1898; Actinomyces 

 necrophorus Lehmann and Neumann, Bakt. 

 Diag., 2 Aufl., 2, 1899, 434; Cohnistreptothrix 

 cuniculi Chalmers and Christopherson, 

 Ann. Trop. Med., 10, 1916, 273; Bactero- 

 ides funduliformis Bergey et al.. Manual, 3rd 

 ed., 1930, 373; Pr6vot, Ann. Inst. Past., 60, 

 1938, 298; Spherophorus funduliformis Pre- 

 vot, loc. cit.; Bacterium funduliforme Dack, 

 Jour. Inf. Dis., 62, 1938, 169; Necrobacter- 

 ium necrophorus (sic) Jonsen and Thj0tta, 

 Acta Path, et Microbiol. Scand., 25, 1948, 

 698.) 



ne.cro'pho.rus. Gr. adj. necrus dead; Gr. 

 adj. phorus bearing; M.L. adj. necrophorus 

 necrosis-producing. 



Rods, 0.5 to 1.5 by 1.5 to 3.0 microns in 

 pathological processes. Extremely pleo- 

 morphic, especially in cultures, showing 

 filamentous forms up to 80 to 100 microns in 

 length and even branching forms, as re- 

 ported by some authors. Schmorl (Deutsch. 

 Ztschr. f. Tiermed., 17, 1891, 376) states that 

 the short forms are motile, whereas Lahelle 

 {Necrobacterium, Oslo, 1947, 166) and other 

 recent investigators report this species to 

 be non-motile and non-flagellated. Gram- 

 negative. 



Foul odor produced in all media. 



Gelatin: No liquefaction. 



Agar colonies: Small, circular, opaque. 



dirty white; yellowish center under low 

 power lens; floccose margin. 



Agar stab : Yellowish colonies along needle 

 track; gas bubbles are produced. 



Blood agar: Hemolysis of human and 

 rabbit erythrocytes; weak hemolysis of ox 

 erythrocytes; no hemolysis of horse, sheep 

 or goat erythrocytes. 



Broth: Turbid, flocculent growth; gas and 

 a cheese-like odor are produced. 



Litmus milk: Coagulation then digestion 

 of the coagulum; neutral reaction after 1 

 week. 



Coagulated egg white: No digestion. 



Indole is produced. 



Hydrogen sulfide is produced. 



Acid and gas from glucose, fructose and 

 maltose. No acid or gas from lactose, su- 

 crose, mannitol or glycerol. 



Nitrites not produced from nitrates. 



Ammonia not produced. 



Anaerobic. 



Temperature relations: Optimum, be- 

 tween 30° and 40° C. No growth at 21° or at 

 45° C. Sparse growth at 22° and at 44° C. 



Optimum pH, between 7.5 and 7.8. 



Hemotoxin is produced. 



Pathogenicity: Some strains are patho- 

 genic for rabbits, guinea pigs and mice but 

 not for white rats. 



Comments: Dack, Dragstedt, Johnson 

 and McCullough (Jour. Inf. Dis., 62, 1938, 

 169) made a comparative study of Sphaero- 

 phorus funduliformis and Sphaerophorus 

 necrophorus with respect to their growth re- 

 quirements, their colonial morphologies, 

 their cell morphologies on different media, 

 their biochemical reactions, their patho- 

 genicities for rabbits and their abilities to 

 ulcerate the colons of experimental animals. 

 Their study indicated that no distinction 

 exists between these two organisms. Al- 



