FAMILY XIII. BACILLACEAE 



691 



in a barely perceptible film or in tiny, 

 smooth, discrete colonies. 



Egg yolk agar surface colonies: Small, 

 circular to slightly irregular, moist, smooth, 

 creamy white, without precipitate or luster. 



Blood agar surface colonies (aerobic) : 

 Minute, round dew-drops. Hemolysis. 



Broth: Turbid; slight precipitate. 



Litmus milk: Softly coagulated, then 

 slowly digested. Little gas is produced. 



Indole not produced. 



Carbohydrates not fermented. 



Nitrites not produced from nitrates. 



Coagulated albumin: Slow liquefaction. 



Blood serum: Slow liquefaction with dark- 

 ened, putrid fluid. 



Brain medium: Blackening and digestion; 

 putrefactive odor. 



Egg-meat medium: Little gas is produced. 

 Meat first reddened then darkened in 3 days. 

 Digestion apparent in about 24 hours. Nau- 

 seous odor. Tyrosine crystals are abundant 

 after about a week. 



Anaerobic, aerotolerant, growing feebly 

 on aerobic agar slant. 



Grows well at 37° C. 



A cjtolytic exotoxin is produced which 

 causes extensive local necrosis and sloughing 

 on injection. Not toxic on feeding. 



Produces at least three antigenic com- 

 ponents in toxic culture filtrates: (1) alpha, 

 lethal and necrotizing toxin, (2) beta, col- 

 lagenase, and (3) cysteine-activated pro- 

 teinase which attacks altered collagen (hide- 

 powder or azocoll) but not native collagen 

 (Oakley and Warrack, Jour. Gen. Micro- 

 biol., 4, 1950, 365). Produces an oxygen- 

 labile hemolysin (Howard, Brit. Jour. Exp. 

 Path., 34, 1953, 564). 



Pathogenic for small laboratory animals. 



Source: Originally isolated from war 

 wounds, where it induces active necrosis of 

 tissue. Found occasionally in feces and soil. 



Habitat: Not determined. Apparently 

 widely but sparsely dispersed in soil. 



91. Clostridium lacunarum Pr^vot, 

 1948. (Ann. Inst. Past., 74, 1948, 166.) 



la.cu.na'rum. L. fem.n. lacuna a ditch, 

 pit or hole, especially one in which water is 

 apt to collect, a lagoon; L. fem.gen.pl.n. 

 lacunarum of lagoons. 



Straight or curved rods, 0.9 by 4.0 mi- 

 crons, with rounded ends, occurring singly, 

 in pairs or in short chains. Subterminal, 

 ovoid, clostridial spores, 1.5 by 2.0 microns. 

 Encapsulated. Weakly motile. Gram-posi- 

 tive. 



Gelatin: Liquefaction. 



Agar deep colonies: Lenticular; gas is 

 produced. 



Peptone broth: Slightly turbid. 



VF glucose broth: Abundantly turbid; 

 abundant sediment. 



Milk: Not coagulated; not changed. 



Indole and skatole not produced. 



Hydrogen sulfide produced. 



Glucose, fructose, maltose, lactose, galac- 

 tose and sucrose are strongly fermented. 

 Mannitol weaklj^ fermented. 



Nitrites produced from nitrates in the 

 presence of mannitol. 



Coagulated proteins: Not attacked. 



Anaerobic, aerotolerant. 



Optimum temperature, 37° C. 



Not pathogenic for guinea pigs. 



Source : Isolated from mud from an Afri- 

 can lagoon. 



Habitat: Presumably mud. 



92. Clostridium tertium (Henry, 1916) 

 Bergey et al., 1923. (Bacillus teriius Henry, 

 Jour. Path, and Bact., 21, 1916, 347; Bergey 

 et al.. Manual, 1st ed., 1923, 332.) 



ter'ti.um. L. adj. tertius third. 



Rods, 0.4 to 0.6 by 3.0 to 6.0 microns, oc- 

 curring singly and in pairs, not in chains. 

 Spores ovoid, terminal, swelling the cells. 

 Motile. Gram-positive. 



Gelatin: No liquefaction. 



Agar surface colonies (aerobic) : Circular 

 with opalescent, crenated margin. 



Agar deep colonies: Small, lenticular, 

 regular, smooth. 



Agar slant (aerobic) : Grayish, filmy, 

 opalescent growth. 



Broth: Turbid; sediment. 



Litmus milk: Acid; coagulated; some gas 

 is produced. Clot not digested. 



Indole not produced. 



Acid and gas from glucose, fructose, galac- 

 tose, mannose, lactose, maltose, sucrose, 

 arabinose, xylose, trehalose, melezitose, 

 soluble starch, esculin, mannitol, inositol 



