[SADLER] A SLIME-PRODUCING ORGANISM 69 



cultures of B. œrogenes isolated from milk and the air of the cow stable 

 respectively, which produce slimy milk; these were both actively 

 motile, and indol positive; the strain isolated by me is non-motile and 

 indol negative. Buchanan and Hammer (1915)^^ have made an 

 important contribution to the literature of slime production. They 

 have obtained cultures of bacteria which have already been des- 

 cribed, have presented descriptions of thirty-three species of bacteria 

 associated with sliminess in milk, and have attempted to clear up 

 synonymy. Under the type B. œrogenes, the authors discuss the 

 descriptions of previous workers, and give details of three strains on 

 which they worked in their own laboratories. The variety I have 

 described differs from the three strains noted by Buchanan and 

 Hammer in that the former ferments both inulin and starch to acid 

 and gas; whereas each of the latter are alkaline to starch and one is 

 alkaline to inulin. The reaction to dulcite, adonit, sorbite, arabinose, 

 xylose, aesculin, and dextrine are not recorded by Buchanan and 

 Hammer. 



Hammer (1916)'^ in working with milk, and starters, isolated 

 organisms of the colon- œrogenes group, two strains of whic^ oroduced 

 ropiness in milk; these strains produced gas in dulcite ana glycerine, 

 but no gas was produced in inulin. The description I have given 

 records the fermentation of glycerine and inulin to acid and profusely 

 to gas in 24 hours at 37°C., the fermentation of starch to acid and gas, 

 and the action on dulcite as variable. The variable reaction with 

 dulcite raises the question as to whether the organism is according to 

 Jackson a variety of B. œrogenes or an atypical form of B. coli (Esche- 

 rich)^^. Considering, however, the cultural features and biochemical 

 reactions (en masse), the proper classification would be a variety of 

 the B. œrogenes (Escherich) differing in certain reactions, as far as 

 descriptions are available, from the varieties cited above. 



