[HARRISON & KENNEDY] DISCOLOURATION OF CODFISH 107 



No information is given as to the possibility of the growth of 

 this organism on salted cod, or salt media. 



Le Dan tec (17) described two degrees of redness, the first healthy 

 red cod, characterized by a red, non-viscous layer, easily lifted, and 

 which revealed healthy and firm muscular flesh beneath. Micro- 

 scopically algae, bacilli and cocci were present. The second degree 

 he called altered red cod, characterized by a viscous red matter, with 

 an alkaline reaction and a nauseating odour. Microscopically cocci, 

 associated with a Sarcina-like organism, which occurred in groups of 

 four, were present. In a moist chamber the alteration from the first 

 to the second degree would be accom-plished in two to three months. 



Le Dantec considered that the algae present, which he was 

 unable to obtain in pure culture, was the same organism described 

 by others under the various names of Clathrocystis, Protomycetes 

 and Algae, and that it had nothing to do with the red discolouration. 



In a petri dish made with gelatine and left for two or three months 

 Le Dantec found a red colony which was that of a motile bacillus, 

 with a spore at one end. Thereafter he used two methods for obtain- 

 ing red colonies. The first, he diluted a portion of the red cod in a 

 drop of broth, and made gelatine plates from this material. At the 

 end of two months he cut out pieces of the gelatine which had no 

 growth, and made a second plate; at the end of eight days he obtained 

 fine red colonies of the bacillus in a pure condition. 



The second method of isolation was by means of heat. Relying 

 on the resistant nature of the spores, he submitted some of the red 

 material broken up in sterilized water to the action of heat at 95°C. 

 for a minute, and then made plates and obtained his red organism 

 in pure culture. 



The red bacillus was of variable size. On codfish it varied from 

 4 to 12 yu or more in length, motile, with a terminal spore. Colonies 

 appeared as discs, pale red in the centre and darker at the margins. 

 Occasionally the red colour was uniform. The colony was full 

 grown in 12 days, when it was about two millimetres in diameter. 

 It gave a slow, funnel-shaped liquefaction in stick cultures, reddish in 

 colour; less colour on sloped agar. In broth it gave turbidity and a 

 greyish colour. On potato it grew badly. The colouring matter 

 was more abundant when grown at 10-15°C. than at incubator 

 temperatures. Sterilized codfish reddened less well after inoculation 

 than fresh cod. 



Le Dantec noticed that the red colour was more intense on the 

 salted side of the cod, and fewer spores were produced than in artificial 



