71 



duction) by the growth; the milk remains fluid for 

 about a week, after that date it becomes firmly clotted. The 

 vibrio when injected intraperitoneally into the guinea-pig in 

 very minute doses a loopful of a recent agar surface growth 

 causes acute peritonitis and death, the turbid peritoneal 

 exudation being crowded with the vibrio, and the intestines 

 much inflamed. 



As stated above, the vibrio is motile ; it is distinctly 

 shorter than the cholera vibrio, and is possessed of one or 

 two short terminal flagella. It does not become agglutinated 

 with blood serum of an animal protected by cholera vibrio. 

 Owing to its having been obtained from a cockle, I have named 

 it vibrio cardii* (cardium edule the common cockle). As I 

 have not had opportunity of making further analysis in this 

 direction of cockles of other localities, I am at present 

 unable to attribute to this vibrio any particular diagnostic 

 value. 



(d.) A third group of microbes forming " blue " or 

 "bluish" colonies on Drigalski medium, which can be 

 isolated from ordinary crude sewage and from human faecal 

 matter, and which are not to be met with in clean oysters, 

 comprises various species, but none of them are to be mis- 

 taken for either B. typhosus or B. Gaertner, as will presently 

 be described. Some of these species are such as occur in 

 filth of various kinds, and, therefore, cannot be considered 

 as diagnostic for sewage or fsecals, but we will consider 

 them here nevertheless, because they are not microbes of 

 shellfish per se. 



(1.) First and foremost are bright blue colonies, which 

 already after 24 hours at 37 C. can be noticed with the unaided 

 eye as distinctly blue, flat, roundish patches ; after another 24 

 hours their margin becomes fringed, filmy, and rapidly spread- 

 ing. Examined in the hanging drop, they appear as rapidly 

 motile cylindrical bacilli, but they give no sign of agglutina- 

 tion with typhoid blood serum. Making a sub-culture on 

 gelatine they are seen to rapidly liquefy the gelatine ; they are, 

 in fact, the common Proteus vulgaris. 



* " Centralblatt f. Bakteriologie," 1905. 



