12 FREDERICK EBERSON 



This same species is met with in an earlier work on dysentery by Kruse 

 and Pasquale. They isolated from the heart blood and mesenteric fluid in 

 oases of Egyptian dysentery an organism which they call "B. clavatus." It is 

 not described in any way as to warrant its recognition as a species. The char- 

 acters enumerated by Fliigge make it invalid as a type of corynebacteria. 



SPORE-FORMING DIPHTHEROID OF DE SIMONI 



Isolated from nasal secretion in case of ozena. Said to form spores only 

 when grown in milk or on potato. Facultative anaerobe. Grows luxuriantly 

 in dextrose, lactose and maltose broth with slight acid formation. 



The author was undoubtedly misled by the appearance of an impure culture. 

 The illustration given in his article shows a complete transformation from a 

 typical diphtheroid of slender and unevejnly staining aspect to a blunt spore- 

 bearing rod in older cultures. This is highly improbable, yet were it absolutely 

 authentic, one should not be inclined to class this species with the diphtheria 

 group for reasons outlined previously. 



B. DIPHTHEROIDES 



Described by Klein. Isolated from purulent secretion of udder of cow. 

 Organism fails to grow below 25 C. Growth on agar slow and sparse, aerobic. 

 On serum grows best at 37 C., producing white colonies. It is oval or spherical 

 in form with a deeply staining center. Club-shaped forms present, gram- 

 positive. Produces abscess in guinea-pigs after subcutaneous or intraperito- 

 neal inoculation. The organism dies within a week when grown on artificial 

 mediums. 



This diphtheroid, according to the few cultural characters given, is in all 

 likelihood identical with C. pyogenes (Glage). The description is too meager 

 to warrant retaining it as a distinct species. The fact that the organism died 

 so readily on artificial mediums indicates that it resembled the hemoglobino- 

 philic type of which Glage's is an example. 



B. VARIABILIS LYMPHAE VACCINALIS 



This is the first of several descriptions of a species associated with the vac- 

 cine pustules of calves. Nakanishi, in 1900, reported on an organism which he 

 isolated from a vaccine pustule. It is club-shaped, coccoid, segmented or 

 branched. Stains poorly with Gram, facultative anaerobe, nonmotile. Central 

 granule noted when stained with warm fuschin. Growth on serum is abundant. 

 Pale yellow or orange-yellow pigment produced. Poor growth on gelatin. 

 Spore-formation is questionable. The name of this species is not a binomial 

 and therefore may be discarded. A somewhat later and more adequate descrip- 

 tion by Levy and Fickler is invalid, however, for the same reason. Their 

 organisms were found to be identical with that of Nakanishi and possessed 

 pyogenic properties for guinea-pigs, mice and rabbits. The name given to the 

 species by these authors is Corynebact. lymphae vaccinalis. It is definitely 

 gram-positive. In 1904 this species is met with as Coryneb. pyogenes, so 

 described by Lewandowsky who published a paper almost simultaneously with 

 Galli-Valerio. The last named author found his species to be identical with 

 Nakanishi's and that of Levy and Fickler. Galli-Valerio proposes the name 

 Coryneb. vaccinae (Galli-Valerio). Lewandowsky's designation is a binomial 

 and valid. Galli-Valerio gave no reasons for rejecting a prior description and 

 was apparently unaware of Lewandowsky's work which appeared at the same 



