MICROCOCCUS TETRAGENUS. 287 



tion a circumscribed white point, slightly elevated above 

 the surface and limited to the immediate neighborhood 

 of the point of inoculation. Down the needle-track the 

 growth is not continuous, but appears in isolated, round, 

 dense white clumps or beads, which do not develop be- 

 yond the size of very small points. 



It does not liquefy gelatin. 



Upon plates of nutrient agar-agar the colonies appear 

 as small, almost transparent, round points, which have 

 about the same color and appearance as a drop of egg- 

 albumin; they are very slightly opaque. They are 

 moist and glistening. They rarely develop to an 

 extent exceeding: 1 to 2 mm. in diameter. 



Upon agar-agar as stab- or slant-cultures the surface- 

 growth has more or less of a mucoid appearance. It 

 is moist, glistening, and irregularly outlined. The out- 

 line of the growth depends upon the moisture of the 

 agar-agar. It is slightly elevated above the surface of 

 the medium. 



In contradistinction to the gelatin stab-cultures, the 

 growth in agar-agar is continuous along the track of 

 the needle. 



The growth on potato is a thick, irregular, slimy- 

 looking patch. 



The presence of the transparent gelatinous substance 

 which is seen to surround these organisms renders them 

 coherent, so that efforts to take up a portion of a colony 

 from the agar-agar or potato cultures result usually in 

 drawing out fine, silky threads consisting of organisms 

 imbedded in this gelatinous material. 



The organism grows best at from 35° C. to 38° C, 

 but can be cultis'ated at the ordinary room temperature 

 —about 20° C. 



