VIBRIO METCHNIKOVI. 407 



agaia it is seen to be shorter. It is usually more dis- 

 tinctly curved than the " comma bacillus." (Fig. 84.) 



It is supplied with a single flagellum at one of its 

 extremities, and is, therefore, motile. 



It does not form spores. 



It is aerobic. 



Its growth upon gelatin plates is usually character- 

 ized, according to Pfeiffer, by the appearance of two 

 kinds of liquefying colonies, one strikingly like those 

 of the Finkler-Prior organism, the other very similar 

 to those produced by Koch's comma bacillus, though in 

 both cases the liquefaction resulting from the growth of 

 this organism is more energetic than that common to 

 the spirillum of Asiatic cholera. After from twenty- 

 four to thirty hours the medium-sized colonies, when 

 examined under a low power of the microscope, show a 

 yellowish-brown, ragged central mass surrounded by a 

 /.one of liquefaction that is marked by a border of deli- 

 cate radii. (Fig. 85.) 



Fig. 85. 



Colony of vibrio Metchnikovi ia gelatin, after thirty hours at 20P to 22" C. 

 X about 75 diameters. 



In gelatin stab-cultures the growth has much the 

 same general appearance as that of the cholera spiril- 

 lum, but is very much exaggerated in degree. The lique- 

 faction is far more rapid, and the characteristic appear- 

 ance of the growth is lost in from three to four days. 

 (See a, 6, c, d, Fig. 86.) Development and liquefaction 



