GENUS BACTERIUM 



301 



described as the cause of this action. 4 He has found this bac- 

 terium in corn meal, cow feces, and soil. He also found that 

 it was present in the mouth of 17 out of 21 cows examined. He 

 concludes that this bacterium is not a plant parasite but 

 rather a harmless inhabitant of the cow's mouth and possibly 

 of the stomach and intestines. 



Morphology. According to 

 Conn, Esten and Stocking, it 

 is a rod varying from 0.7 to 

 1.2 /x in length by 0.5 to 0.8 /* 

 in diameter. Sometimes it 

 appears so short as to be de- 

 scribed as a streptococcus 

 when arranged in chains and 

 as a micrococcus when it ap- 

 pears singly. Spores have 

 not been found. Migula's de- Fig ' 63 ' Bacterium lactis 



..;,:. -x ' -U acidi (Esten). X 5500. 



scription shows it to be a 



much larger organism and it has been stated that the one 



