44 



BACTERIOLOGY OF THE OYSTER. 



mucus, we find that there were volume for volume more than ten 

 times as many B. coli on the body of the oyster as there were in the 

 shell liquor. The question arises at once as to whether this unequal 

 distribution of B. coli among the other bacteria in these two parts 

 of the oyster is real or only apparent. It may be due to the difference 

 in methods of analysis. With our present knowledge of the bacterio- 

 logy of the oyster the writer is led to believe that this relation does 

 not actually exist, but is due to the difference in methods used to 

 determine the total number of bacteria and the number of B. coli. 



Another point which appears interesting to the writer is that there 

 is apparently a direct relation between the temperature of the water 

 from which the oysters are taken and the relative number of B. coli 

 found in the shell liquor and on the body of the oyster. It will be 

 noticed that in the first three experiments there were a great many 

 more B. coli on the body of the oyster than in the shell liquor, but 

 this proportion is gradually reduced and in the sixth and eighth experi- 

 ments there were more B. coli in the shell liquor than were found on 

 the bodies of the oysters. The ratio of the total number of bacteria 

 in the shell liquor to the total number washed from the bodies of the 

 oysters in each sample is shown in the following table : 



Table Arranged According to Temperature Showing the Approximate Ratio of the 



Total Number of Bacteria in the Shell Liquor to the Number in the Wash- 



ings from the Bodies of the Oysters in each Sample. 



A long series of experiments necessitating the examination of a 

 great number of oysters and extending over a whole year would be 

 required to establish this relationship. However, this supposition 

 is not so different from what we might expect when we consider the 



