M. LEVINE . 



There were 12 strains of B. alkalescens and 11 of B. dispar. These were 

 received from Dr. Andrews or freshly isolated in laboratories of the A. E. F. 



Of the 6 miscellaneous strains two (37 and 57) were marked B. ambiguus. 

 They produced a green fluorescence in broth and on gelatin and were so different 

 culturally from the strains of B. ambiguus received from Dr. Andrews that it 

 seems they should not be considered as of the same group. Two cultures (48 

 and 108) were marked B. dys. Sonne. They did not agglutinate with the Flexner 

 or Y serums available. Lactose was fermented with acid formation and then 

 became alkaline. Milk was turned acid but not coagulated. These cultures 

 resemble markedly some of the B. dispar of Andrews, at least culturally. One 

 strain, 3, supposedly a Shiga, produced acid from sucrose and gave indol. It 

 was not agglutinated with a Shiga serum. Another strain, 97, differed from 

 all of the other cultures studied in that it fermented the glucoside salicin with a 

 strong acidity in 24 hours. 



AGGLUTINATION WITH FLEXNER AND Y SERUMS 



Agglutination was made with living 24-hour broth cultures of 59 strains. 

 The strains of B. dys. Shiga, B. alkalescens, and B. dispar were not agglutinated 

 by either of the serums. B. dys. Sonne (48) and one of the English B. flexneri Z 

 race (53), were also not agglutinated. It was noticed that the Z and X races 

 of B. flexneri were only agglutinated in the low dilutions, and that (13 and 38) 

 the original Mt. Desert Y and the Oxford Y strain, respectively, were not 

 agglutinated even in 1 : 100 by the Y serum employed. From these observations 

 it appears quite evident that what is regarded as trje Y type of dysentery in 

 different laboratories is not of the same serologic group. 



BIOCHEMICAL REACTIONS (TABLE 1) 



All strains were gram-negative short rods, and nonmotile as determined in 

 semisolid agar (0.5% agar in broth). 



TABLE 1 



ACID PRODUCTION AND INDOL (PERCENTAGE OF POSITIVE REACTIONS) BY DYSENTERY AND 



CLOSELY ALLIED BACILLI 



* Slight acidity in 5-7 days but more alkaline than PH 7.0. 

 t Includes all mannite fermenting true dysentery bacilli. 



Tests for acid production were made on glucose, mannitol, lactose, glycerol, 

 sucrose, dextrin, arabinose, dulcitol, rhamnose, xylose, raffinose and salicin. 

 The medium employed consisted of 1% peptone, and 0.4% dipotassium phosphate 

 with 1% of the test material. The rosolic acid-china blue mixture of Bronfen- 

 brenner was the indicator. Incubation was at the body temperature, and obser- 

 vations were made daily for 7 days. 



The indol reaction was determined from peptone water after 5 days' incu- 

 bation by the nitroso-indol reaction. Litmus milk was observed for 13 days 



Table 1 indicates that the 5 main types of dysentery and dysentery-like 

 organism may be readily differentiated by fermentation and indol reactions 



