358 BACILLI OF NO KNOWN PATHOGENIC PROPERTIES. 



oval spores, arranged like a string of beads, appear in eacli 

 rod ; these spores project in part beyond the contour of 

 the bacillus, and, when brought into accurate focus, 

 show a distinct dirty red colour. The spores also retain 

 the red colour after staining the rods, for example, with 

 methylene blue. The bacilli form whitish colonies on 

 gelatine which are circular under a low power, with 

 irregular but sharp outlines. The opaque brownish 

 centre is surrounded b} 7 a greenish-yellow lighter mar- 

 ginal zone ; the surface shows faintly marked radiating 

 lines. As the colonies spread on the surface of the 

 gelatine their border becomes very irregular and dentate, 

 and from the dark centre radiating lines, now much 

 more distinct, run in a wavy manner towards the peri- 

 phery, implying wrinkling of the layer. At the same 

 time a greenish-yellow fluorescing colour appears around 

 each colony. In puncture cultivations a somewhat 

 plentiful growth occurs along the whole canal, chiefly, 

 however, at the surface ; the whole of the gelatine 

 gradually assumes a greenish colour by transmitted 

 light, and yellowish by reflected light, this colour 

 spreading from above. On potatoes a slight deposit is 

 formed, at first of a reddish hue, and later of a brownish 

 nut colour. 



Bacillus JiiLoresccns liquefaciens. 



Liquefying This organism occurs extremely frequently in a great 

 vai 'i e ty of putrefying substrata, in water, &c. It pre- 

 sents the form of short mobile bacilli arranged in pairs, 

 and constricted in the middle ; spore formation has not 

 been seen. On gelatine plates it forms whitish points 

 which spread at the surface in the form of fairly large 

 colonies, attaining even as much as 3 mm. in diameter ; 

 at the same time a ring-shaped liquefied zone appears 

 around each colony. Under a low power irregularly 

 circular, and later sinuate colonies with sharp outlines 

 are observed ; the centre is dark brown, finely granular, 

 and surrounded by a yellow finely granular zone, which 

 becomes whitish-grey and transparent towards the 



