MICROCOCCUS ROSEUS. 191 



Agar Streak. — Growth spreads little, smooth border, 

 wavy. Water of condensation clear, reddish sediment 



en, n). 



Bouillon Culture. — Clear (only rarely more or less 

 cloudy). Sediment reddish, abundant, and coherent. 



Milk Culture. — Usually unchanged. 



Potato Culture. — Limited to streak, faint rose, with 

 oily luster, somewhat elevated, often surrounded by a whit- 

 ish, glistening zone (11, x). 



Special Nutrient Media. — If theMicr. roseus is grown 

 upon the culture of a representative of the subtilis or 

 anthrax group its colonies grow considerably more lux- 

 uriantly and take on a more intense color (11, ix). 

 (Doubtless on account of the alkalinity of the potato.) 



Distribution. — (a) Outside the body: Very common 

 and widely distributed air-organism, scarcely ever absent 

 from a plate from the air in Wiirzburg. 



(6) Inside the body : Not demonstrated. 



We have closely compared this fungus — which, I believe, was pri- 

 marily described from Wiirzburg as ' * rose-colored diplococcus ' ' of 

 Bumm — with the following imported varieties : 



1. Micr. agilis Ali-Cohen, isolated by Prof. Zimmermann in Chem- 

 nitz. 



2. Micrococcus agilis Ali-Cohen, hygienic institute in Berlin. 



3. Micrococcus roseus (author?) from Prof. A. Fischer in Leipzig. 



4. Micrococcus tetragenus ruber. From Krai in Prague. 



5. Staphylococcus roseus Tavel. From Prof. Tavel in Bern. 



6. 7, 8, 9. Four air micrococci from Wiirzburg, which at first ap- 

 peared to differ somewhat upon the plates. 



10. A red micrococcus from the stomach. 



The result of these comparisons was that these ten organisms all 

 belong to the Micrococcus roseus, x of which we can distinguish two 

 fairly sharply separated varieties. 2 



1 According to the description, the Micr. cinnabareus Fliigge, cinna- 

 barinus Zimmermann, Micr. carneus Zimmermann, may also be in- 

 serted among the varieties differentiated by us. The " new micro- 

 coccus" from red milk, recently described by Keferstein (C. B. xxi, 

 177), appears also very closely related. The Micr. latericius Freund 

 (C. B. xxi, 834) appears somewhat different, yet the experiences ob- 

 tained in the study of the group of the Bact. prodigiosum remind us 

 to be cautious in the formation of new varieties. 



2 We have observed white, yellowish-red, rose-red, and carmine- 

 " sectors upon agar in both varieties. They are connected by transi- 

 >n forms. 



