326 Catarrhal Inflammation 



The organisms are not motile and they have no flagella. 



Staining. The cocci stain by ordinary methods but not 

 by Gram's method. 



Cultivation. The organism can be easily cultivated, the 

 colonies being quite characteristic. They are large, white, 

 irregular in outline, elevated at the center, not viscid, and 

 grow readily at room temperatures upon all the culture 

 media, the best upon blood-agar-agar. The vitality of the 

 organism in culture is not great. Very often transplanta- 

 tions made after from four to six days fail to grow ; and in 



i 



Fig. 97. Micrococcus catarrhalis in smear from sputum (F. T. Lord; 

 photo by L. S. Brown). 



the cultures one usually finds many deeply-staining, sup- 

 posedly living cocci, and many poorly-staining, supposedly 

 dead organisms. 



Agar=agar. The culture in general resembles that of 

 Staphylococcus albus. When blood is added to the agar- 

 agar, the growth is more luxuriant, whitish, and usually 

 consists of closely approximated colonies which do not 

 become confluent. 



Gelatin. This medium is not liquefied. 



Bouillon. At the end of the first day no growth seems 



