60 COD AND OTHER SALT FISH FOR THE MARKET. 



composed of irregular masses of a clear matrix containing refractive 

 red granules. The granules occur singly, in pairs, and in tetrads, but 

 oftener without definite number, and in them is the red pigment. 

 Masses were present containing much larger nonrefractive bodies, 

 which were not so red as the refractive granules. From cultures it 

 was found that this organism was not identical with that on red- 

 dened fish, and therefore this source of infection has not the im- 

 portance previously ascribed to it. 



DISCUSSION OF BACTERIOLOGICAL RESULTS. 



Some of the results of the work seem to be at variance with those 

 obtained by Dantec. He states that the first stage of reddening is 

 nonviscous. This appears to be the case when the growth is ex- 

 amined on the fish and without testing the material in a liquid. He 

 states that the red mucus can be readily removed in the first stage, 

 leaving the fish healthy. This can be done also to cod which have 

 reached what he calls the second stage. Tablets of 'cod which had 

 been sealed in cans were taken out and kept in a moist warm place 

 until they were very red, coated with a thick viscous layer, and pos- 

 sessed of a foul odor. The red was scraped off and the flesh beneath 

 had a firm, white, healthy appearance. This, however, is not always 

 the case, as the flesh beneath the red will often crumble more or less 

 when the scraping is done; fish of this character are actually putrid 

 throughout, due no doubt to organisms other than those which are 

 found in the reddening. 



The bacillus produced no reddening on any medium, except the 

 pink color produced in bread paste. Dantec states that on gelatin 

 plates the colonies look like those of the coccus. This is at variance 

 with the results obtained, as the bacillus produced no color, and the 

 gelatin was liquefied, so that at no stage were they at all alike. In 

 attempting to separate the organisms in the manner he describes, by 

 heating for one minute at 95 C., the bacillus failed to develop. There 

 were a few red colonies which were much retarded in development 

 but the mold developed many more colonies than on the regular 

 plate culture. 



The organism which Dantec calls an alga is without doubt the 

 brown mold, and the brown color in the conidia and conidiophores 

 might be easily mistaken for the green pigment which he mentions. 

 as only the younger conidia were examined. Dantec regretted his 

 inability to obtain pure cultures, but it is probable that they were 

 pure, though he did not connect the two stages of growth. He states 

 also that the fish used in his experiments were " almost free from 

 organisms," which expresses the condition used in these experiments, 

 except for some of the pieces dipped in hot paraffin which were 

 sterile. 



