232 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 
Sixty per cent of the plates inoculated with material from the 
stomachs of Kickemuit River oysters remained sterile. Two of the 8 
plates that showed growth in three days contained large numbers of 
colonies of /’. fluorescens, M. luteus, M. flavus, M. carneus, anda 
species of sarcina (not described in this paper). A nonliquefying 
fluorescent bacillus was also observed in a number of cases, forming 
regular glistening colonies that look like small drops of water on the 
surface of the gelatin, which takes on a pale green fluorescence. This 
organism is described on the chart as bacillus No. 11. 
The 10 plates inoculated from the intestinal content of these speci- 
mens developed abundant growth in two days. Liquefying bacilli 
were present in great numbers. Again /’s. fluorescens was met with 
in a large percentage of plates examined; also a small motile liquefy- 
ing organism, bacillus No. 6, was found in 6 of the 10 plates. Col- 
onies liquefy slowly and form bluish-white depressions in the gelatin, 
some reaching a diameter of 5 mm. in four days. Microscopically 
they have a granular center around which is a clear hyaline area that 
usually has a distinctly wavy margin. By transmitted light they 
resemble a bluish star with a dark white center surrounded by a thin, 
irregular bluish growth. Agar, gelatin, and broth cultures of this 
organism assume a characteristic brown color after about two or three 
weeks’ growth at room temperature. Colonies of L. mesentericus 
(variety fuscus), B. subtilis, Bact. maritimum, and of the nonliquefy- 
ing fluorescent bacillus No. 11, already referred to, were found in these 
plates. I. flavus and M. auriantiaca were met with on several 
occasions. 
A more extended study of the flora of the oysters’ intestines was 
made on several lots of specimens obtained from Wickford Harbor in 
the fall of 1902. In this series of experiments material from the 
intestinal content of 100 oysters was inoculated into the usual gelatin 
medium. This analysis was begun October 14, and from that date 
specimens were obtained twice a week for over two months. Arrange- 
ments were made with the parties controlling the Wickford oyster 
beds, by which oysters caught Tuesday and Thursday mornings were 
shipped to Providence and received in the laboratory the same day 
they were taken from the water. They were then immediately opened 
and cultures taken from the intestines. 
Plates made from Wickford oysters as a rule developed a large 
number of liquefying colonies, and though the organisms most fre- 
quently observed were rod forms, colonies of micrococci were occa- 
sionally met with. J/. favus was found in 5 per cent of the plates 
examined; also cultures of J luteus and JM. auriantiaca were taken 
from colonies developing on 3 of these plates. Another coccus form 
more frequently met with in this examination is referred to on the 
