BACILLI 455 



BACILLUS LITOEALIS 



LIQUEFIES GELATINE 



Authority. — Eussell, ' Untersuchungen iiber im Golf von Neapel lebende 

 Bacterien,' Zeitschrift filr Hygiene, vol. xi., 1891, p. 199. 



Where Found.— In sea mud, but only in the vicinity of the coast. 



Microscopic Appearance. — A short bacillus two to four times as long as 

 broad, with very irregular movements. Stains readily with Loetiier's blue, but 

 is not coloured by Gram's method. No spore formation observed. 



Cultures. — 



Gelatine Plates. — The depth colonies appear in three days as small brown 

 smooth-rimmed dots. The surface colonies are at first slightly oi^alescenfc, but 

 become shining and more extended. Under a low power they are smooth- 

 rimmed, with fine granular contents. In from five to eight days slow liquefaction 

 commences, and proceeds so slowly that the gelatine often evaporates, giving 

 the appearance of the colony having eaten its way into the gelatine. 



Gelatine Tubes. — After forty-eight hours an undefined line is visible all 

 along the needle's path in the depth ; in three or four days a thin, whitish ir- 

 regular expansion forms at the point of inoculation on the surface, and the 

 gelatine begins to liquefy. The evaporation of the gelatine is more rapid than 

 its liquefaction, and a hollow funnel is formed, the bottom and sides of which 

 are covered by thin growths of the bacillus. In the depth the growth is often 

 reddish brown in colour, and the gelatine becomes somewhat brown. This pig- 

 ment is apparently only produced in the absence of air. 



Agae-agar.— Forms a thin, narrow, moist greyish white expansion. 



Potatoes. — No growth. 



Beoth. — Renders the liquid turbid, producing a fine deposit, but no pellicle. 



Bemarks. — Grows also occasionally in the absence of air, but not with any cer- 

 tainty. In anaerobic plates colonies sometimes made their appearance, and were 

 surrounded with a brown circle. On further cultivating these colonies tliey some- 

 times grew and sometimes refused to grow in the absence of air. 



