HISTORICAL SURVEY OF CLASSIFICATIONS OF 



BACTERIA, WITH E^IPHASIS ON OUTLINES 



PROPOSED SINCE 1923* 



There have been numerous attempts to arrange the species of bacteria in 

 natural systems of classification. The first simple system of JMiiller (Ver- 

 mium terrestrium et fiuviatilium, 1773) which he developed further a few- 

 years later (Animalcula infusoria fluviatilia et marina, 1786) listed but two 

 genera {Vibrio and Monas) that included organisms that would today 

 probably be accepted as bacteria. Polyangium Link (^lag. d. Ges. Natur- 

 forsch. Freunde zu Berlin, 3, 1809, 42) is apparently the oldest of the generic 

 terms retained in its original meaning for a bacterial genus while Serratia 

 Bizio (Biblioteca italiana o sia giornale de lettera, scienze ed arti, SO, 1823, 

 288) was proposed only fourteen years later. 



Systems of classification developed after 1773 are given in complete 

 outline form in the first edition of the ^Manual (1923) and this section of 

 the IManual was reprinted without material change in the second (1925) 

 and third (1930) editions. While it is not felt to be necessary to repeat 

 these outlines in their entirety, sufficient reference is made below to permit 

 the student to trace the origin of generic terms that are no longer commonly 

 found in classification outlines. No attempt has been made to include 

 reference to other little used generic terms except as the}- appear as syn- 

 onyms in the descriptive portion of the ^Manual. For the origin of generic 

 terms proposed before 1925, see Enlows (The Generic Names of Bacteria, 

 Bui. No. 121, Hygienic Laborator}-, Washington, D. C, 1920) and Bu- 

 chanan (General Sj-stematic Bacteriology, Baltimore, 1925). 



Bory St. Vincent (IMicroscopiques, Dictionnaire classique d'histoire 

 naturelle, 10, 1826, 533) introduced the generic terms Spirilina, Melanella, 

 Lactrimatoria and Pupella and accepted Vibrio for microorganisms, some of 

 which must have been bacteria. None of these terms, except Vibrio, are in 

 current use for bacterial groups. 



Three of the terms accepted or proposed by Ehrenberg (Die Infusions- 

 tierchen als volkommene Organismen, Leipzig, 1838); nameh^, Vibrio, 

 Spirillum and Spirochaeta, are still used. The generic term Bacterium 

 proposed first b}- Ehrenberg in 1828 (SjTiibolae Physicae seu Icones et 

 Descriptiones Animalium Evertebratorum Separasitis Insectis quae ex 

 Itinere per Africam Borealem et Asiam Occidentalem, IV. Evertebrata, 

 Berlin) to include but a single species Bacterium triloculare from an oasis 



* Contributed by Prof. R. S. Breed, New York State Experiment Station, Geneva, 

 New York, July, 1938; revised, September, 1943. 



