FAMILY LACTOBACTERIACEAE 



351 



1. Lactobacilus caucasicus Beijerinok. 

 {Bacillus caucasicus Beijerinck, Arch. 

 n^erl. d. sci. exact, et nat., 23, 1889, 428; 

 Beijerinck, ibid., S^r. 2, 7, 1901, 212; not 

 Bacillus caucasicus v. Freudenreich, 

 Cent. f. Bakt., II Abt., 3, 1897, 54 and 

 135; Bacterium caucasicus Chester, Ann. 

 Kept. Del. Col. Agr. Exp. Sta., 9, 1897, 

 130; not Bacterium caucasicum Lehmann 

 and Neumann, Bakt. Diag., 2 Aufl., 2, 

 1899, 209; not Betahacterium caucasicum 

 Orla- Jensen, The Lactic Acid Bacteria, 

 1919, 175.) From Greek Caucasia, M. L. 

 caucasicus, of the Caucasus. 



The following is a possible or probable 

 synonym : Streptobacillus Ichenis Rist and 

 Khoury, Ann. Inst. Past., / 6, 1902, 70. 



Description taken from the two reports 

 of Beijerinck {loc. cit.). 



Rods : Thin and variable in size, occur- 

 ring singly or in filaments. Xon-motile. 

 Non-spore-forming. Gram-positive (not 

 recorded in early descriptions). 



Gelatin : No liquefaction. 



Wort gelatin : Small, white colonies. 



Agar colonies : Small . 



Broth : Carbohydrates necessary for 

 growth. 



Milk: Rapid acid production with 

 coagulation, no action in casein. 



Utilizes animal peptones with diffi- 

 culty, utilizes vegetable peptones more 

 readily. 



Acid from glucose, sucrose, maltose and 

 lactose. No action on starch. Action on 

 other carbohydrates not studied. Lac- 

 tose in milk converted to levo lactic acid 

 with little carbon dioxide. 



Microaerophilic. 



Optimum temperature 40° to 44°C. 

 Temperature range 25° to 45°C. 



Source : From kefir and cheese. 



Habitat: Occurs symbiotically with 

 yeast in kefir. 



Prototype: Dispora caucasica Kern. 

 (Kern, Biol. Zent., 2, 1882, 135; later in 

 Bull, de la Soc. Imp. des Naturalistes de 

 Moscow, 56, 1882, 168; Bacterium cau- 

 casicum Zopf, Die Spaltpilze, 3 Aufl., 

 1885,90; Bacillus kaukasicus Fliigge, Die 

 Mikroorganismen, 2 Aufl., 1886, 270; 



Faciiita caucasica Trevisan, I generi e le 

 specie delle Batteriacee, 1889, 23.) 



The description bj^ Kern of an organism 

 from kefir grains is confused probably 

 because the organism (a spore former) 

 which he isolated by the use of Cohn's 

 solution was not the same as the presum- 

 ably granulated Lactobacillus he saw in 

 microscopical preparations of kefir. 

 Beijerinck was apparently the first to 

 have isolated a lactobacillus from kefir in 

 pure culture and to have given a suffi- 

 ciently complete description to make 

 reidentification possible. It should be 

 noted that from the characters given, this 

 could not have been the same species as 

 that isolated later from kefir by v. 

 Freudenreich {loc. cit.) and Orla- Jensen 

 (loc. cit.). 



2. Lactobacillus lactis (Orla-Jensen) 

 Holland. (Bacillus Inctis acidi Leich- 

 mann. Cent. f. Bakt., II Abt., 2, 1896, 

 779 ; Milch. Zeitung, 25, 1896, 67 ; Thcrmo- 

 bacterium lactis Orla-Jensen, The Lactic 

 Acid Bacteria, 1919, 164; Lactobacillus 

 laciis-acidi Holland, Jour. Bact., 5, 1920, 

 223; Holland, ideiii.) From Latin lac, 

 milk. 



Henneberg (Handb. der Garungsbakt., 

 2 Aufl., 2, 1926, 128) regards Bacilhis 

 lactis acidi Leichmann as identical with 

 Thermobacterium lactis Orla-Jensen. 



Rods : Long forms with a tendency to 

 grow into threads, often strongly curling. 

 Occur singly or in pairs in young vigorous 

 cultures. Generally contain volutin 

 grains. Gram-positive (not recorded in 

 original description). 



Milk : Acid produced followed by 

 coagulation in one to four days. 1.7 per 

 cent acid produced. 



Acid from fructose, glucose, mannose, 

 galactose, sucrose, maltose, lactose, raffi- 

 nose and dextrin. Glycerol, xylose, 

 arabinose, rhamnose, sorbitol, mannitol, 

 inulin and starch not fermented. Salicin 

 may or may not be fermented. 



Forms levo lactic acid with only a trace 

 of other products. 



Temperature relations : Optimuna 40°C. 



