39G 



MANUAL OF DETERMINATIVE BACTERIOLOGY 



dant, white to pale yellow. Some strains 

 form a pink pigment. Proteolytic zones 

 clear and broad after 4 days. 



Asparagine agar : Scant to good growth, 

 smooth, glistening, white and cream- 

 colored to lemon-yellow or even dull pink. 



Broth : Turbid, with gray ring and yel- 

 lowish sediment. After four days the 

 sediment contains long, curved and 

 branching rods. May resemble small 

 mycelia. 



Litmus milk: Slightly acid, with soft 

 coagulum, becoming alkaline ; peptonized. 

 Litmus reduced. 



Potato: Pale yellow, moist, plumose 

 growth, becoming rough, dull. Slimy 

 variants noted in one strain . A myceloid 

 variant with dry wrinkled growth was 

 found in another strain. 



Indole not formed. 



Nitrites not produced from nitrates. 



Acid from glucose, glycerol and manni- 

 tol. Usually from arabinose, sucrose, 

 galactose, fructose. 



Aerobic, facultative. 



Hydrogen sulfide produced on apjiro- 

 priate media. 



Optimum temperature 25°C. Usually 

 grows at 37 °C. 



Source : Originally isolated from water. 



Habitat: A common soil Coryne- 

 bacterium. 



22. Corynebacterium fimi (McBeth 

 and Scales) Jensen. {Bacterium fimi 

 McBeth and Scales, Bur. of Plant Ind., 

 U. S. Dept. Agr., Bull. 266, 1913, 30; CeZ- 

 lulomonas fimi Bergey et al., Manual, 1st 

 ed., 1923, 166; Bacillus fimi Holland, 

 Jour. Bact., 5, 1920, 218; Jensen, Proc. 

 Linn. Soc. New So. Wales, 59, 1934, 48.) 

 From Latin ^'mws, dung. 



Description from Jensen (loc. cit.) who 

 studied an authentic strain. 



Rods present typical diphtheroid ap- 

 pearance with angular arrangement, 0.4 

 to 0.5 by 1 .2 to 2.5 microns. Many longer, 

 i rregular, curved, club-shaped and 

 branching cells on Sabouraud's (whey) 

 agar. Non-motile. Gram-negative (Mc- 



Beth and Scales). Gram-variable like 

 some other corynebacteria (Jensen). 



Gelatin colonies : Small, round, becom- 

 ing lobate. Slow liquefaction. 



Gelatin stab : Granular yellow growth. 

 Infundibuliform liquefaction. 



Cellulose agar colonies : Circular, 

 raised, smooth, glistening, gray, entire. 



Agar slant : Smooth, glistening, white to 

 lemon-yellow growth. 



Glucose and Sabouraud's agar : Growth 

 less abundant and cream-colored. 



Asparagine agar : Very scant growth, 

 narrow, thin, glistening, white. 



Broth : Uniform turbidity, soft cream- 

 colored to yellow sediment after 3 weeks. 



Litmus milk : Coagulated at 3 weeks at 

 37°C. Not at 28° to 30°C. Faintly acid. 



Potato : Slow cream-colored to yellow 

 growth. 



Indole is formed. 



Nitrites are produced from nitrates. 



Ammonia is produced in peptone solu- 

 tions. 



Diastatic action doubtful . 



Acid from glucose, fructose, arabinose, 

 xylose, maltose, lactose, sucrose, raffinose, 

 melezitose, dextrin, starch, salicin and 

 glycerol. None or feebly produced from 

 mannitol and dulcitol. 



Causes rapid disintegration of cellulose 

 (filter paper) in a 0.5 per cent peptone 

 solution. 



Aerobic, facultative. 



Optimum temperature 20°C (McBeth 

 and Scales) . Better growth at 37°C than 

 at 28° to30°C (Jensen). 



Source: Probably isolated from soil. 

 Found in soils of Southern California 

 (McBeth, Soil Sci., 1, 1916, 443). 



Habitat : Soil. 



Bacterium liquatum McBeth and Scales 

 (McBeth and Scales, Bur. Plant Ind., 

 U. S. Dept. Agr., Bull. 266, 1913, 32; 

 Cellulomonas liquata Bergey et al., Man- 

 ual, 1st ed., 1923, 166) should be regarded 

 as identical with this species as the only 

 significant difference reported between 

 the two species by the original authors 

 was that Bacterium liquatum produced a 



