FAMILY CORYXEBACTERIACEAE 



40/ 



472.) From a multiple, necrotic, case- 

 ous pneumonia of mice inoculated with 

 material from equine pneumonia. Re- 

 garded by the author as distinct from 

 Bacillus pseudotuberculosis muriian 

 Kiitscher. Placed in the genus Corijne- 

 thrix Czaplewski (Deutsche med. 

 Wchnschr., 36, 1900, 723). 



Lactobacillus meleagridis Johnson and 

 Pollard. (Diplo-bacillus Pi, Johnson and 

 Anderson, Jour. Inf. Dis., 58, 1936, 340; 

 Johnson and Pollard, Jour. Inf. Dis., 

 66, 1940, 196.) From heart, liver and 

 yolk of moribund turkey poults. Pre- 

 sumably a Corynebacterium , not a true 

 Lactobacillus . 



Einer sporogenen Pseudo-Diphtherie- 

 bazillus, De Simoni. (Cent. f. Bakt., 



I Abt., Orig., 24, 1898, 294.) From nasal 

 secretion in ozena. Produced spores 

 only in milk and on potato. Thought by 

 Eberson (Jour. Inf. Dis., 23, 1918, 6) to 

 have been a contaminated culture. 



Organism in M. H., De Witt. (Jour. 

 Inf. Dis., 10, 1912, 40.) A motile, gas- 

 producing diphtheroid isolated from a 

 generalized diphtheria-like infection. 



Appendix III:* The relationships of 

 the following soil organism are not clear, 

 but it apparently should be placed cither 

 in Corynebacterium or in a related genus 

 (e.g., Mycobacterium). On agar it is rod- 

 shaped and generally Gram-negative in 

 young cultures, but coccoid and Gram- 

 positive in old oidtures, a condition 

 noted by INIellon (Jour. Bact., 2, 1917, 

 278) in connection with Corynebacterium 

 enzymicum . Something similar is noted 

 by Jensen (Proc. Linn. Soc. New So. 

 Wales, 59, 1934, 29-62) in his description 

 of Corynebacterium helvolum. Krassil- 

 nikov, on the other hand (Cent. f. Bakt., 



II Abt., 90. 1934, 432), suggests that this 

 species really belongs to Mycobacterium, 

 and, after seeing a culture furnished him 

 by Conn, has become all the more con- 

 vinced of this relationship (personal 

 correspondence) . 



Krassilnikov's studies indicate that 

 there is a group of soil bacteria that grow 

 as rods in young cultures with a tendency 

 to produce branching forms in liquid 

 media and develop coccoid bodies as 

 they grow older. The latter then even 

 divide and multiply like cocci. He con- 

 siders that practically all so-called mi- 

 crococci found among soil cultures are 

 really the older stages of Mycobacterium 

 spp. It is very clear that Jensen and 

 Krassilnikov, the two leading students 

 of the saprophytic members of this group 

 found in soil, do not agree as to what 

 constitutes the genus Mycobacterium; 

 their papers appeared almost simultane- 

 ously and clearly represent independ- 

 ent work. Krassilnikov's description 

 of this genus conies closest to covering 

 organisms like the following of any 

 of the descriptions in the literature, but 

 it is quite different from Jensen's idea 

 of the genus. In fact, the descriptions 

 given by the former author seem to be 

 more like Jensen's conception of the 

 genus Corynebacterium. Jensen, in his 

 description, takes into account the rela- 

 tive acid-fast staining properties of the 

 groups; but Krassilnikov does not men- 

 tion either this property or the Gram 

 stain. Inasmuch as the acid-fast prop- 

 erty is regarded in the present classifica- 

 tion as an important characteristic of 

 Mycobacterium, the following species is 

 included as an appendi.x, not of that 

 genus, but of Corynebacterium . The re- 

 lationships of these pleomorphic soil or- 

 ganisms must be regarded as decidedly 

 obscure. Lochhead (Can. Jour. Res., 

 Sec. C, 16, 1938, 156) speaks of a Bac- 

 terium globiforme group and Conn (Jour. 

 Bact., 48, 1945, 359) has recently reported 

 evidence in support of Lochhead's view- 

 point. In all probability this group is 

 identical in whole or in part with Krassil- 

 nikov's Mycobacterium of soil, although 

 the correctness of his choice of this 

 generic name may be questioned. 



♦Prepared by Prof. H. J. Conn, New York State Experiment Station, Geneva, 

 New York, July, 1945. 



