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MANUAL OF DETERMIXATIVK BACTERIOLOGY 



Holland, idem; Escherichia communior 

 Bergey et al., Manual, 1st ed., 1923, 200; 

 Bacterium coli var. communior Topley 

 and Wilson, Princip. Bact. and Immun., 

 /, 1931, 446; Yale, in Manual, 5th ed., 

 1939, 393.) 



Yale (Cornell Vet., 23, 1933, 306) re- 

 gards Bacterium astheniae Dawson (15th 

 Ann. Rpt., Bur. Anim. Ind., U.S.D.A., 

 1898, 329; Bacillus astheniae Winslow, 

 Kligler and Rothberg, Jour. Bact., 4, 

 1919, 487; Escherichia astheniae Bergey 

 et al., Manual, 1st ed., 1923, 205) as a 

 synonym of Escherichia communior. 



Identification : Includes strains of 

 Escherichia coli which ferment sucrose 

 but not salicin. Levine (Iowa Eng. Exp. 

 Sta. Bui. 62, 1921, 38) recognizes a strain 

 which ferments salicin. 



2. Escherichia freundii (Braak) Yale. 

 {Bacterium, freundii Braak, Onderzoekin- 

 gen over vergisting van glycerine. 

 Thesis, Delft, 1928, 140; Citrobacter 

 freundii Workman and Gillen, Jour. 

 Bact., 23, 1932, 176; Yale, in Manual, 5th 

 ed., 1939, 394; Colobactrum freundii 

 Borman, Stuart and Wheeler, Jour. 

 Bact., 48, 1944, 358.) Named for A. 

 Freund, who first observed that tri- 

 methyleneglycol was a product of fer- 

 mentation (1881). 



Minkewitsch (Ztschr. f. Hyg., Ill, 

 1930, 180) proposed the name Bacterium 

 coli citrovorum for the intermediates but 

 this name is not acceptable since it is a 

 trinomial . 



Werkman and Gillen (Jour. Bact., 23, 

 1932, 177) emended the description of 

 Bacterium freundii, and created the genus 

 Citrobacter. The following species re- 

 named by Werkman and Gillen are 

 regarded as identical with Escherichia 

 freundii: Citrobacter album, Citrobacter 

 decolor ans, Citrobacter diver sum and 

 Citrobacter anindolicum . 



Tittsler and Sandholzer (Jour. Bact., 

 29, 1935, 349) and Carpenter and Fulton 

 (Amer. Jour. Pub. Health, 27, 1937, 822) 

 suggest that the intermediates which 



give a positive methyl red and a negative 

 Voges-Proskauer test be allocated to the 

 genus Escherichia. Other strains are 

 apparently more nearly related to the 

 genus Aerobacter than to the genus 

 Escherichia since they produce acetyl- 

 methylcarbinol. Barritt (Jour. Path. 

 and Bact., 42, 1936, 441 ; 44, 1937, 679) has 

 shown that some of the intermediates 

 form traces of acetylmethylcarbinol 

 which can be detected by the a-naphthol 

 test, but not by the standard Voges- 

 Proskauer test as described in the Manual 

 of Methods for the Pure Culture Study of 

 Bacteria (Soc. Amer. Bact., 1937, 17). 



Rods : Short rods with rounded ends, 

 occurring singly, in pairs and short 

 chains. Motile or non-motile. Gram- 

 negative. 



Gelatin stab : Liquefaction by 4 out of 

 15 cultures (Werkman and Gillen, Jour. 

 Bact., 23, 1932, 177). No liquefaction by 

 any strains (Tittsler and Sandholzer, 

 Jour. Bact., 29, 1935, 353; Carpenter and 

 Fulton, Amer. Jour. Pub. Health, 27, 

 1937,822). 



Agar slant: Smooth, gray, shining, 

 filiform and butyrous growth. 



Litmus milk: Acid in 2 days; coagula- 

 tion may or may not take place ; no pep- 

 tonization. 



Potato: Abundant, yellowish-white 

 growth. 



Indole may or may not be formed 

 (Werkman and Gillen, loc. cit. ; Tittsler 

 and Sandholzer, loc. cit.). 



Nitrites produced from nitrates. 



Methyl red test positive. Voges- 

 Proskauer test negative (Koser, Jour. 

 Bact., 9, 1924, 59). Some strains give a 

 positive methyl red and a positive Voges- 

 Proskauer test (Parr, Jour. Bact., 36, 

 1938, 1). 



Citric acid utilized as sole source of 

 carbon; uric acid not utilized as the sole 

 source of nitrogen (Koser, loc. cit.; Werk- 

 man and Gillen, loc. cit., 167). 



Catalase produced. 



Hydrogen sulfide produced in proteose 

 peptone, ferric citrate agar (Levine, 



