480 



MANUAL OF DETERMINATIVE BACTERIOLOGY 



di Sci. e Let., Ser. 2, 20, 1887, 797 ; Monas 

 prodigiosa Ehrenberg, Bericht u. d. z. 

 Bekanntmachung geeigneten Verhand- 

 lungen d. Kgl. preuss. Acad. d. Wissen- 

 schaften, 1849, 354; Palmella prodigiosa 

 Montague, Bui. Soc. nat. et cent. d. 

 agric. Paris, S^r. 2, 7, 1853, 527 ; Micraloa 

 prodigiosa Zanardini, 1863, see Trevisan, 

 loc. cit., 1887, 799; Bacteridium prodi- 

 giosum Schroeter, in Cohn, Beitrage z. 

 Biol. d. Pflanzen, 1, Heft 2, 1872, 109; 

 Micrococcus prodigiosus Cohn, ibid., 127; 

 Bacillus prodigiosus Fliigge, Die Mikro- 

 organismen, 1886, 284; Bacillus imetro- 

 phus Trevisan, loc. cit., 797; Bacillus 

 marcescens De Toni and Trevisan, in 

 Saccardo, Sylloge Fungorum, 8, 1889, 976; 

 Bacterium prodigiosurn Lehmann and 

 Neumann, Bakt. Diag., 1 Aufl., 2, 1896, 

 259; Liquidobacterium prodigiosurn Orla- 

 Jensen, Cent. f. Bakt., II Abt., 22, 1909, 

 339 ; Erythrobacillus prodigiosus Winslow 

 et al.. Jour. Bact., 5, 1920, 209; Dicro- 

 bactrum prodigiosurn Enderlein, Bak- 

 terien Cyclogenie, 1925, 279; Salmonella 

 marcescens and Salmonella prodigiosa 

 Pribram, Jour. Bact., 18, 1929, 384; 

 Chromobacterium prodigiosurn Topley and 

 Wilson, Principles of Bacteriology, 1, 

 1931, 402. 



Description largely taken from Breed 

 and Breed, Jour. Bact., 9, 1924, 545. 



Short rods, sometimes almost spherical : 

 0.5 by 0.5 to 1.0 micron, occurring 

 singly and occasionally in chains of 5 or 

 6 elements. Motile, with four peri- 

 trichous flagella. Eight to ten flagella 

 on cells grown at 20° to 25°C (De Rossi, 

 Rivista d'Igiene, U, 1903, 000). Gram- 

 negative. 



Gelatin colonies: Thin, slightly granu- 

 lar, gray becoming red, circular, with 

 slightly undulate margin. Liquefy the 

 medium rather quickly. 



Gelatin stab: Infundibuliform lique- 

 faction. Sediment in liquefied medium 

 usually red on top, white in the depth. 



Agar colonies: Circular, thin, granular, 

 white becoming red. R and S colonies 



with mucoid variants (Reed, Jour. Bact., 

 34, 1937, 255). 



Agar slant : White, smooth, moist layer, 

 taking on an orange-red to fuchsin color 

 in three or four days, sometimes with 

 metallic luster. 



Broth : Turbid, may form a red ring at 

 surface or slight pellicle, and gray sedi- 

 ment. 



Litmus milk : Acid reaction with soft 

 coagulum. A red surface growth de- 

 velops. Little or no digestion takes 

 place. 



Potato: At first a white line appears, 

 which rapidly turns red. The growth is 

 luxuriant and frequently shows a metallic 

 luster. 



Produces acetic, formic, succinic and 

 levolactic acid, ethyl alcohol, acetyl- 

 methylcarbinol, 2,3 butylene glycol, CO2 

 and a trace of H2 from glucose (Pederson 

 and Breed, Jour. Bact., 16, 1928, 183). 



Grows poorly or not at all in distilled 

 water containing urea, potassium chloride 

 and glucose. 



Indole not produced. 



Nitrites produced from nitrates. 



Formation of H2S : Produced from cys- 

 teine, cystine or organic sulfur com- 

 pounds containing either of these mole- 

 cules. Produced from sulfur but not 

 from sulfites, sulfates or thiosulfates 

 (Tarr, Biochem. Jour., 27, 1933, 1869; 

 28, 1934, 192). 



Acetylmethylcarbinol is produced 

 (Breed). 



Pigment soluble in alcohol, ether, 

 chloroform, benzol and carbon bisulfide 

 (Schneider, Arb. Bakt. Hochsch. Karls- 

 ruhe, 1 , 1894, 210). Pigment may diffuse 

 through the agar, i.e., shows solubility in 

 water where strains are very deeply 

 pigmented (Breed). Pigment not 

 formed at 35°C. 



Sodium formate broth (Stark and 

 England, Jour. Bact., 29, 1935, 26) : Cul- 

 tures do not produce visible gas (Breed). 



Odor of trimethylamine is produced. 



Aerobic, facultative. 



