FAMILY ENTEROBACTERIACEAE 



489 



Indole is formed. 



Nitrites are produced from nitrates. 



Acetylmethylcarbinol not formed. 



Acid and a small amount of gas from 

 glucose, fructose, galactose and man- 

 nose. Rarely from xylose. Does not 

 attack lactose, sucrose, maltose, arabi- 

 nose, raffinose, dextrin, salicin, mannitol, 

 dulcitol, sorbitol, adonitol or inositol. 



Hydrogen sulfide not produced. 



Sodium citrate not utilized as sole 

 source of carbon. 



Aerobic, facultative. 



Optimum temperature 37°C. 



Source: Isolated from the feces of 

 infants with summer diarrhea. 



Habitat : In intestinal canal in normal 

 or diarrheal stools. 



4. Proteus rettgeri (Hadley et al.) 

 Rustigian and Stuart. {Bacterium rett- 

 geri Hadlej^ Elkins and Caldwell, Rhode 

 Island Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull. 174, 1918, 169; 

 Bacillus rettgeri St. John-Brooks and 

 Rhodes, Jour. Path, and Bact., 26, 1923, 

 434; Eberthella rettgeri Bergey et al., 

 Manual, 1st ed., 1923, 232; Shigella 

 rettgeri Weldin, Iowa State College Jour. 

 Sci., /, 1927, 181; Atypical enteric or- 

 ganisms of the Shigella group. Cope 

 and Kilander, Amer. Jour. Pub. Health, 

 32, 1942, 352; Proteus entericus Rustigian 

 and Stuart, Jour. Bact., 45, 19i3, 198; 

 Rustigian and Stuart, Proc. Soc. Exp. 

 Biol, and Med., 53, 1943, 241.) Named 

 for L. F. Rettger, the American bac- 

 teriologist, who isolated this species in 

 1904. 



Rods: 0.5 to 0.8 micron long, occurring 

 singly, in pairs and occasionally in chains. 

 Usually non-motile at 37°C, but actively 

 motile variants possessing peritrichous 

 flagella can be obtained at 25 °C. Gram- 

 negative. 



Gelatin colonies : Small, grayish, trans- 

 lucent, entire. 



Gelatin stab: No liquefaction. 



Agar colonies: Small, grayish, translu- 

 cent, entire; under suitable conditions 

 some strains show marked spreading. 



Agar slant : Filiform to echinulate, 

 grayish, thin, moist, translucent. 



Broth: Turbid with flocculent to 

 viscid sediment. 



Litmus milk: Alkaline in eight days, 

 becoming translucent. 



Potato: Luxuriant, grayish growth. 



Acid and occasionally slight gas from 

 glucose, fructose, galactose and mannitol. 

 Salicin may or may not be fermented. 

 Slow and sometimes weak acid in sucrose. 

 Lactose and maltose not fermented. 



Indole is formed. 



Nitrites are produced from nitrates. 



Acetj'lmethylcarbinol not formed. 



Hydrogen sulfide not produced. 



Sodium citrate utilized as sole source 

 of carbon. 



Aerobic, facultative. 



Optimum temperature 37 °C. 



Source : Originallj' isolated from chol- 

 era-like epidemic among chickens; re- 

 cently isolated from sporadic and epi- 

 demic gastroenteritis patients. 



Habitat : Fowl typhoid and some 

 cholera-like diseases of birds. 



Appendix: Acceptance of gelatin lique- 

 faction and fermentation of glucose and 

 sucrose but not lactose as the cardinal 

 characteristics of Proteus without ref- 

 erence to urease production and small 

 gas volumes has resulted in some cul- 

 tures of Paracolobactrum (Borman et al.. 

 Jour. Bact., 48, 1944, 361) being described 

 as Proteus (Rustigian and Stuart, Jour. 

 Bact., 49, 1945, 419). Included in the 

 appendix are species of Proteus whose 

 taxonomic position is not clear. Where 

 descriptions permit, the probable taxo- 

 nomic position of the organism is indi- 

 cated. For purposes of reference, or- 

 ganisms are also included which do not 

 now merit species rank in the genus 

 Proteus and organisms which will now be 

 found in another genus. 



Bacillus agglomerans Beijerinck. 

 (Botan. Zeitung, 4G, 1888, 740 or 749.) 

 From nodules on the roots of red clover. 

 Colonies like those of Proteus. 



