FAMILY PARVOBACTERIACEAE 



583 



occurring in pairs with the pointed ends 

 adjoining. Often occurring in threads. 

 Non-motile. Gram-negative. 



Serum agar plates (alkaline) : After 2 

 to 3 days, colonies 0.5 mm or larger, lens- 

 shaped with offshoots. 



Tenacious sediment in liquid media. 



Indole not formed (Knorr, loc. cit.). 

 Indole formed (Hine and Berry, Jour. 

 Bact., Sit, 1937, 522). 



No gas produced. 



No odor produced. 



Acid usually produced from glucose, 

 fructose, and sucrose. No acid from 

 lactose, maltose, inulin or mannitol. 

 (Hine and Berry, loc. cit.) 



No H2S produced. 



Temperature relations: Optimum 35° 

 to 37°C. Minimum 30°C. (Hauduroy 

 et al., Diet. d. Bact. Path., 1937, 242.) 

 Survives SO^C for 15 minutes, 52°C for 

 10 minutes and 56°C for 5 minutes (Hine 

 and Berry, Zoc. a'f., 523). 



Optimum pH 7.0 to 8.2 (Hauduroy 

 et al., loc. cit.). 



Anaerobe. 



Source : One strain isolated from de- 

 posit on teeth in a case of gingivitis. 



Habitat : Presumably the buccal cavity. 



Appendix I: The following species are 

 mentioned here because they appear to 

 be related to the organisms in the genus 

 Fusobacterium : 



Bacillus hastilis Seitz. (Ztschr. f. 

 Hyg., 30, 1899, 47; Mycohacleriwn hastilis 

 Chester, jVIan. Determ. Bact., 1901, 356.) 

 A collective name for the organisms 

 frequently found in stinking pus and in 

 tonsillar pockets in both healthy and 

 diseased mouths. 



Fusocillus shmamini Prevot. (Ann. 

 Inst. Past., 60, 1938, 300.) Feebly 

 motile. 



Fusiformis acnes, Fusiforrnis hodgkini 

 and Fusiformis typhi-exanthematici 

 (Plotz) of Holland (Jour. Bact., 5, 1920, 



223) are names presumably intended for 

 bacteria more properly placed in the 

 genus Corynebacterium. 



Fusiformis muris Hoelling. (Arch. f. 

 Protistenkunde, 19, 1910, 239.) From 

 the blind gut of a mouse. Stated by the 

 author to be similar to Fusiformis termi- 

 tidis Hoelling. 



Fusiformis necrophorus Topley and 

 Wilson. See Sphcrophorus necrophorus 

 Prevot, page 578. 



Fusiformis nodosus Beveridge. (Bev- 

 eridge, Austral. Council Sci. and Indus. 

 Res. Bui. 140, 1941, 56 pp.; Actinomyces 

 nodosus Hagan, The Infectious Dis- 

 eases of Domestic Animals. Ithaca, 

 New York, 1943, 312.) Considered the 

 primarj' cause of footrot of sheep. Also 

 see Spirochaeta penortha. 



Appendix II: Because of the preferable 

 form of the name and also because it is 

 questionable whether the anaerobic fusi- 

 form bacteria of the mouth closely re- 

 semble the more or less aerobic bacteria 

 found in termites, the genus name Fuso- 

 hacterium Knorr has been used for the 

 mouth organisms. The termite organ- 

 isms live in the intestinal tract bathed 

 in digested wood and have the micro- 

 scopic appearance of the cellulose- 

 destroying Cytophaga Winogradsky. 

 These are shown by Stanier (Jour. Bact., 

 40, 1940, 619) to belong to Myxobacte- 

 riales. 



The organisms placed in Fusiformis 

 Hoelling are as follows: 



Fusiformis hilli Duboscq and Grasse. 

 (Arch. Zool. Exper. et Gen., 66, 1927, 

 454 and 486.) Found as an ectoparasite 

 on flagellates Descovina spp. which live 

 in the rectum of termites {Calotermes 

 ( Glyptotermes ) iridipennis ) . 



Fusiformis iermitidis Hoelling. (Arch, 

 f. Protistenkunde, 19, 1910, 239.) From 

 the intestinal tract of termites. 



