FAMILY BACILLACEAE 



709 



the subject of some controversy owing to 

 the indefiniteness of the original descrip- 

 tions, to the distribution of cultures un- 

 der the name Bacillus siibtilis that were 

 incorrectly identified, to variations in the 

 forms of growth that may be observed, 

 and to confusion with Bacillus cereus. 

 In cases where Bacillus subtilis is said to 

 be "anthrax-like," or "similar to the 

 anthrax bacillus," it should be remem- 

 bered that these terms apply to Bacillus 

 cereus and not to Bacillus subtilis. 

 Conn (Jour. Inf. Dis., 46, 1930, 341) 

 concluded that the so-called Marburg 

 strain fitted the earliest recognizable 

 description of this species which is that 

 given by Prazmowski (loc. cii.), and his 

 view was accepted after a study of cul- 

 tures by the International Committee 

 on Bacteriological Nomenclature (Jour. 

 Bact., 33, 1937, 445). 



During the past two decades much 

 progress has been made in the study of 

 variations in the stages of growth of bac- 

 teria, the rough, smooth, mucoid, etc., 

 and in the variability in physiology as 

 well. From the recent work of Smith, 

 Gordon, and Clark {loc. cil.) it appears 

 that many species have been character- 

 ized on such simple grounds as growth 

 folded, mucoid, adherent, colored, rhiz- 

 oid, etc., all of which are subject to 

 variation, either induced or spontaneous. 

 The present arrangement of this species 

 is the result of their work combined with 

 data supplied by the work of Conn and 

 others. 



Species probably identical with or 

 variants of Bacillus subtilis: 



Bacillus geniculatus de Bary, Beitrag 

 zur Kenntnis der niederen Organismen 

 imMageninhalt, Inaug. Diss., Strassburg, 

 Leipzig, 1885; Bacillus mesentericus 

 fuscus Fliigge, Die Alikroorganismen, 2 

 Aufl., 1886, 321 {Bacillus ynesentericus 

 Trevisan, I generi e le specie delle Bat- 

 teriacee, 1889, 19; not Bacillus mesenteri- 

 cxis as interpreted by Chester, Del. Agr. 

 Exp. Station 15th Ann. Report, 1903, 86; 

 not Bacillus mesentericus as given by 

 Lawrence and Ford, Jour. Bact., /, 1916, 

 295);* Bacillus mesentericus vulgatus 

 Fliigge, Die Mikroorganismen, 2 Aufl., 

 1886, 322 {Bacillus vulgatus Trevisan, I 

 generi e le specie delle Batteriacee, 1889, 

 19); Bacillus liodermos Fliigge, Die 

 Mikroorganismen, 2 Aufl., 1886, 323 (Ba- 

 cillus No. X, Fliigge, Ztschr. f. Hyg., 17, 

 1894, 296; Bacillus lactis No. X, Kruse, 

 in Fliigge, Die Mikroorganismen, 3 Aufl., 

 2, 1896, 209 ; Bacillus intermedius Migula, 

 Syst. d. Bakt., 2, 1900, 579; Bacillus 

 cremoris Chester, Man. Determ. Bact., 

 1901, 274) ; Bacillus laevis Frankland and 

 Frankland, Philos. Trans. Roy. Soc. 

 London, 178, B, 1887, 278 (not Bacillus 

 laevis Distaso, Cent. f. Bakt., I Abt., 

 Orig., 62, 1912, 444); Tyrothrix tenuis 

 Duclaux, Ann. Inst. Nat. Agron., 4, 

 1882, 23 {Bacillus tenuis Trevisan, I 

 generi e le specie delle Batteriacee, 1889, 

 16); Kartoffelbacillus, Globig, Ztschr. 

 f. Hyg., 3, 1888, 294 {Bacillus roseus 

 Trevisan, loc. cit., 19; Bacillus mesen- 

 tericus ruber Kruse, in Fliigge, Die 



*T. Gibson, University of Edinburgh (personal communication), has found that the 

 European and supposedly the original strains oi Bacillus mesentericus hydrolyze starch 

 and reduce nitrates to nitrites, whereas the American strains are negative in both of 

 these characters. Furthermore, the latter are usually smooth and when the rough 

 stage exists, it does not resemble a mesentery from which the organism derived its 

 name. This term, however, can still be applied to the European strains. Since the 

 American strains are identical with Bacillus pumilus (Chester, Del. Agr. Exp. Sta- 

 tion, loth Ann. Report, 1903, 87; Lawrence and Ford, Jour. Bact., 1, 1916, 300), it 

 has been recommended (Smith, Gordon, and Clark, loc. cit.) that they be designated 

 as Bacillus pumilus to avoid ambiguity. Since the European Bacillus mesentericus 

 is only a stage of growth of Bacillus subtilis, the former name should be dropped. 



