710 



MANUAL OF DETERMINATIVE BACTERIOLOGY 



Mikroorganismen, 2, 1896, 199; Bacillus 

 (jlobigii Migula, Syst. der Bakt., 2, 1900, 

 554; Bacillus vitalis Chester, Man. 

 Determ. Bact., 1901, 286); Bacillus 

 leptosporus Klein, Cent. f. Bakt., 6, 

 1889, 316; Bacillus No. 6, Pansini, Arch, 

 f. path. Anat. u. Physiol., 122, 1890, 422 

 (Bacillus coccoideus Migula, Syst. der 

 Bakt., 2, 1900, 558); Bacillus radians 

 Migula, Syst. d. Bakt., 2, 1900, 580 

 (Bacillus No. IX, Flugge, Ztschr. f. 

 Hyg., 17, 1894, 296; Bacillus lactis No. 

 IX, Kruse, in Fliigge, Die Mikroorgan- 

 ismen, 3 Aufl., 2, 1896, 209; Bacillus 

 stellatus Chester, Man. Determ. Bact., 

 1901, 274; not Bacillus stellatus Vincent, 

 Ann. Inst. Past., 21, 1907, 69); Bacillus 

 mesentericus pants viscosi II Vogel, 

 Ztschr. f. Hyg., 26, 1897, 404 (Bacillus 

 panis Migula,** Syst. der Bakt., 2, 1900, 

 576) ; Bacillus armoraciae Burchard, Arb. 

 a. d. bakt. Inst. d. techn. Hochschule zu 

 Karlsruhe, 2, 1898, 46; Bacillus idosus 

 Burchard, ibid., 47; Bacillus subtilis a. 

 Gottheil, Cent. f. Bakt., II Abt., 7, 

 1901, 635; Bacillus natto Sawamura, 

 Bull. Coll. Agr., Tokyo, 7, 1906, 108; 

 Bacillus mesentericus var. flaous Lau- 

 bach, Jour. Bact., 1, 1916, 497 (Bacillus 

 flavus Bergey et al., Manual, 1st ed., 

 1923, 286; not Bacillus flavus Fuhrmann, 

 Cent. f. Bakt., II Abt., 19, 1907, 117); 

 Bacillus trujfauti Truffaut and Bezsso- 

 noff, Compt. rend. Acad. Sci., Paris, 

 175, 1922, 544; Bacillus mesentericus 

 hydrolyticus Hermann and Neuschul, 

 Biochem. Ztschr., 281, 1935, 219. 



The name Vibrio subtilis Ehrenberg 

 (Infusionsthierchen als vollkommene Or- 



ganismen, Leipzig, 1838) seems to have 

 given rise to the species name. 



Spores : 0.6 to 0.9 by 1.0 to 1.5 microns, 

 ellipsoidal to cylindrical, central or para- 

 central. Germination prevailingly equa- 

 torial . 



Sporangia: Ovoid to cylindrical, only 

 slightly bulged if at all. 



Rods : 0.7 to 0.8 by 2.0 to 3.0 microns, 

 single or in short chains, rounded ends, 

 stain uniformly. Motile. Gram-posi- 

 tive. The following variations have been 

 observed: Smaller or larger rods, fila- 

 ments, encapsulated cells (the slimy 

 bread organisms ) , few shadow forms, non- 

 motile and Gram -variable. Rods on 

 glucose nutrient agar store small amount 

 of fat. 



Gelatin stab: Liquefaction. 



Agar colonies: Usually rough, finely 

 wrinkled, opaque, dull, adherent, slightly 

 spreading, brownish tinge. Variations 

 may be smooth, .soft, thin, translucent, 

 non-adherent, dendroid, coarsely wrin- 

 kled, creamy-white to yellowish to 

 orange. 



Agar slants : Growth abundant, flat, 

 spreading, usually has a dull mat surface, 

 finely wrinkled, adherent, becoming 

 slightly brownish. Variations may be 

 coarsely wrinkled or folded, non-adher- 

 ent, smooth, thin, translucent, dendroid, 

 creamj'-white to yellow to orange. Some 

 strains show a greenish fluorescence 

 when grown at 45°C on nutrient agar. 



Broth : Turbid becoming clear with 

 formation of a tough, wrinkled pellicle. 



Milk: Slowly peptonized, becoming 

 alkaline. 



** There has been confusion about the identity of the so-called slimy bread bac- 

 teria. Lehmann and Neumann (Bakt. Diag., 7 Aufl., 2, 1927, 616) stated that they 

 were interrelated and also more or less closely related to Bacillus mesentericus and 

 to Bacillus vulgatus. Laubach (Jour. Bact., 1, 1916, 501) isolated a strain of Bacil- 

 lus panis that lost its capsules on artificial media, although it still remained slimy. 

 From this and the work of Smith, Gordon and Clark (loc. cit.) it is apparent that 

 the slimy bread organisms are mucoid variants of Bacillus subtilis, which may or 

 may not be encapsulated, and motile or non-motile (see also Bacillus subtilis var. 

 viscosus Chester, Del. Agr. Exp. Station, 15th Ann. Report, 1903, 84). 



