FAMILY BACILLACEAE 



711 



Milk agar plate: Casein hydrolj'zed. 



Potato : Growth luxuriant, warty or 

 wrinkled to coarsely folded, whitish to 

 pink or yellow, becoming brownish with 

 age. 



Nitrites formed from nitrates. 



Starch is hj^drolyzed. 



Acid with ammoniacal nitrogen from 

 xylose, arabinose, glucose, fructose, galac- 

 tose, mannose, maltose, sucrose, salicin, 

 glycerol, and mannitol. Usually acid 

 from dextrin. Variable reactions on 

 rhamnose, raffinose, and inulin. Usually' 

 no action on lactose. 



Acetylmethycarbinol produced. 



Citrates utilized. 



Optimum temperature 30° to 37°C. 

 Will usually grow from 50° to 56°C. 



Aerobic, facultative. 



Source: Original cultures isolated by 

 Cohn from an infusion of lentils (1872), 

 from a boiled infusion of cheese and white 

 beets (1875), and from boiled hay infu- 

 sions (1876). Hence, frequently called 

 the hay bacillus. The folded, non-ad- 

 herent stage of growth (Bacillus vulgatus 

 and the European strain of Bacillus 

 mesentericus) is often called the potato 

 bacillus. Manner of germination of 

 spores established by Prazmowski {loc. 

 cit.). 



Habitat : Widely distributed in soil 

 and in decomposing organic matter. 



Note: Bacillus vulgatus has long been 

 separated from Bacillus subtilis by the 

 folded character and the non-adherence 

 of its growth. Recently Lamanna (Jour. 

 Bact., 44, 1942, 611) has attempted to 

 separate this species from Bacillus sub- 

 tilis by the splitting of the spore sheath 

 along the transverse axis upon germina- 

 tion. Since the two species are otherwise 

 morphologicallj" and physiologicall}' alike 

 and since these characters are subject to 

 much variation, there seems to be no valid 

 reason for this separation. One can, if he 

 desires, indicate the different stages of 

 growth; for instance. Bacillus subtilis 

 morphotype vulgatus (or mesentericus) 

 for the folded growth, Bacillus subtilus 



morphotj'pe panis for the slimy growth, 

 and Bacillus subtilis morphotype globigii 

 for those that produce a red or orange 

 pigment. These terms would apply to 

 the present condition of the culture and 

 would have to be changed if the character 

 of the growth changed. 



la. Bacillus subtilis var. aterrimus 

 comb. nov. (Potato bacillus, Biel, Cent. f. 

 Bakt., II Abt., 2, 1896, 137; Bacillus 

 aterrimus Lehmann and Neumann, Bakt. 

 Diag., 1 Aufl., 2, 1896, 303; Bacillus 

 viesentericus niger Lunt, Cent. f. Bakt., 

 II Abt., 2, 1896, 572; Bacillus niger 

 Chester, Man. Determ. Bact., 1901, 306.) 

 From Latin aterrimus, very black. 



Synonyms : Bacillus nigrificans Fabian 

 and Nienhuis, Mich. Agric. Exp. Station, 

 Tech. Bull. 140, 1934, 24; Bacillus 

 tyrosinogenes Rusconi, as referred to by 

 Carbone et al., Inst it. Sierot. Milan., 2, 

 1921-1922, 29; not Bacillus tyrosinogenes 

 Hall and Finnerud, Proc. Soc. Expl. 

 Biol, and Med., 19, 1921, 48 and Hall. 

 Abstr. Bact., 6, 1922, 6. 



In the early accounts the production 

 of a blue-black to black pigment on potato 

 was stressed. It was also said to resemble 

 Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus vulgatus 

 on gelatin plates. Recent work (Clark 

 and Smith, Jour. Bact., 37, 1939, 280) has 

 shown that pigmentation occurs only in 

 the presence of a carbohydrate. In addi- 

 tion (Gordon and Smith, Jour Bact., 4^, 

 1942, 55), it was established that the abil- 

 ity to form the pigment could be lost 

 through serial transfers and colony 

 selection and that the resultant dissoci- 

 ants could not be differentiated from 

 Bacillus subtilis. 



Source : Isolated from rye bread in 

 moist chamber used for growing some 

 aspergilli (Biel). 



Habitat: Widely distributed in soil. 



lb. Bacillus subtilis var. niger comb, 

 nov. {Bacillus lactis niger Gorini, Gior. 

 d. Reale Soc. Ital. Ig., 16, 1894, 9; Bacil- 



