VIBRIOTHRIX 



obg 



of very variable size may be present. Gram-negative, not acid-fast. Cultiv- 

 able on ordinary media. 



Type Species. — Vibriothrix zeylanica Castellani, 1910. 



Synonyms. — Spirillum zeylanicum Castellani, 1910; Vibrio zeylanicus 

 Castellani, 1913; Bacillus zeylanicus Castellani, 1913; Vibriothrix zeylanica 

 Castellani, 1917; Spirobacillus ^•ey/aw^cMS Castellani, Spagnolo, and Russo, 1018. 



Remarks. — Very polymorphic organism, vibrio-like, bacillus-like, and 

 undulating forms being often found in the same preparation. Very small, 

 medium size, and occasionally large roundish bodies are at times obserx ed, 

 and club-like forms may also be present [vide Figs. 764, 765, p. 1839). 



The organism is motile. Gram-negative, not acid-fast. Easily grown on 

 ordinary media. On potato the growth is often of a reddish colour. In 

 broth there is often a pellicle; preparations from the fluid medium generally 

 show a predominance of vibrio-like or bacillary forms, while in the pellicle 

 long undulating forms are often found. On MacConkey's medium the colonies 

 are white, and somewhat resemble those of the typhoid-dysentery group. 

 The organism does not ferment any of the usual laboratory carbohydrates or 

 alcohols : glucose, levulose, galactose, maltose, lactose, saccharose, mannitol, 

 dulcite, rafhnose. There is, in fact, frequently a production of alkalinity. 

 Milk is not clotted and is rendered alkaline, and certain strains after several 

 weeks may induce a certain degree of peptonization. The great majority 

 of strains are non-pathogenic to rabbits and guinea-pigs. 



The germ was first isolated by Castellani from cases of dysenteric enteritis 

 in Ceylon, and has recently been observed by the same author and by Spagnolo, 

 Russo, Taylor, Douglas, and Ghiron, in Europe (see p. 1839). 



The germ is found in great abundance in a number of cases of dysentery, 

 while it seems to be rare in other conditions; it is very doubtful, however, 

 whether it can really become pathogenic, Castellani having found it also in 

 cases in which the typical Shiga- Kruse bacillus was present. It may, perhaps, 

 beconsidered to be a so-called' nosoparasite ' similarly to what is the casewith 

 certain species of proteus found in cholera, in typhus fever, and other conditions. 



ORDER II. THALLOSPORALES Vuillemin, 1910. 



Definition. — -Hyphales with the mycehum composed of hyphse 

 more than one micron in diameter, and either short and resembHng 

 the conidia or longer and distinct therefrom. Reproduction by 

 means of thallospores. Parasitic on man, animals, and plants, or 

 saprophytic. 



Classification.— This order may be divided as follows : — - 



Reproduction by means of the form of thallospore called 

 blastospore — -Suborder 1, BlastosporinecB Vuillemin, 1911. 



Reproduction by means of the form of thallospore called 

 arthrospore— Suborder 2, Arthrosporinece Vuillemin, 1911. 



SUBORDER I. BLASTOSPORINEiE Vuillemin, 1911. 



Definition. — -Thallosporales with hyphae similar to or dissimilar 

 from the spores, and reproducing by means of blastospores, which 

 are in turn capable of immediately reproducing themselves. 



Remarks. — ^This order includes Cryptococcus, which, in its old 

 position among the Ascomycetes, was certainly an anomaly, being 

 an Ascomycete without an ascus, and if an ascus was found in a 

 species, then it at once became a saccharomyces. The researches 

 of many observers, but particularly Busse, tend to show that the 



