Source: Original culture isolated by Buj- wid in Bern, Switzerland, and sent to Mi- gula at Karlsruhe, Germany. Habitat: Unknown. 13. Micrococcus agilis Ali-Cohen, 1889. (Cent. f. Bakt., 6, 1889, 36.) a'gi.lis. L. adj. agilis agile. Spheres, 1.0 micron in diameter, occurring singly, in pairs and in fours. Motile by means of one or two flagella. Gram- variable. Gelatin colonies: Small, gray, becoming distinctly rose-colored. Gelatin stab: Thin, whitish growth in stab. On surface thick, rose-red, glistening growth. Generally no liquefaction. Agar slant: Growth glistening, dark rose- red, lobed with much variation in color. Broth: Slightly turbid, with slight, rose- colored ring and pink sediment. Litmus milk : Slightly acid, pink sediment. Potato: Slow growth as small, rose- colored colonies. Loeffler's blood serum: Pink, spreading, shiny, abundant. Slow liquefaction. Indole not produced. Acid from glucose, sucrose, inulin, gly- cerol and mannitol. No acid from raffinose. Nitrites produced (trace). Ammonia formed (trace) . Does not utilize NH4H2PO4 as source of nitrogen. Aerobic. Optimum temperature, 25° C. Saprophytic. Source: Isolated from water. Habitat : Water, sea water and on sea fish. 14. Micrococcus morrhuae Klebahn, 1919. {Micrococcus (DipJococcus) morrhuae Klebahn, Mitteil. a. d. Inst. f. allg. Bot. i. Hamburg, 4, 1919, 47; abst. in Cent. f. Bakt., II Abt., 52, 1921, 123.) mor'rhu.ae. M.L. gen. noun morrhuae of Morrhua; M.L. fem.n. Morrhua a genus of codfish. Original description supplemented bj' material taken from Better (Proc. Kon. Acad. V. Wetensch. Amsterdam, 34, 1931, 1417; also see Petter, Over roode en andere bacterien van gezouten visch. Thesis, Utrecht, 1932) and Elazari-Volcani (Studies on the Microflora of the Dead Sea. Thesis, Hebrew Univ., Jerusalem, 1940, V and 65). Spheres, 1.0 to 1.5 microns in diameter, occurring singly, in pairs, in short chains and in tetrads. In 30 per cent salt + 1 per cent peptone ("Poulenc"), the spheres are 0.9 to 2.7 microns in diameter and occur singly or in pairs or tetrads; in the same agar medium, they appear mostly as cocci, diplococci, streptococci and staphylococci, tetrads being poorly developed. Non-mo- tile. Gram-negative. Gelatin stab (15 per cent salt) : Surface growth and liquefaction. Agar colonies (24 per cent salt + 1 per cent proteose peptone -f 2 per cent KNO3) : Circular, smooth, entire, raised to conve.x, amorphous, opaque, orange-red. Agar slant: Growth filiform, raised, slightly glistening, smooth, Inityrous, opaque, orange-red. Broth (24 per cent salt + 1 per cent pro- teose peptone): Slightly turbid; orange-red sediment. Indole not produced. No acid or gas from arabinose, xylose, glucose, fructose, galactose, mannose, lac- tose, sucrose, maltose, raffinose, inulin, dex- trin, glj'cerol, mannitol or salicin (all tests were made in 24 per cent salt + 1 per cent peptone + 1 per cent carbohydrate during 3 weeks). Starch not hj^drolj^zed. Nitrites produced from nitrates; no gas is produced (tests made in 24 per cent salt -f 1 per cent peptone + 2 per cent KNO3) . Catalase-positive. Aerobic. Salt tolerance : Halophilic, obligate; grows with no morphological changes in 9 to 30 per cent salt. When the organism is trans- ferred to water, its morphology does not change, and it grows when reinoculated into salt-containing media. Optimum temperature, between 30° and 37° C. Distinctive character: The pigment pro- duced by this organism gives a blue color with concentrated sulfuric acid, thus sug- gesting a carotenoid; it is not soluble in methanol, ethanol, acetone, ether, chloro- form, dioxam, ethylacetate, benzol, pe- troleum ether, xjdene or pyridine.
