Source: Isolated from the blood of a pa- tient suffering from puerperal septicemia. Habitat: Human sources so far as known. 3. Peptococcus asaccharolyticus (Dis- taso, 1912) Douglas, comb. nov. {Staphylo- coccus asaccharolyticus Distaso, Cent. f. Bakt., I Abt., Orig., 62, 1912, 445; Micro- coccus asaccharolyticus Hall, in Manual, 6th ed., 1948, 246.) a.sac.cha.ro.ly'ti.cus. Gr. pref. a not; Gr. noun sacchar sugar; Gr. adj. lyticus able to loose; M.L. adj. asaccharolyticus not digesting sugar. Description taken from Prevot (Ann. Sci. Nat., Ser. Bot. et Zool., 15, 1933, 211). Large spheres, 1.0 to 1.2 microns in di- ameter, occurring in very large clusters and in pairs and short chains. Gram-positive. Gelatin: At 37° C. growth resembles tufts of cotton which precipitate. No liquefac- tion. Deep agar colonies: Very delicate, pin- point, transparent. A few bubbles of gas are produced. Broth: Turbid. Growth settles at the bot- tom of the tube as a sort of viscous zoogloea. Unpleasant odor produced. Peptone water: Turbid. Milk: Feebly acidified but not coagulated. Indole is produced. Carbohydrates not attacked. Egg albumen not attacked. Anaerobic. Distinctive characters: Large size; un- pleasant odor; production of indole; pro- duction of gas. Source: Isolated from the large intestine of a man with intestinal intoxication. Habitat: Intestine. Not common. 4. Peptococcus aerogenes (Schottmiil- ler, 1912) Douglas, comb. nov. (Staphylococ- cus aerogenes Schottmiiller, Cent. f. Bakt., I Abt., Orig., 64, 1912, 270; Micrococcus aerogenes Bergey et al.. Manual, 1st ed., 1923, 70; not Micrococcus aerogenes Miller, Deutsch. med. Woehnschr., 12, 1886, 119.) a.e.ro'ge.nes. Gr. noun aer air; Gr. v. gennaio to produce; M.L. adj. aerogenes gas- producing. Description taken from Prevot (Ann. Sci. Nat., Ser. Bot. et Zool., 15, 1933, 212), Fou- bert and Douglas (Jour. Bact., 56, 1948, 25) and Whiteley (Jour. Bact., 63, 1952, 163, and Thesis, Univ. of Washington, 1951). Spheres, 0.75 to 1.0 micron in diameter, occurring singly, in pairs, tetrads and ir- regular masses. Non-motile. Not encapsu- lated. Gram-positive. Gelatin: No liquefaction. Agar colonies: Circular, 0.5 to 2.0 mm in diameter, smooth, entire, low convex, opaque, grayish white, butyrous. Growth in fluid medium : In peptone yeast extract broth, growth is moderate, coarsely granular; slight to moderate gas produc- tion. Growth and gas production not en- hanced by glucose but markedly stimulated by 0.5 per cent glutamate. Litmus milk: Reduced. Indole is produced. Hydrogen sulfide is produced. Cell suspensions decompose glutamate, serine, threonine, histidines and purines to CO 2 , Ho , NHs and acids. The acids pro- duced are butyric and acetic from glu- tamate, acetic from serine, propionic from threonine, and acetic and lactic from purines and histidines. Chemical analyses show that only traces of glucose are utilized (Foubert and Douglas). Prevot states that some strains produce small amounts of acid from glucose and fructose. Nitrites produced from nitrates; nitrites are reduced. Egg albumen, beef serum and casein not attacked. Coagulase-negative. Catalase-positive. Anaerobic. Optimum temperature, 37° C. Growth be- tween 25° and 37° C. Optimum pH, between 7.0 and 8.0; pH range, 5.5 to 8.5. Non-hemolytic. Distinctive characters: Gas production; sugars utilized slowly if at all; fermenta- tion of amino acids and purines. Foubert and Douglas (op. cit., 1948, 29) found no es- sential differences between cultures of this species and those of Peptococcus asaccharoly- ticus. Future work will probably show the two species to be identical.
