Agar colonies: Circular, flat, smooth, en- tire, gray. Occasionally a faint yellow chromogenesis is produced. Agar slant: Growth moderate, smooth, flat, opaque, glistening, butyrous, amor- phous. No odor. Agar stab: Filiform growth more abun- dant near the surface. Broth: Moderate turbidity near the sur- face; flocculent sediment. Litmus milk: Slightly alkaline. Indole not produced. No action on carbohydrates. Nitrites produced from nitrates (personal communication, test of A.T.C.C. cultures, numbers 6871 and 6872, by W. A. Clark, 1954). Urea is fermented forming ammonia. Blood serum not liquefied. Aerobic, facultatively anaerobic. Optimum temperature, 30° C. Killed at 55° C. in ten minutes. Optimum pH, between 7.0 and 8.5; does not grow readily in media with more acid or more alkaline reaction than this. Not pathogenic for rabbits or guinea pigs. Source: Isolated from the feces of infants. Cause of a diaper rash of infants. Habitat: Presumably widely distributed in putrefjdng materials. 17. Brevibacterium healii (Buchanan and Hammer, 1915) Breed, 1953. (Bacterium healii Buchanan and Hammer, Iowa Agr. E.xp. Sta. Research Bull. 22, 1915, 249; Breed, Riassunti delle Comunicazioni, VI Congresso Internaz. di Microbiol., Roma, 1, 1953, 14; also see Atti del VI Congresso Internaz. di Microbiol., Roma, 1, 1955, 14.) hea'li.i. M.L. gen. noun healii of Healy; named for Dr. Healy. Rods 0.5 to 0.7 by 2.2 to 12.9 microns; chains and filaments common. Not encap- sulated. Non-motile. Gram-positive. Produces a slight flocculent growth in Uschinsky's solution. Gelatin stab: Heavy growth with strati- form liquefaction beginning at surface. Villous to arborescent growth along the stab. Agar stab: Heavy white, brittle surface growth. Villous to arborescent growth along line of inoculation. Agar streak: White, hard, arborescent growth; no tendency to stringiness. Agar colonies: Large, white, rhizoid. Broth: No turbidity; forms a pellicle which sinks either entirely or in part. Litmus milk: Slightly acid, becoming slimy, coagulated and peptonized. Potato: Heavy white, shiny, non-viscous growth. Indole not produced. Acid but no gas from glucose, fructose, maltose, sucrose, salicin and starch. No acid from mannitol, lactose, raffinose or inulin. Grows well at room temperature. Does not survive 80° C. for 5 minutes. Distinctive character: Morphologically this species resembles the species in Kurthia; further study may show that it should be transferred from Brevibacterium to Kurthia. Source: Isolated from bitter and slimj^ milk by Dr. Healj^ of Kentucky; also from dairy products by Esten. Habitat : Dairy products, and presumably widely distributed in decomposing organic materials. 18. Brevibacteriiim incertum (Stein- haus, 1941) Breed, 1953. (Bacterium incertum Steinhaus, Jour. Bact., 42, 1941, 776; Breed, Riassunti delle Comunicazioni, VI Con- gresso Internaz. di Microbiol., Roma, 1, 1953, 14; also see Atti del VI Congresso Internaz. di Microbiol., Roma, 1, 1955, 13.) in.cer'tum. L. adj. incertus uncertain. Short rods, 0.5 to 0.8 by 1.0 to 1.5 microns, occurring singly and occasionally in pairs. Young cultures motile. Monotrichous (Steinhaus, personal communication, 1955). After 48 hours generally non-motile. Gram- positive; after 48 hours many cells become Gram-negative. Gelatin stab: No liquefaction. Agar colonies: Tiny, grayish white, smooth, almost transparent. Does not grow well on nutrient agar. North's gelatin chocolate agar slant: Fili- form, thin, transparent growth. Brown color of chocolate medium changes to yellowish green. Blood agar: Alpha hemolysis at first; after three days, beta hemolysis. Broth: Almost clear; very slight growth. Litmus milk: No change.
