Aerobic; poor growth under anaerobic conditions. Serologically different from Mycoplasma mycoides var. rnycoides and M. agalactiae. Comments: A closely related organism was identified as the cause of an infectious and highly fatal oedema and cellulitis of goats (Melanidi, Bull. Office Internat. des Epizooties, Paris, 36, 1951, 363; Edward, op. cit., 1953, 873). An organism also closel.y related to Mycoplasma mycoides var. capri in cultural, physiological and serological respects was recently isolated as the etio- logical agent of a highly fatal disease, char- acterized by septicemia and arthritis, in a herd of dairy goats; clinically the outbreak was typical of neither contagious agalactia nor caprine pleuropneumonia (Cordy, Adler and Yamamoto, Cornell Vet., 4-5, 1955, 50). Source : Isolated from cases of contagious pleuropneumonia of goats. Habitat: The etiological agent of conta- gious pleuropneumonia of goats. 2. Mycoplasma bovigenitaliuniFreundt, 1955. (P strains of the bovine genital tract, Edward, Jour. Gen. Microbiol., 4, 1950, 4; Pleuropneumonia bovigenitalis Tulasne and Brisou, Ann. Inst. Past., 88, 1955, 238; Freundt, Internat. Bull, of Bact. Nomen. and Taxon., 5, 1955, 73; also see Edward, Internat. Bull, of Bact. Nomen. and Taxon., 5, 1955, 90; Borrelomyces bovi- genitalium Freundt, op. cit., 1955, 74.) bo.vi.ge.ni.ta'li.um. L. noun bos, bovis the ox; L. neut.adj. (used as a noun) genitale genital organ; L. pi. noun genitalia the geni- talia; L. gen. pi. noun genitalium of genitalia; M.L. gen.pl.noun bovigenitalium of bovine genitalia. Unstable, sparsely branching mycelioid structure with very short, almost bacillary filaments which usually measure 2 to 5 mi- crons in length (Freundt, unpublished ob- servation). Gram-negative. Horse-serum agar: A film and spots are produced. Horse-blood agar: Alpha hemolysis. Rabbit-serum agar: Poor growth. Semi-solid media: Fluffy growth through- out. Broth: Dense, uniform opalescence. Carbohydrates not attacked. Methylene blue is reduced rather rapidly. Aerobic, facultatively anaerobic. Ten strains investigated serologically shared common antigens, but at least three different serological types appear to exist. Pathogenicity: Suggested as a cause of inflammation of the genital tract, predis- posing to infertility, although inoculation of cultures into the uteri of heifers has so far been unsuccessful. Source: Isolated from the bovine genital tract. Habitat: Frequent inhabitant of the bo- vine lower genital tract, both in males and females. 3. Mycoplasma agalactiae (Wroblewski, 1931) Freundt, 1955. (Le microbe de I'aga- laxie contagieuse, Bridre and Donatien, Compt. rend. Acad. Sci., Paris, 177, 1923, 841; also see Ann. Inst. Past., 39, 1925, 925; Anulotnyces agalaxiae (sic) Wroblewski, Ann. Inst. Past., 47, 1931, 111; Borrelomyces aga- lactiae Turner, Jour. Path, and Bact., 4-1, 1935, 25; Capromyces agalactiae Sabin, Bact. Rev., 5, 1941, 57; Pleuropneumonia agalactiae Tulasne and Brisou, Ann. Inst. Past., 88, 1955, 238; Freundt, Internat. Bull, of Bact. Nomen. and Taxon., 5, 1955, 73; also see Edward, Internat. Bull, of Bact. Nomen. and Ta.xon., 5, 1955, 90.) a.ga.lac'ti.ae. Gr. noun agalactia want of milk, agalactia; M.L. gen. noun agalactiae of agalactia. Relatively stable mycelioid structure with filaments of moderate length (10 to 30 microns) (Wroblewski, op. cit., 1931, 94; Ledingham, Jour. Path, and Bact., 37, 1933, 393; |Z)rskov, Acta Path, et Microbiol. Scand., 19, 1942, 586; Freundt, unpublished observation). Round and oval elementary bodies and short filaments have been dem- onstrated in electron micrographs by Klieneberger-Nobel and Cuckow (Jour. Gen. Microbiol., 12, 1955, 95). Gram-nega- tive. Horse-serum agar: A film and spots are produced by most strains. Horse-blood agar: Alpha hemolysis. Rabbit-serum agar: Poor growth. Semi-solid media: Fluffy growth, prefer- ably near the surface. Broth: Generalized opacity. Filtrates of
