T. G. PRIDHAM

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ABSTRACT. In the early 1980's the author discovered a publication
in a well-known agricultural science journal which contained the
names of 24 proposed new species in the genera Actinomyces
Harz 1877, Bacillus Cohn 1872, and Micrococcus Cohn
1872. This discovery poses an intriguing nomenclatural mystery
because perusal of many publications that should have referred to
and evaluated these names gave negative results The present
publication documents these names and points out the mystery
associated with their lack of recognition and subsequent
documentation.

     

     A number of years back I became interested in non-symbiotic
dinitrogen fixation, sparked principally by the number of reports
on Frankia Brunchorst 1886 spp. by other researchers
and by our own studies with one strain of F.brunchorstii
Moller 1890, 244 (Pridham and Lyons 1981). Prior to this study
I had carried out work in Germany to learn whether streptomycetes
and streptoverticillia could fix dinitrogen (Pridham and
Kroppenstedt 1979). Frustration over lack of objective information
on cultivation of Frankia spp. in early reports led to my
preparation of an extensive bibliography on dinitrogen fixation
(Pridham 1981).

     During the course of examining some of the publications I had
uncovered, I noted one in Soil Science that proposed 24 new species
in the genera Actinomyces Harz 1877, Bacillus Cohn
1872, and Micrococcus Cohn 1872, The "actinomycete,'
specific epithets did not appear in my master list of
Actinomycetales species which I had been accumulating since
1946. Nor had any of my colleagues, both national and
international, indicated knowledge of this paper or the names! It
surprised me that these names were missing from my list although I
had not surveyed every issue of that particular journal. But!,
these names should have appeared in a number of reputable
publications (listed in the References) as well as culture
collection catalogues international in scope that I had thoroughly
scanned in years past. These publications and catalogues contained
information on most of the names of bacteria known to science. This
led me to wonder what had happened.

     To begin - the publication was "E.G. Carter and J.D.Greaves
(1928). The nitrogen-fixing microorganisms of an arid soil. Soil
Sci., 26(3):179-195."

     The microorganisms are listed in Table 1.

     Micrococcus cinereus also was listed but it is listed
in the VIII edition of Bergey's Manual (Buchanan and Gibbons, 1974)
with attribution of von Lingelsheim 1906, 396 - thereby pre-empting
Carter and Greaves proposal.

     Actinomyces exfoliatus, n.v. (sic ) and
Penicillium chrysogenum, n.v. (sic) also are listed
indicating familiarity with the literature. Curiously, there are no
references to any identification schemes prevalent at that time,
e.g., Waksman and Curtis, 1916 or Krainsky, 1914 or Bergey's
Manual of Determinative Bacteriology (1st and 2nd editions)!


"2. of the cultures isolated, 27 probably represent new species
and varieties and are given in this paper". (sic). (From
Summary on p. 191)

----------------------------------------------------------------
---
Actinomyces albocinereus
     "      cinereus
     "      filatosus
     "      negrocinereus
     "      roseus purpureus or roseus-purpureus
     "      sphaerulosus or sphaerulorus
     "      veundulatus
Bacillus    annulofaciens
     "      everidipallens or eviridipallens
     "      indolfaciens
     "      levanensis
     "      multumerescens or multumcrescens
     "      nephii
     "      subfuscus
Micrococcus conglomeratus n.v. (sic)
     "      gramnegans
     "      indolfaciens
     "      micans
     "      non-acidulus
     "      subroseus
     "      subfuscus
----------------------------------------------------------------
---

Table 1. New species of bacteria proposed by Carter and
Greaves in 1928.

----------------------------------------------------------------
------


     The mystery deepened as I began examining other publications
on systematics of bacteria and on dinitrogen fixation. Biological
Abstracts (Volumes 2 through 9,1928 through 1935) contained no
reference to the Carter and Greaves paper although other papers in
Soil Science had been abstracted. And, most curiously, a
paper by Waksman and Tenney in the same issue of Soil Science
(No. 3) was abstracted in Biological Abstracts 3(7-8):
1428 - Abstract 15039 (1929)!

     To add to the mystery, Waksman (1926) wrote an epic volume on
Principles of Soil Microbiology, publishing the 2nd edition
in l932 wherein he critiqued the Carter and Greaves paper. He
referred to it somewhat incorrectly and did not list the names
involved. Nor did he list them in any of his subsequent
publications. There seems to have been a comedy of errors
associated with this publication - authors incorrectly identified,
pagination cited incorrectly, the names not listed elsewhere.

     To further add to the mystery, Sir E.J.Russell, noted English
scientist and Director of the Rothamstead Experimental Station and
of the Imperial Bureau of Soil Science, Harpenden edited a volume
on Soil Conditions and Plant Growth in 1932 and failed to reference
the paper in question although it was evident that volume 26 of
Soil Science had been scanned!

     Regardless of the merits of the dinitrogen fixation research
or the microbial characterizations done at that time, certainly the
microorganisms were characterized, illustrated, and named by
contemporary methods and philosophies (Society of American
Bacteriologists ).

     The names are there for nomenclatural documentation and
evaluation. In my own view they now are superfluous although
they presumably were validly published and legitimate prior to
1978.

     All the Actinomyces species were aerobic so, most
likely, were streptomycetes or nocardias. How they were missed in
Index Bergeyana (Buchanan et al.,1966) and its
supplement (Gibbons et al., 1981) also defies
explanation.

     Letters written to attempt to resolve the mystery gave few
clues and the mystery remains (see Letters below).

     

NOTE. A short note on the senior author (Ezra G.Carter) of the
paper in question can be found in The Utah Farmer (Saturday,
Nov. 30, 1918). At that time he was assistant chemist and
bacteriologist at the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station. A
decade later, of course, he had achieved considerable expertise in
soil microbiology.

     The junior author (J.Dudley Greaves) of the paper in question
was the son of Joseph Eames Greaves (see The Utah Farmer,
Saturday, April 6, 1918) who headed the Department of Chemistry
and Bacteriology at the time the work was done. A building at Utah
State University, Logan, Utah is named in his honor. He was a noted
soil microbiologist contemporary with Waksman and Russell. In 1927
(June 13-22), he presented a paper (not seen) at the 1st
International Congress of Soil Science in Washington, D.C. on the
dynamics of bacterial changes in the soil, suggesting that some
soil components as NaCl, Na2SO4, Na2CO3 or manure, as well as
leaching led to increases in counts and activities. When these
"stimulants" did not account for increases, he raised the
proposition that a bacteriophage, or virus, or ferment, limited the
numbers and activities of various microorganisms- a prelude to the
proposition that antibiotics might be produced in nature and exert
some kind of control over the microbial flora of the soil? (TGP's
thought).

     There is no evidence that cultures of the named microorganisms
ever were deposited in any collection of microorganisms or even
maintained beyond their original isolation and characterization.

     It appears that copies of correspondence, memoranda, notes,
reports, etc. concerning this paper are no longer extant.

     

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. I thank my wife, Sue, and daughter, Pamela Sue,
for their help in researching and preparing this paper.

     

LETTERS. A number of telephone calls and letters were involved in
developing this paper. They included:

     1. Letter to Director, New Jersey Agricultural Experiment
Station from TGP. No reply.

     2. Letter to TGP from John R.Simmons, Professor and Department
Head, Department of Biology, Utah State University, Logan, Utah,
84322, July 2, 1991.

     3. Letter to TGP from Dr. Marguerite Greaves, Oakland,
California, July 11, 1991 (daughter of J.D.Greaves).

     4. Letter to TGP from Robert Parson, University Archivist,
Special Collections & Archives, Utah State University, Logan, Utah,
84322, July 22, 1991.

     5. Letter to TGP from Lovell A.Douglas, Editor-in-Chief Soil
Science, An International Journal for Soil-Plant Research, Cork
College Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey P.O. Box 23 1,
New Brunswick, New Jersey, 08903, October 16, 1991.

     6. Letter to TGP from Dr. Robert L. Gherna, Head, Department
of Bacteriology, American Type Culture Collection, 12301 Parklawn
Drive, Rockville, Maryland 20852, November 6, 1991.

     7. Letter to TGP from Edward Shipworth, Special Collections
and Archives, Rutgers University Libraries, Rutgers, The State
University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ 08903.


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Copyright 1993 C.E.T.A.