- Volume 28, Issue 2, 1978

A second strain of Streptococcus iniae has been recovered from an Amazon freshwater dolphin (Inia geoffrensis). This isolate differs from the first-described isolate in its ability to produce acid from lactose but not salicin and its inability to hydrolyze esculin. The two isolates share a common cell wall antigen that appears to represent the C polysaccharide grouping antigen of this species. In addition, there are strain-specific antigens associated with each isolate. The second strain has been designated strain BU (= ATCC 29177).

On the basis of a study of the biochemical, cultural, molecular genetic, morphological, nutritional, and physiological characters of the type strain (ATCC 14048) of Beneckea natriegens (Payne et al.) Baumann et al., we support the proposal by Webb and Payne that this organism is a member of the genus Vibrio.

A novel member of the yeast genus Pichia was recovered 67 times during the period 1971 to 1976. We have named this new species Pichia heedii in honor of William B. Heed. Most strains were isolated from the soft-rot of Lophocereus schottii and from Drosophila pachea, which utilizes L. schottii as a host plant. All strains were found in the Sonoran Desert. The species has four-spored asci and is heterothallic. P. heedii has metabolic capabilities similar to those of P. membranaefaciens, but the base composition of its nuclear deoxyribonucleic acid is 10 to 12 mol% lower than that of P. membranaefaciens. P. heedii may be differentiated from other cactus-specific Pichia species by its ability to assimilate D-xylose and from P. membranaefaciens by its cactus habitat, small cell size, and relatively high maximum temperature of growth. The type strain of P. heedii is UCD-FST 76-356 (= ATCC 34936 = CBS 6930).

The Judicial Commission places the species name Mycobacterium marianum on the list of nomina rejicienda as a nomen perplexum because it is a source of confusion.

The Subcommittee on the Phototrophic Bacteria of the International Committee on Systematic Bacteriology (ICSB) of the International Association of Microbiological Societies (IAMS) proposes unanimously to the ICSB that the nomenclature of the cyanobacteria (cyanophytes, blue-green algae) shall be governed as of 1 January 1979 by the provisions of the International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria (3). Since a prospective date (1 January 1980) has been fixed for the publication of approved lists of procaryotic names, it is further recommended that this deadline should be extended, in the particular case of the cyanobacteria, to 1 January 1985.