ON THE BACTERIAL FLORA OF THE VAGINAL SECRETION OF THE NORMAL MARE

The author carried out bacteriological examination of the vaginal secretion of 200 normal mares, and isolated the following bacteria: the hay bacilli, coli, streptococci and staphylococci. Of these, hay bacilli did not always occur in the standing mare. The percentages of the occurrence of these bacteria as they had been isolated on the common agar were: 84.5% with the coli, 71.5% with the streptococci, 62.0% with the hay balilli and 28.0% with the staphylococci. The streptococci occurred less frequently in the young mares. Both the hemolytic and the nonhemolytic groups of them were isolated, the former was still further identified to belong to either one or the other of the βm, βg and β+ types. The staphlococci consisted of three species, i. e. aureus, albus and orangeus. By saccharolytic test with the 30 strains, isolated, 15 were pathogenic. From 3 cases out of the total 200 mares examined, B. pyocyaneus was isolated.