Abstract
When the Na salts of capric, lauric, myristic, palmitic, stearic or oleic acids were added to the media, a marked effect on strains of anaerobic cocci of groups III and IV was observed. Growth was increased greatly as was also the ability of these organisms to attack carbohydrates and to utilize pyruvate. Cells of these strains grown in media without the addition of a fatty acid had the appearance of starved cells. Good growth of these strains on agar is probably due to fatty acids present in the agar as impurities.