"Compiled by abstracting the phenotypic information contained in the four volumes of Bergey's manual of systematic bacteriology"--Page vii. Includes bibliographical references and index.

Spirochetes -- Aerobic/microaerophilic, motile, helical/vibrioid gram-negative bacteria -- Nonmotile (or rarely motile), gram-negative curved bacteria -- Gram-negative aerobic/microaerophilic rods and cocci -- Facultatively anaerobic gram-negative rods -- Gram-negative, anaerobic, straight, curved, and helical bacteria -- Dissimilatory sulfate- or sulfur-reducing bacteria -- Anaerobic gram-negative cocci -- Rickettsias and chlamydias -- Anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria -- Oxygenic phototrophic bacteria -- Aerobic chemolithotrophic bacteria and associated organisms -- Budding and/or appendaged bacteria -- Sheathed bacteria -- Nonphotosynthetic, nonfruiting gliding bacteria -- Fruiting, gliding bacteria: the myxobacteria -- Gram-positive cocci -- Endospore-forming gram-positive rods and cocci -- Regular, nonsporing gram-positive rods -- Irregular, nonsporing gram-positive rods -- Mycobacteria -- Actinomycetes -- Nocardioform actinomycetes -- Genera with multilocular sporangia -- Actinoplanetes -- Streptomycetes and related genera -- Maduromycetes -- Thermomonospora and related genera. (cont) Thermoactinomycetes -- Other genera -- Mycoplasmas (or mollicutes): cell wall-less bacteria -- Methanogens -- Archaeal sulfate reducers -- Extremely halophilic, aerobic archaeobacteria (halobacteria) -- Cell wall-less archaeobacteria -- Extremely thermophilic and hyperthermophilic Sp0s-metabolizers. Covers the nature of bacterial identification schemes, the differentiation of procaryotic from eucaryotic microorganisms, and major categories and groups of bacteria.