Crystal formation in furunculosis agar

SINCE ITS INTRODUCTION SOME MONTHS AGO, FURUNCULOSIS AGAR has been employed in the diagnosis of suspect furunculosis and also as a general purpose medium. During our work with this medium we have noticed discrete "colonies," of crystalline material, which very closely resemble microbial colonies. These crystal colonies are compact and appear on both the surface and subsurface; they occur in inoculated slants and plates incubated for long periods (2 to 3 weeks), as well as in uninoculated stored medium. As the crystal colonies could be confusing to workers using this medium, we decided to attempt to identify them and also to determine whether storage conditions and different lots of medium affect crystal formation.