The production of red pigment ("prodigiosin") by Serratia marcescens is subject to spontaneous variatilon ( 1,2 ) , which presumably is genetically controlled. Moreover, pigment formation depends on certain external factors, such as temperature and the supply of magnesium and iron (3,4). Glutamic acid has just been identified by Weinberg (5) as an inhibitor of pigment production. A similar effect of chloramphenicol (chloromycetin) , aureomycin, and terramycin is here described.Methods. Four strains of prodigiosus bacilli were collected in this hospital during the summer of 1951. The fifth strain used was originally obtained from Dr. E. C. Roberts of St. Louis(7,8). The organisms were grown on 2 % nutrient agar (Baltimore Biological Laboratories), pH 7,3. Temperature is not critical between 20°C and 37°C. Commercially prepared disks (Difco) were employed according to the method recently described( 6) for preliminary tests with chloromycetin, aureomycin, terramycin, penicillin, streptomycin, di-hydrostreptomycin, and bacitracin. More quantitative tests were done on agar slants containing weighed amounts of antibiotic* covering a wide range of concentrations in 2-fold steps. The slants were inoculated immediately after preparation, except in some experiments, where duplicates were left at room temperature (Approximately 72°F) for 2 days in order to obtain information on the stability of the antibiotics in nutrient agar.Results. No inhibition of coloration or of growth was seen around disks containing penicillin, streptomycin, di-hydrostreptomycin, and bacitracin. In fact, a narrow zone of enhanced pigmentation was on occasion seen * Chloromycetin , aureomycin, and terramycin were provided by the courtesy