Creameries and cheese factories are sometimes troubled with sliminess in starters. This seems to be due to some change which the ordinary lactic acid bacteria undergo on long propagation rather than to contamination of the starter. There are, however, types of acid-producing bacteria that are able to form specific substances in milk that are slimy in character. Two of these forms of slimy milk are of economic importance. The slimy whey (lange Wei) of Holland is added to milk in the manufacture of Edam cheese, apparently serving the same purpose as the addition of the pure culture starter in cheddar cheese making. In Norway, a sour, slimy milk (taettemjolk) is used as food. It is produced by the addition of some previously fermented milk. This beverage is also used in some of the Norwegian settlements of Wisconsin, the original seed having been brought from Norway, and the bacteria maintained by constant propagation from one sample of milk to another. The milk has the odor and taste of butter milk, but is not especially appetizing in appearance to any one not accustomed to it; it is, however, as harmless to health as is any other form of sour milk. It is not known that any of these forms of slimy milk are distinctly harmful to the quality of butter or cheese. =Alcoholic fermentation of milk.= The bacteria as a class are incapable of producing alcohol in appreciable amounts. The alcoholic beverages, beer, wine, and cider, are produced by the growth of yeast, in such sugar containing liquids as fruit juices, extracts of grains, etc. The common types of yeasts are incapable of acting on milk sugar, but they can ferment glucose, maltose, and cane sugar, forming equal amounts of alcohol and carbonic acid gas, which causes the effervescence of fermented and carbonated drinks. There are, however, some types of yeasts found in milk and its products that are able to ferment milk sugar. All yeasts grow best in an acid medium, hence those fermenting milk sugar find suitable conditions for growth in sour milk or whey. They may at times become of economic importance in the cheese industry, because of the contamination of the milk with large numbers of them. The arrangement of the whey vat is often such that it cannot be completely emptied and cleaned; the sour whey thus presents favorable conditions for the growth of the lactose-fermenting yeasts. The return of the whey to the farm in the milk can that is often imperfectly cleaned may serve to contaminate the milk with the yeast. In the making of Swiss cheese the whey is often so handled as to favor especially the growth of such yeasts, and since this type of cheese is prepared from sweet milk, the competition between the yeast and the acid-forming bacteria is not so sharp as in the making of cheddar cheese. The writers have found several instances where considerable loss was occasioned in the Swiss cheese industry through the development of gassy cheese due to this type of fermentation.