According to a colleague at the West Virginia University and Bergey's
Manual of Systematic Bacteriology this bacterium was named after an
Italian physicist named Serrafino Serrati (Ser-rah-tee). The page
is red because the most common human pathogen of this genus, Serratia
marcesens, produces a red pigment when incubated at room temperature.
Most strains of this species do not make the red pigment at 37oC.