104 



Microbes and You 



we will continue to speak of flagella as the cause of bacterial 

 locomotion. 



If we consider the time in which bacteria can cover a distance 

 equal to their own length, their speed becomes jet-like in character. 



Fig. 22. Electronograph of a Proteus species prepared by a shadow- 

 ing technic, showing flagella. (Courtesy of C. F. Rohinow and J. 

 Hillier.) 



It has been calculated that a car traveling at comparable speed for 

 its mass as some of our more active microbes would have to zo 

 over 1000 miles an hour! What induces a microbe to changje 

 direction is still not known, but a car attempting to alter its course 



