428 C. CLIFFORD DOBELL. 



describe some very similar forms which I have been able to 

 examine. 



(2) Bacilli of the flex il is tji-te from Lac art a 

 muralis. — I found these organisms in the large intestine of 

 Lacerta ranralis captured in the neighbourhood of Naples. 

 Many lizards which I examined contained these organisms, 

 but I have no record of the exact percentage of animals 

 infected. Possibly it is the same organism which Prowazek^ 

 observed in lizards in Eovigno. Bat from his very brief 

 mention of it ns " ein grosser mit zwei Polkor])ern aus- 

 gestatteter Brizillus/' it is impossible to be certain. 



These bacilli are of very large size, but tliey are usually 

 smaller than B. flexilis. The largest individuals which I 

 have measured are about 30 /t in length, with a breadth of 

 rather less than 2 /j. The ends are blunter than in B. 

 flexilis, but the organisms are flexible in the same way. 

 Fio-s. 8o atid 84 (PI. 17) show two of these forms after fixation 

 with osmic vapour and staining with Giemsa. Pigs, loo and 

 134 (PI. 18) show two other individuals — -one of them (fig. 134) 

 undergoing division — after fixation with sublimate-alcohol and 

 staining with Heidenhain. It will be seen that all of them 

 show essentially the same structure — a structure, moreover, 

 identical with that of B. flexilis. There is a uniform or 

 slightly alveolar cytoplasm containing chromatin gninules 

 scattered through it. 



Division takes place in this organism by constriction — not 

 by septation — as in B„ flexilis. I have not observed its 

 method of forming spores, but I believe that it is probably a 

 disporic form. 



In addition to this organism of a typical flexilis form, I 

 found some smaller Bacteria, which show a similar kind of 

 organisation, in the large intestine of L. mui-alis. They 

 were of different sizes and forms, and may be different species 

 or stages in the life of the same species. It is impossible to 

 be certain from a comparison of the fixed and stained organ- 



^ "Untersnchungen iiher t'inii;o parasitische Flag-ellaieii,"" " Arh. 

 kaiserl. Gesundheitsamte,' xxi, ltt04-. p. 1. 



