CONTEIBUTIOXS TO THE CYTOLOGY OF THE BACTEKFA. 439 



I found a few forms which appeared to belong to this 

 -organism^ but wliich presented unusual features. I have 

 iigured two of these (figs. 37, 38, PI. I'J). The organism I'epre- 

 sented in fig. 37 has finely granular, darkly coloured cytoplasm, 

 containing several large deeply stained chromatin masses. 

 The oi'ganisrn shown in fig. 38 contains what appears to be a 

 bi'oken-up spiral filament together with some small chromatic 

 granules. Whether these forms are normal stages in thelife- 

 •cycle or degenerate foi-ms, I am unable to decide. At first I 

 took them for degeneration forms, but in view of the nuclear 

 conditions which I have observed in B. saccobranchi (see 

 p. 441), it seems possible that they represent normal events 

 in the life-history. Their presence in my })reparatious seems 

 worthy of record. 



Another form, which I believe to be certainly a degenerate 

 form, is that shown in fig. 40. I have seen and desci-ibed 

 {Dobell, 1909, PI. 13, fig. 19) similar degenerate forms in B. 

 s p i r o g y r a . 



Many small Bacteria from the large intestine of Mabuia 

 carinata showed nuclei of the spirogyra type. Drawings 

 -of some of these oro-anisms will be found on PI. 17. Fio-. 69 

 shows a long slender form — 11 /x long, and less than 1 // 

 broad. Through almost the entire length of the organism, a 

 delicate chromatin filament — irreo-ularlv coiled and zio'-zao-o-ed 

 — can be seen to extend. In spite of its small size, the 

 filament can be seen with the greatest clearness. Pigs. 70, 

 71 and 73 show similar, but smaller organisms. In each of 

 these the characteristic nuclear filament is plainly visible. 

 Figs. 72 and 74 are smaller forms (length of fig. 7'2 = 2/x) with 

 relatively short, thick and straight nuclear filaments. The 

 nucleus appears to be like that of the organism shown in fig. 

 56, but on a very small scale. Fig. 75 shows a dividing form 

 of the same kind of organism as fig. 72. With the exception 

 of certain forms from the blood of Saccobranchus (see 

 p. 441), these are the smallest Bacilli in which I have 

 succeeded in differentiating a nuclear filament with absolute 

 precision. All the figures are faithful copies of the organisms 



