GENERAL CHARACTERS OF SPIROCILETES. 29 



degree of refinement which at present seems fanciful. 

 These little nodular bodies sometimes appear to be 

 attached to the side of the spirochsete rather than to 

 lie in its body (Fig. 26). It is not unusual to find 

 spirochastes which resemble a chain of granules set like 

 a string of beads (Fig. 27) : these are usually regarded 

 as degenerated forms ("moniliform degeneration"), but 

 the possibility that these organisms break up into 



FIG. 26. FIG. 27. 



FIG. 26. Spirochaeta gallinarum, with lateral nodule. (Pro- 

 wazek.) 



FIG. 27. Spirochaeta obermeieri, showing breaking up of body 

 into rods and granules (diagrammatic). 



minute bodies capable of growing into other individu- 

 als, when placed in favourable circumstances, cannot 

 be excluded. 



A loop has been described as present at one end of 

 the spirochaete in certain forms, e.g., in Sp. pallida 

 (Reuter), Sp. pertenuis (Castellani) . 



Masses of organisms may be found tangled together, 

 as in Sp. pallida (Bandi and Simonelli), Sp. dentium 

 (Miller), Sp. obermeieri (Zettnow), and Sp. duttoni 

 (in the tick, Koch) . I have once seen a large number 

 of Sp. anodontcz forming a tangle. 



VARIABILITY OF FORM. 



A very important question is that of the possibility 

 of some degree of change of form in a single species, 

 since upon the negative reply to this question must at 

 present depend the possibility of accurately distin- 



