147 



grossly irregular, — partly irregularly swollen, and partly 

 unevenly coloured. 



The well-defined round bodies which were also observed 

 by Wadf. & Manalang seem moreover to be not well known. 

 So much the more occasion therefore is there to announce 

 that I have found these or similar bodies constantly present 

 in Pfeiffer's bacillus, but exhibiting a different development 

 and sometimes in very small numbers. They are subject to 

 great variability, as they display a large range of variation 

 in 3 different directions, — size, position in relation to the 

 bacilli, and staining. The size may vary from a fraction of 

 1 f* to 3 — 4 «. The situation may be, in a rod (or thread) 

 either in the middle or nearer either end; at the end of a rod 

 or thread; placed right on the side, or on a small side branch*; 

 lying free. The colour may range from an extremely pale 

 one to a coal-black hue. The absolutely black elements are 

 usually small, at most the size of large cocci. Conversely 

 it is particularly the largest, „blown-out" elements that are 

 pale-coloured. 



I have very often seen pictures like the T-shaped elements 

 in the collection, „various", in the plate. They can hardly be 

 explained otherwise than by assuming that a sphere situated 

 at the end of the bacillus grows into a rod transversely to 

 the original one. What part these spherical bodies play I 

 have been unable to determine. They cannot be regarded as 

 spores. About 50 strains were examined with Moller's stain 

 for spores, but distinctly acid-fast elements could not be de- 

 tected. Further the slight resistance against heat and drying, 

 which will later be referred to, excludes the presence of spores. 



The reason all the different spherical elements are dis- 

 cussed together is because all transitions between any two 

 types may be observed. This naturally does not exclude that 

 we have several kinds of elements of a distinctly different 

 nature to deal with, only we have at present, no basis for 

 such a classification. 



We might imagine that the absolutely black spheres were 

 different from the red, but there are no facts to support 

 even this. There are also connecting links in this case in 



* On the whole, undoubted branching is not infrequently observed. 



10* 



