THIRD TYPE OF SPORE GERMINATION. 71 



A unique procedure is manifested in the germination of the 

 spores of Spirillum endoparagogicum, the membrane of the mother- 

 cell remaining unimpaired (as already mentioned) after the spores 





a 



FIG. 26. Bacillus subtilis. 

 Impeded germination. 



1. Cells with ripe spores causing 



the mother-cell walls to bulge. 



2. Commencement of spore ger- 



mination, capsule fissured 

 equatorially. 



3. Ordinary unimpeded escape of 



the germ. 



4. Exit somewhat impeded, one pole 



being eventually liberated. 



5. Both poles of each germ remain 



fixed ; germ divides into two 

 cells. 

 (After De Bary.) Magn. 600. 



FIG. 27. Spirillum endoparagogicum. 

 Spore germination. 



A, purely vegetative cells in brisk motion. 



B, three spirilla with four to six spores, those in 



the central cell being ripe. 



D, mother-cell with germinating spores, from 



which proceed 



E, branched forms, subsequently dismembered 



into single cells. 



C, moribund spirilla, one with three spores. 



(After Sorokin.) Magn. 1375. 



are formed, so that the germs proceding from the spores have to 

 penetrate the membrane of the mother-cell in order to attain 

 their freedom. Not infrequently they remain attached by the 

 one end, thus giving rise to a branched form, as shown in Fig. 27. 



59. Importance of this Process in the Classification 

 of Bacteria. 



Since, according to observations made thereon, the course of 

 spore germination differs in the various species, it may be utilised, 

 in the chacterisation of species, as an invariable and therefore 

 reliable indication. One example, serving for Bacteriology in 

 general, may here be cited. H. BUCHNER (II.) ascertained that 

 by a suitably modified method of culture it was possible to deprive 

 the anthrax bacillus of its virulence and render it harmless. 

 Sundry other experiments (subsequently found to be defective 

 and deceptive) with the hay bacillus (B. subtilis) induced him to 

 assert that these two species were identical, the hay bacillus being 

 an anthrax bacillus that had lost its virulence, and vice versa. 

 Now it has already been shown that the germination of the endo- 

 spores of B. anthracis follows a different course to that occurring 



