CLASSIFICATION OF BACTERIA 15 



slightly larger, more refractile, and more resisting than 

 their fellows, and are stated to have the properties of 

 spores. Placed in favourable circumstances, the spore in 

 either case germinates, it becomes swollen and granular, 

 and loses its refractile appearance ; a slight protuberance 

 forms, this increases in size, and an organism similar 

 to the parent one is finally reproduced ; the empty 

 spore membrane at first frequently encloses one ex- 

 tremity, and is afterwards cast off. In certain instances 

 the spore germinates without casting its membrane, 

 the spore membrane becoming the cell-wall of the 

 young organism. The ellipsoidal spores of the B. 

 anthracis sprout from the end, those of B. subtilis from 

 the side (" polar " and " equatorial " germination 

 respectively). 



On the Morphology, etc., of the Bacteria see Dobell, Quart, 

 Journ. Micr. Sci., vol. 56, 1911, p. 395 (Bibliog.) ; Penau, Comp. 

 Rend., clii, 1911, p. 53 ; Prazmowski, Bull. Interned, de VAcad. des 

 Sci. de Cracovie, No. 4, B, April 1913, p. 105 (Bibliog.). 



Classification of the Bacteria 



Many classifications of the Bacteria have been proposed, 

 but none can be said to be strictly scientific, or even 

 satisfactory from the standpoint of convenience. A some- 

 what heterogenous group of organisms has undoubtedly 

 been described under the term Bacteria, and many forms 

 exist intermediate between those unicellular organisms 

 with and those without chlorophyll, so that a hard and 

 fast line cannot be drawn. Moreover, bacterial cells are 

 so minute that only a few broad differences can be observed 

 in the morphology and reproductive processes of different 

 species, and therefore ordinary criteria are not available 

 for the classification of the Bacteria. 



One of the most prominent of the older classifications 



