a 1892.] A New Order of Schizomycetes. 395 
bluntly rounded. The cell wall is highly elastic and sur- 
rounded by a barely perceptible gelatinous layer, while the 
cell contents may usually be seen to contain distinct granular 
masses (fig. 27, @) of irregular size and shape which stain 
more deeply than the remainder of the cell. Cell division fol- 
lows an elongation and nearly median constriction of the rods 
which, except at the moment of division, are always separate, 
never united in chains. A slow, though distinctly visible 
movement characterizes the active rods and consists in a slid- 
ing locomotion in conjunction with a lateral bending. This 
lateral movement, which may take place in any plane, may 
be carried to such an extreme that the rod may form a loop 
with its ends approximated, after which the normal straight 
position may be assumed with considerable rapidity. This 
bending movement isdoubtless an important factor in the slid- 
ing locomotion which though barely perceptible, can be defi- 
nitely ascertained by careful watching. 
The grouping of rods in a colony may vary somewhat in 
different species and under different conditions. In Chondro- 
myces aurantiacus, for example, they may, when growing in a 
semi-liquid medium, show a tendency to radiate from a com- 
Mon center in rope-like, anastomosing strands, while on a 
_ Solid medium these strands may form ridges, the alternate 
elevations and depressions in which may give the colony a 
characteristic corrugated appearance. In other cases, as for 
_ €xample in Myxococcus, the rods may show less tendency to 
_ collect together, remaining more or less evenly distributed 
_ until just before the period of spore formation. In all cases 
_ the individuals of a colony are heaped together in the region 
Of its advancing margin which is distinctly elevated above its 
_ Surroundings, and characteristically roughened by great num- 
_ bers of partly free individuals projecting from its surface. In 
_ 4 species, with one exception, the rodswhen seen in masses, 
_ ate more or less distinctly reddish. This color may, however, 
: be lost as the mass rises to form cysts, as is the case in C. 
_ ~ocatus as well as in Myxobacter aureus. 
__ Adistinct, firm, hyaline, gelatinous base is secreted by the 
‘olony as it extends itself, over which the individuals may 
_ Move or in which they may become imbedded, and 1s S50 
_ Soherent a structure that whole colonies may be stripped 
iMtact by means of it, from the surface of nutrient agar, for 
*xample. At the period of cyst formation it is often left 
