40 BACTERIOLOGY. 



a tube of freshly inclined agar. The method for their 

 detection will be given in Chapter XI. 



As mentioned above, Loffler, the discoverer of these 

 strange forms, considered them to be woven masses of 

 the ordinary whips, and this view has been quite generally 

 accepted. It is doubtful, however, that this explana- 

 tion of their origin is correct. If they result from a twist- 

 ing process some motion should at times be observable, 

 but such is not the case. The author has observed beauti- 

 ful small spindles in cultures only eight hours old, but at 

 no time could motion be observed. Moreover, the spindles, 

 especially in the earliest stage, might be expected to be 

 surrounded by the bacteria which have had their whips 

 entangled. Usually, however, the whips stand out sharp 

 by themselves. Furthermore, the braiding process does 

 not satisfactorily explain the formation of the perfectly 

 even and very thin spirals which frequently attain a length 

 of 100 A or more. It has been supposed by some that the 

 ordinary flagella, which, as pointed out, may be considered 

 as living protoplasmic matter, when torn loose from the 

 cell, may continue to move about for a short time, and in 

 this way lead to the formation of giant-whips. There is rea- 

 son to believe that the motile organs on certain flagellates, 

 or animal organisms, are endowed with contractility and, 

 for a short time at least, may live- and move about after 

 separation from the cell proper. It is possible, however, 

 that these forms are unusually developed flagella, either 

 as a result of involution changes, or because of a softening 

 of the whip substance, corresponding to that observed in 

 capsule formation. 



