FAMILY SPIROCHAETACEAE 



1055 



Membrane distinct. 

 Division transverse. 

 Source : Found in oysters in Baltimore, 

 IMaryland . 



Appendix: Tlie following species have 

 been placed in this genus. 



Saprospira flexuusa Dobell. (Arch. f. 

 Protistenk., ;?6, 1912, 117.) Isolated once 

 from water of the river Granta at Cam- 

 bridge . 



Saprospira nana Gross. (IMittheil. 

 Zool. Sta. zu Neapel, 20, 1911, 188.) 

 From foraminiferous sand. 



Geniis III. Cristispira Gross. 

 (Mittheil. Zool. Stat, zu Neapel, 20, 1910, 41.) 



Flexuous cell bodies in coarse spirals, 28 to 120 microns in length. Characterized 

 by a crista or thin membrane of varying prominence on one side of the body extend- 

 ing the entire length of the organism. Cross-striations. Actively motile. Found 

 in the intestinal tract of molluscs. 



The type species is Cristispira balbianii (Certes) Gross. 



1. Cristispira balbianii (Certes) Gross. 

 {Trypanosoma balbianii Certes, Bull. 

 Soc. Zool. de France, 7, 1882, 347; Spiro- 

 chaeta balbianii Swellengrebel, Ann. Inst. 

 Past., 21, 1907, 562; Spirochaete balbianii 

 Borrel and Cernovodeanu, Compt. rend. 

 Soc. Biol., Paris,' 6'^, 1907, 1102; Gross, 

 Cent, f . Bakt., I Abt., Grig., 65, 1912, 90.) 



Cylindrical: 1.0 to 3.0 by 40 to 120 

 microns, with obtuse ends. 



Spiral amplitude is 8 microns. Spiral 

 depth is 1.6 microns. Waves 2 to 5, 

 sometimes more, large, irregular, 

 shallow. 



Axial filament absent . 



Cross-striations present. 



JNIembrane distinct. 



Flexible, elastic. 



Crista present, a ridge-like membrane 

 making one to two complete turns. 



Terminal spiral filament absent. 

 Highly motile end portion absent. 



Stains : Cell membrane behaves like 

 chitin or cutin substance. Stains violet 

 by Giemsa's solution, and light graj- by 

 iron-hemotoxylin. 



Trypsin digestion: Membrane resist- 

 ant, crista and striations disappear. 



Bile salt (10 per cent) : Crista quickly 

 dissolves. 



Saponin (10 per cent) : Crista becomes 

 fibrillar, then indistinct. 



Source : From the crystalline style of 

 oysters. 



Habitat : Parasitic in alimentary tract 

 of shell-fish. 



2. Cristispira anodontae (Keysselitz) 

 Gross. (Spirochaeta anodontae Keysse- 

 litz, Arb. a. d. kaiserl. Gesundheitsamte, 

 23. 1906, 566 ; Gross, Cent . f. Bakt., I Abt., 

 Grig., 65, 1912, 900.) From M.L., mus- 

 sels. 



0.8 to 1.2 by 44 to 88 microns with 

 sharply pointed ends; flattened and 

 possessing an undulating membrane. 

 The periplast is fibrillar in appearance 

 and there is a dark granule at each end 

 of the undulating membrane. The chro- 

 matin material is distributed in the form 

 of globules or elongated bands. 



Large spirals : The average width of the 

 spiral is 2 microns. The average wave 

 length is 8 microns. 



The number of complete turns ranges 

 from 5 to 1 1 . 



Habitat : Found in the crystalline style 

 of fresh water mussels, Anodonta cygnea 

 and .4. tnutabilis, also in intestinal tract 

 of oysters. 



3. Cristispira pinnae (Gonder) Bergey 

 et al. {Spirochaete pinnae Gonder, Cent, 

 f. Bakt., I Abt., Grig., 47, 1908, 491; 

 Spirochaeta pinnae Schellack, Arb. a. d. 



