No. 49S] 



THE SPIROCHETES 



387 



parently, the bodies hurst and the granules become free to 

 form the starting point for a new generation. 



The group is evidently a doubtful one even yet. The 

 occurrence of chains and of transverse division strongly 

 favors a bacterial interpretation, but on the whole the 

 trend of recent investigation has been to indicate its 

 protozoan affinities and away from the earlier view of 

 bacterial relationship. The spirochetes are certainly 

 distinct from the spirilla and whether they are ultimately 

 placed among bacteria or protozoa, it seems clear that 

 they will occupy a more isolated position than has previ- 

 ously been assigned them by the advocates of either view. 

 On the other hand, the recent proposal of Fantham to 

 create for them a new group, the Spirocha?tacea, midway 

 between the protozoa and the bacteria, can not be re- 

 garded as a helpful move. Such proposals in other 

 groups have been found on later study to be evidence of 

 an insufficient knowledge of the forms under considera- 

 tion. Further investigation into the life history will un- 

 doubtedly furnish the definite evidence for a decision of 

 the question. 



