Abstract
Fusiformisis a multicellular organism having the cytological characters of the Eubacteria, and normally reproducing by fission.A few cells of all the strains examined pass through the L cycle; usually the initiation of this process follows the patterns described inProteusand the Morax-Axenfeld bacillus. It has not so far been possible to grow these L-forms ofFusiformisin culture without immediate reversion to the bacillary form.The stable forms described by other workers appear to be produced by a process analogous to the sexual conjugation seen in theActinomyces.The evidence suggests that passage through the L cycle is a normal function ofFusiformisin its natural habitat.
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