Concerning Flagellation and Motility

Abstract

The authors publish several electron micrographs of flagellation of certain organisms (e.g., the legume nodule bacteria) concerning which there has been much disagreement as to whether they are monotrichic or peritrichic. They also report a study of motility of the colon organism in methocell according to the Pijper technique. They show that their results tend to refute the Pijper claim that flagella are artifacts. The autho-s, on the other hand, prefer to explain disagreements as to type of flagellation by the assumption that the organisms in question show "degenerate peritrichic flagellation," with cells sometimes monotrichic and sometimes peritrichic.