Wachstum von Bacillus circulans nach punktförmiger Beimpfung des Nährbodens. Aufbau der Bakterienkolonie, ihre Rotation ohne Ortsveränderung und unter Fortbewegung über die Nährbodenoberfläche. Typische Wander- und Bewegungsformen anderer Kolonien: Verschmelzung, Trennung und Selbstauflösung von Kolonienverbänden. Koloniestrukturen im polarisierten Licht (Originalaufnahmen im Phasenkontrast, teilweise unter gekreuzten Polarisationsfiltern).

Following two surveys of the growth of the bacteria after a punctiform inoculation of nutrient agar plates, the stratiform structure of the colonies of the organisms, their rotation as a whole without a local change as well as their moving over the agar surface is shown. Other colonies move over the agar surface without rotation in characteristically stretched mobile forms. Rotating colonies in form of rings in this unusual formation are no steady associations of bateria but become skull cap shaped colonies. Both, spontaneously formed and mobile band-shaped colonies artificially splitted off from skull cap shaped colonies get the form of a skull cap again under permanent rotation. The fusion, the separation, and the self-decomposition of colonies are shown as well as the winding of a band-shaped colony. Pictures of multilayered colonies taken between crossed polarising filters demonstrate that the structure of mobile colonies os bateria may stay almost unchanged for several hours.