314 A MANUAL OF THE PENICILLIA 



not included therein for the reasons Hsted above. The species could pos- 

 sibly be treated most satisfactorily as separate from any of the well- 

 recognized series but we refrain from this course since it would accord to 

 it a degree of recognition which we believe unwarranted. 



Penicillium intricatum Thom (U. S. Dept. of Agr., Bur. Anim. Ind., Bui. 118, 75- 

 76, fig. 31. 1910) is regarded as having approximated the type of organisms now in- 

 cluded in P. godleivskii. In his original description, and in the presentation of this 

 species in his Monograph (1930), Thom stressed its funiculose habit. Examination 

 of additional cultures during recent years leads us to believe that the species was 

 based upon a strain approximating our present concept of P. godlewskii, but showing 

 distinctive cultural characteristics. No authentic culture wks available for the 

 current study. 



Occurrence and Significance 



Members of this series occur most abundantly in soil. They are also 

 found upon vegetation in the later stages of decay, and were commonly 

 isolated from fabrics, optical instruments, and other items of military 

 equipment undergoing deterioration, particularly in tropical to subtropical 

 areas, during World War II. In soil dilution platings, Penicillium jan- 

 thinellum constitutes one of the most numerous and one of the most colorful 

 species encountered. Under similar circumstances P. simplicissimum 

 and P. godlewskii are isolated less frequently, whereas other members of the 

 series may be observed occasionally. From their numbers and distribu- 

 tion we believe the series may be assumed to play an active role in decom- 

 position processes. 



Mailman and Michael (1940) reported Penicillium janthinellum and 

 P. ochro-chloron to be among the Penicillia most commonly isolated from 

 the interior of cold storage eggs. Invasion from the containers and fillers 

 was suspected, and treatments of these with chlorophenols, particularly 

 sodium pentachlorophenol, reduced the damage materially without im- 

 parting an objectionable odor or taste to the eggs stored therein. Mor- 

 otchkovsky (1936) described a new species, P. propriiim, believed to repre- 

 sent a member of this series, as an isolate from stored sugar beet roots. 

 Graham and Greenberg (1939) reported salicylic aldehyde, when added to 

 soil, as predisposing wheat to infection by Pythium arrhenomanes Drechs. 

 and found Actinomyces erythropolis and a Penicillium, identified as prob- 

 ably P. rivolii, (see p. 303), to destroy the aldehyde, thus favoring wheat 

 growth. Birkinshaw et al. (1931) reported P. daleae to produce some 

 kojic acid, though less than members of the Aspergillus flavus-oryzae 

 group. A variety of carbon sources were employed as substrates. 



Penicillium ochro-chloron is unusually tolerant of both high acidities 

 and metallic ions, particularly copper. Bedford (1936) reported Peni- 

 cillium sp. (subsequently identified by Thom as P. ochro-chloron) to grow 



