ASYMMETRICA-DIVARICATA 2Gl 



from an historic point of view. Brefeld in 1874 published a detailed ac- 

 count of perithecium formation and ascospore development in a green 

 Penicillium wliich he reported as Penicillium glaucum Link. For sixty 

 years his work was neither confirmed nor denied, in spite of diligent search 

 in every culture laboratory in the world. It is now quite impossible to 

 establish with certainty whether or not Brefeld 's study was based upon a 

 single species of Penicillium. The pattern of the penicilli shown in some 

 of his figures (e.g. fig. 8, Taf. II, reproduced as fig. 2B in this Manual) 

 indicates larger and fnore complex structures (possibly approximating 

 P. expansum Link, or some other fasciculate form) than those usually seen 

 in the present series. Nevertheless, the development of the perithecium 

 as reported and illustrated by him suggests some member of the Car- 

 pentelcs series. 



Langeron (1922) proposed the generic name Carpcnteles for species of 

 Penicillium which were known to produce asci, and specified as the type 

 of his new genus "P. glaucum (Link) Brefeld". Langeron based his new 

 genus upon bibliographic considerations only, and did not see the fungus 

 nor verify the connection between the conidia and perithecia described by 

 Brefeld. His usage was not accepted by Thom (1930) for lack of valid 

 work relating the name to actual material. 



Shear, in 1934, examining soil isolates from Honduras sent to him by 

 Dr. Reinking, encountered a culture which he believed to represent Bre- 

 feld's Penicillium, but rejected the name P. glaucum because of "the con- 

 fusion which already exists in its use". He then proposed the name 

 Carpenteles asperum nom. nov., with the specific name referring to the 

 spinulose ascospores. Shear was amply justified in proposing a new 

 specific name for the very reasons which he gave. There was no justifica- 

 tion, however, for resurrecting a generic usage which was originally ill- 

 conceived and which subsequently had been properly ignored. 



There is some good evidence in support of Shear's view that his Car- 

 penteles asperum approximated Brefeld's fungus. The perithecia are 

 sclerotoid in the extreme, mature very late, and ripen from the center 

 outward as reported by Brefeld. Furthermore, the ascospores are defi- 

 nitely ridged and conspicuously roughened and agree closely with Brefeld's 

 figures (45 and 46, Taf. VII) reproduced as fig. 2G in this Manual. My- 

 celia originating from these rough ascospores were figured as developing 

 biverticillate-asymmetric penicilli often closely approximating in pattern 

 those now produced by Shear's type. Further than this, one cannot go. 

 Shear gave no cultural descriptions, and he discussed morphological de- 

 tails only in the briefest manner. Fortunately we still have his cultures, 

 and one of these (NRRL 715) has retained its original cultural characteris- 

 tics ; otherwise, we would have no certain proof of the fungus with which he 

 worked. 



