ASYMMETRICA-'FASCICULATA 479 



tinctive coloration of its conidial heads. The species is occasionally en- 

 countered in the routine examination of molds from soil or organ'" mate- 

 rials undergoing slow decay. 



Represented in the present stud.y by strain XRRL 871 from the Biourge 

 collection, and strains NRRL 869 and 870 which represent sub-cultures 

 derived from Thorn's No. 4424 (cited in 1930). 



Members of this series show a tendency to vary markedly in culture, 

 with sector variants commonly appearing in cultures long maintained in 

 the laboratory. Strains NRRL 869 and 870 are of this origin and differ 

 in the following particulars. NRRL 869: colonies deeply floccose, 2 to 3 

 mm. deep, buffy brown in color, and showing little or no trace of the olive 

 color often associated with this species. NRRL 870: colonies rather 

 close-textured, strongly wrinkled and folded, heavily sporulating, com- 

 paratively thin, 200 to 300// deep, and colored in dark greenish olive 

 shades. The latter strain is strongly suggestive of certain members of the 

 Penicillium viridicatum series. Penicilli and supporting conidiophores 

 in the two substrains are essentially alike. 



Thom (1930) originally assigned Penicillium ochraceum to his section 

 Lanata, emphasizing the lanose colony character which seemed predomi- 

 nant. More detailed examination of this species in our present study shows 

 strains to be very variable, and to almost always develop some fascicula- 

 tion in older colonies, especially upon malt extract agar. This character, 

 in particular, dictates the present assigmnent. 



Penicillium ochraceum var. macrosporum Thom, in The Penicillia, p. 310. 1930. 

 Examining the members of this series Thom observed that certain strains produced 

 conidia averaging somewhat larger than the type strain as received from the Bainier 

 collection. This difference in spore size seemed to be consistent enough to warrant 

 the description of a new variety, macrosporum. Re-examination of strains then in 

 his possession and the study of some new material has led us to reconsider the validity 

 of this designation. Strain NRRL 873, from the Thom collection as 4742P3 and one 

 of the original types, does produce conidia consistently larger than listed for the 

 species, averaging about 4.0 to 4.5m instead of 3.0 to 3.5/u. However, limited numbers 

 of large conidia are generally observed in the typically smaller-spored forms. Fur- 

 thermore, the measurements and pattern of the penicilli in the large- and small-spored 

 forms are the same. We, therefore, believe that the large-spored form probably 

 represents a variant from this species which is not sufficiently marked to warrant 

 continued varietal recognition. 



Penicillium carneo-lutescens Smith, in Brit. Mycol. Soc. Trans. 22 (3/4): 



253-254;Pl. XVI, fig. 6. 1939. 



Colonies on Czapek's solution agar growing somewhat restrictedly, 

 attaining a diameter of 3.0 to 3.5 cm. in 2 weeks at room temperature, com- 

 paratively deep up to 2 to 3 mm. in central areas, more or less floccose, 

 with surface irregular, commonly tufted and furrowed (fig. 123D), heavily 



