BIVERTICILLATA-SYMMETRICA 583 



shades. The culture shows considerable strain individuahty. Another 

 strain shows ascospores intermediate between the above and typical cul- 

 tures covered by the species description. As in many other species there 

 seems to be considerable variation in the size of ascospores produced. 



XRRL 1009, included among the strains which are no longer ascosporic, 

 represents Thorn's strain No. 11 which he reported as Penicillium liiteum 

 in 1910, after having received Wehmer's confirmation of his identification. 

 In his ^Monograph (1930) Thom regarded P. vermiculatum Dangeard as 

 synonymous with P. wortmanni Klocker. Prior to this date, Derx (1925) 

 had examined many ascosporic PenicilHa including Thom's No. 11 and had 

 reported this culture to represent Dangeard's P. vermiculatum. This dis- 

 position was not recognized by Thom (1930, pp. 4-18 and 451). Careful re- 

 examination of NRRL 1009 convinces us of the correctness of Derx's assign- 

 ment, for, although this strain no longer produces perithecia, its broadly 

 spreading colonies are characteristic of P. vermiculatum rather than P. 

 wortmanni and it still produces in large numbers the club-shaped ascogones 

 which distinguish P. vermiculatum. Upon cornmeal agar it produces cellu- 

 lar masses which suggest young perithecia but, in our experience, has failed 

 to produce ascospores. Also included among the non-ascosporic forms is 

 NRRL 1011 received from Emmons in 1937 as his No. 228b and presumably 

 one of the strains included in his study published two years earlier. This 

 culture still produces abundant yellow mycelium in loose tufts which may 

 be regarded as abortive perithecia. No asci or ascospores have been 

 observed. 



Cultures of Penicillium vermiculatum as isolated from nature regularly 

 produce abundant ascospores. Such strains, however, commonly lose their 

 capacity to develop fertile perithecia when maintained in artificial culture 

 for considerable periods of time. Of the five cultures cited above as no 

 longer ascosporic all have been under laboratory cultivation for 10 years 

 or more. 



Penicillium wortmanni Klocker, in Compt. Rend. Lab. Carlsberg 6: 100. 

 1903. See also, Biourge, :\Ionogr., La Cellule 33: fasc. 1, pp. 243-244. 

 1923; Thom, The Penicillia, pp. 449-450. 1930; and Emmons, :\Iyco- 

 logia 27: 133-135, fig. 1. 1935. 



Colonies on Czapek's solution agar growing rather restrictedly (fig. 

 149A), about 2.0 to 3.0 cm. in 12 to 14 days at room temperature, varying 

 markedly in color and texture depending upon the individual strain, com- 

 monly consisting of a tough mycelial felt with surface often appearing 

 lightly floccose or fibrous, usually more or less zonate, with growing margin 

 white, 1 to 2 mm. wide, and with central areas showing zones of either 

 yellow mycelium or blue-green conidial heads, or both, in some strains 



