BIVERTICILLATA-SYMMETRICA 667 



structures as on Czapek and steep agars but more regularly symmetrically 

 biverticillate, and with walls of conidiophores and metulae coarsely rough- 

 ened as originally described and figured. 



Species description based upon van Beyma's type received from the 

 Centraalbureau in November 1945. The species is known only from the 

 type strain. It is maintained in our Collection as NRRL 2128. 



This species was placed in Thom's section Asymmetrica-Funiculosa by 

 van Bejona apparently upon the basis of funiculose aerial mycelium. In 

 our cultures this character is reduced or lacking and other considerations are 

 believed to outweigh it. The black sclerotia produced here are strikingly 

 similar to those observed in our current study in a strain of Penicillium 

 funiculosum Thom (see p. 619), and from description would seem to ap- 

 proximate the black sclerotia reported in P. olsoni Bainier and Sartory 

 (1912). In color and general texture they are not markedly different 

 from those occasionally observed in strains that have been accorded varietal 

 recognition as P. piirpurogenum var. rubri-sclerotium Thom. The pres- 

 ence of coarsely roughened and unusually long conidiophores, together 

 with the general aspect of the cellular elements which make up the penicilli 

 are believed to relate this species to P. herquei Bainier and Sartory more 

 nearly than to any other described form. As in the latter species, the 

 sterigmata are not strongly lanceolate, nor are conidial tubes conspicuously 

 tapered. Nevertheless, the general pattern of the penicillus is such that 

 we believe these forms can be found in the Biverticillata-Symmetrica more 

 satisfactorily than in any other Section of the genus. 



OCCURRENCE AND SIGNIFICANCE 



Members of the Penicillium herquei series appear to be widely distributed 

 but not particularly abundant in nature. They are not associated with 

 any special substrate but are sometimes encountered in soil population 

 studies and have been isolated from decaying vegetation, fruits, fleshy 

 fungi, and the bodies of insects. 



Although the group would seem to deserve careful investigation, since it 

 represents one of the most colorful series of Penicillium, few physiological or 

 biochemical studies are known to have been reported. Sartory and Bainier 

 (1911b) made limited studies on the pigment of one of these molds, as did 

 also Martini and Deribere-Desgardes (1914). No recent studies are 

 IvnowTi to us. 



