696 A MANUAL OF THE PENICILLIA 



workers in various lands have investigated these organisms, regularly iden- 

 tified as Penicillium brevicaide, on account of their biochemical usefulness 

 in indicating the presence of minute traces of arsenic in the substratum 

 through the evolution of arsenical gases from the growing culture. More 

 recently, the whole problem of the evolution of "arsine" gases by these 

 molds has been carefully studied by Professor Challenger and co-workers 

 at the University of Leeds, England (see Topical Bibliography, p. 720). 



Many strains of Scopulariopsis tend to develop while submerged in 

 hquid, or below the surface of any substratum used. Such growth is 

 usually accompanied by distortions, swellings, and vesiculation of the 

 mycelial cells. Aerial fruiting structures may develop very slowly, partly 

 on ropes of hyphae, partly on simple hyphae with considerable sterile areas. 

 Sopp (1912) noted the extreme difficulty of the group, to which Biourge 

 (1923) agreed, and added further that he was not satisfied with the dis- 

 position that he had made. Thorn, in 1930, included the published descrip- 

 tions which had appeared up to that time, but he despaired of estabUshing 

 any orderly natural relationship of species and in the end listed them alpha- 

 betically. 



Study of natural substrata shows species of Scopulariopsis to be abun- 

 dant in every region surveyed. Miss Dale found them in Enghsh soil; 

 Sopp isolated them in Norway; Saccardo, Gosio, Ceni, and others have 

 reported them in Italy; Pribram's collection coming from Vienna was full 

 of them as replacements of other organisms; others from Asia, South Africa, 

 Brazil and Argentina, and hundreds of strains from different parts of the 

 United States have been seen. We have isolated them from many sources 

 including soil, stored grain, decaying vegetation, silk, leather, awnings and 

 other exposed fabrics, and many varieties of old cheese both imported and 

 domestic. They are especially abundant in old and over-ripe Camembert; 

 and in the rooms where these cheese are ripened, species of Scopulariopsis 

 are frequently so abundant as to produce a characteristic ammoniacal odor. 

 They are fairly common upon stored meat. In one lot of musty hams, 

 mycehum was found to be present deep in the tissues although mustiness 

 was the only discernible effect of their activity. 



Species of Scopulariopsis have been frequently reported to be parasitic 

 to man and other animals. They represent a common cause of onychomy- 

 cosis in which the nails become swollen, whitish, and brittle. They are 

 responsible for some dermatomycoses, so-called "American blastomycosis," 

 and may cause infections of the tongue and oral cavity. They are not an 

 uncommon cause of mycoses of the feet. Many new species have been 

 described either largely or wholly upon the bases of proven or suspected 

 pathogenicity, generally without adequate regard for species already in the 

 literature. 



