14G A MANUAL OF THE ASPERGILLI 



duce true spores and their rapid loss of vitality observed in the present cul- 

 tures lead to the hypothesis that they are both variants from Aspergillus 

 and belong to the "monster" type of organisms that fail to survive in com- 

 petitive environments. Rare occurrences of the "monster" type such as 

 these can hardly be regarded as permanent members of the fungous flora, 

 even though the individual can be kept viable by regular vegetative trans- 

 fer. It is doubted, therefore, whether generic designation is warranted. 



Occurrence and Economic Importance 



The members of the A . glaucus group are among the most common molds 

 on earth. Th°y are extremely abundant in nature, and live under all sorts 

 of conditions, thriving in moist and dry situations. However, they are most 

 conspicuous upon concentrated substrata, such as drying plant products of 

 all kinds as they come from the field and reach storage just above the ab- 

 solute low percentage of water for stability. They are equally com- 

 monplace in sweetened products, including jams, jellies, soft sugars, honey, 

 soft candies; in salted products such as meats, pickles, etc.; in dried foods 

 where preservation is a complex of sugars and acids; upon manufactured 

 leather goods exposed to humid conditions ; upon clothing and textiles stored 

 in moist atmospheres; and upon soft wood inadequately cured or subjected 

 to improper storage. Nevertheless they are frequently overlooked in rou- 

 tine culture because they grow poorly upon substrata commonly employed 

 and soon become overgrown by bacteria and more rapidly developing molds. 

 In following the deterioration of products by cultural procedures, these 

 forms will appear with amazing frequency if care is taken to select media 

 approximating the osmotic concentration of the substance examined. 



Molds of this group herald incipient spoilage. As excess water increases, 

 first other molds, then bacteria, appear and complicate the decomposition 

 process. The presence of any of these organisms is evidence of the earliest 

 stages of decomposition, and is generally followed by the invasion of other 

 and more destructive molds and bacteria. Insofar as is known, products 

 infected by these forms in pure culture are non-poisonous; but naturally 

 occurring materials in which they appear, or even predominate, should be 

 considered "suspect" because of the possible presence of toxigenic forms. 



Pathogenicity 



Members of the A . glaucus group have been reported in connection with 

 various types of ailments of man and domestic animals. A. hageni of 

 Hallier (1870) and A. repens have been occasionally reported as fruiting in 

 the external canal of the human ear; A. montevidensis Talice and MacKin- 

 non (1931) was isolated from a case of otomycosis ; A . mencieri Sartory and 

 Flament (1920) was described from sputum of a consumptive; Fonseca 



