THE ASPERGILLUS FUMIGATUS GROUP 153 



It is regarded as world-wide in distribution but seemingly not abundant 

 anywhere. The species grows well at temperatures of 37° C. and higher. 

 Some additional perithecial forms have been described with characters 

 suggesting relationship with A. fischeri. However, these are inadequately 

 known in culture and assignment here must remain somewhat provisional. 



A. rnalignus Lindt, in Arch. Exp. Path. Pharmakol. 25: 257-271, fig. 1-11. 1889. 



Lindt probably had before him some strain which corresponded closely with 

 Wehmer's Aspergillus fischeri despite the fact that his description of the conidial 

 apparatus offers sufficient contrast as to lead to question. 



A.fumigatoides Bainier and Sartory, in Bull. Soc. Myc. France 25: 112, pi. 5. 1909. 



While the describers believed this strain close to A. fumigatus, Thorn and Raper 

 (1941) found it necessary to place the organism studied under this name by Gould 

 and Raistrick (1934) in A. Pseudoglaucus, although the original description and 

 figures of Bainier and Sartory probably represented material close to, or identical 

 with, A. fischeri. 



Sartorya fumigaia (Fres.) Vuill., in Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. (Paris), 184(3): 136- 

 137. 1927. 



Sartory, Sartory, and Meyer (1926) reported that a culture of A. fumigatus sub- 

 jected to radiation produced an ascosporic form. Later this was designated by 

 Vuillemin (1927) as a new genus Sartorya. Neither Vuillemin, nor Sartory, Sartory, 

 and Meyer appear to have known the relation between A. fumigatus and A. fischeri 

 although it was pointed out by Thorn and Church in 1918. Since the material named 

 Sartorya does not appear to have been distributed or fully described, Sartorya fumi- 

 gate (Fres.) Vuillemin may be regarded as a synonym for A. fischeri Wehmer and the 

 generic name dropped. 



It is believed probable that Aspergillus fischeri Wehmer represents the 

 primary organism of this group and that from it the conidial form A. fumi- 

 gatus developed as a species lacking entirely the ascosporic phase. The 

 fact that A . fumigatus was described first merely reflects the much greater 

 abundance of this species. 



Occurrence and Economic Importance 



Aspergillus fumigatus is an extremely cosmopolitan mold and occurs with 

 particular frequency in soil containing appreciable organic materials, upon 

 vegetable matter undergoing slow decomposition, and upon imperfectly 

 dried, stored grains. The mold is an important agent in many decomposi- 

 tion processes, particularly at temperatures above 37° C. Growing success- 

 fully at 45° to 50° C, within the lower reaches of thermophilic decomposi- 

 tion, it is able to operate within a range where most fungi are excluded. 

 Whereas some forms have been described as very active agents of decom- 

 position (e.g. A. cellulosae of Hopffe, 1919), their more significant role is 

 believed that of forerunners of active bacterial decomposition on the one 

 hand, and as slow destroyers of more resistant tissues on the other. Asper- 

 gillus fischeri, though much less abundant, may be found in situations 

 generally similar to those yielding A. fumigatus. 



