ASPERGILLUS NIGER GROUP 225 



(Raper, Coghill, and Hollaender) ; from cultures of other black Aspergilli 

 through Cathode ray irradiation (Whelden 1939); by cultivation in the 

 presence of various chemicals (Steinberg and Thom: 1939, 1940); and 

 finally by the appearance in plate culture under normal conditions of a light- 

 spored sector in an apparently typical culture of Aspergillus niger. See 

 discussion Chapter VI. Two isolates labeled A. awamori Nakazawa 

 which resemble this mutant in color have been received from Japan, one 

 from Hanzawa, the other from Nakazawa. Both produce primary ster- 

 igmata less than 20m in length but otherwise are close to Schiemann's 

 mutant. 



Probable Synonyms 



Many species have been described by investigators working at different 

 periods and at widely separated stations which obviously belong within 

 the Aspergillus niger series as it is here considered. Some of these will be 

 briefly noted since they were reported to present unique cultural or morpho- 

 ological features, or since they account for interesting or important bio- 

 chemical reactions. 



A. giganteus Mattlet (Ann. Soc. Beige Med. Trop. 6: 36. 1926) was described as a 

 new species with conidiophores 2 to 6 mm. long; conidia 4 to 5m in diameter, rough, 

 black-brown; but without other marks of separation. It would seem to have been a 

 rather extreme variant in the two characters. 



A. atropurpureus Blochwitz (Ann. Mycol. 32(1/2) : 86. 1934.) Not A. atropurpu- 

 reus Zimmermann (Centralb. f. Bakt. etc., 2 Abt., 8, No. 5/7, p. 218. 1902). Bloch- 

 witz proposed to use the name A. atropurpureus for the purple-brown members of 

 the A. niger group as he obtained them from the tropics. He gave conidial measure- 

 ments as 2.5 to 3.5m in diameter, and added that chemical differences in the coloring 

 substances warranted separation from the black, or blacker forms. 



A.ficuum (Reich) Hennings, in Hedwigia, 34, p. 86. 1895; and Reichardt, in 

 Verhandl. K.K. Zoll. Bot. Gesell. Wien, 17: 335, 1867. Regarded as A. niger by 

 Wehmer, in Centralb. f. Bakt. etc., 2 Abt., 18, No. 13/15, p. 394-395. 1907. See also 

 Thom and Church, The Aspergilli, p. 174. 1926. 



Slight differences in morphology between this and A. niger v. Tieg. are reported by 

 Hennings, but disregarded by Wehmer. Culture NRRL No. 364 (Thom. No. 142), 

 received in 1909 from Westerdijk under this name, was reported by Thom and Currie 

 (1916) as the most rapid producer of oxalic acid of all strains of A . niger tested. There 

 is no morphological basis for separating this strain from A. niger, and it is distin- 

 guished in culture only by the tendency, after many years in laboratory culture, to 

 produce rather floccose colonies. 



A.batatae Saito, in Centralb. f. Bakt. etc., 2 Abt., 18, No. 1/3, p. 34. 1907. Saito's 

 organism as described is close to A. niger: colonies reach brownish-black through 

 yellow shades; conidiophores 2 to 4 mm. by 12 to 20m, smooth, thick-walled, brown in 

 upper portion; vesicles 35 to 50m, globose; primary sterigmata 24 to 40m long by 8m 

 at apex, secondary 10 by 3.2m; conidia globose, brown, finely roughened, 4 to 5m in 

 diameter. A culture under this name from Formosa (NRRL No. 363) presented the 



