190 MEDICAL MYCOLOGY 



Fineman (1921) working' with 17 strains isolated from cases of thrush 

 and supposed to be Monilia albicans, finds the fermentation reactions constant. 

 Mycelium develops in liquid media, in complex carbohydrate media, in media 

 under low oxygen tension, and with low surface tension, Avhile the yeast form 

 predominates on solid media, simple carbohydrates, abundant oxygen and 

 high surface tension. 



Milochevitch (1929, also working with strains isolated from cases of 

 thrush and supposed to be Monilia albicans, reports mycelium formed on media 

 with higher surface tension and that the hydrogen ion concentration does not 

 influence mycelium formation. He used a large number of animal tissues and 

 extracts, and reported good growth on liver agar and blood, kidney and spleen 

 agar, broth, kidney and lung broth. Growth was poor on peptone solution, 

 brain, thyroid agar, urine, thyroid broth, ox gall and Raulin's solution. 



Talice (1930) undertook an extensive study of the media and conditions 

 favoring the formation of hyphae, using a very wide variety of media and 30 

 strains of various species of Monilia. On solid media hyphae were produced in 

 the first day or two; the yeast forms predominate afterward, hyphae being 

 formed only in contact with the agar. In species Avhich seldom form hyphae, 

 dextrin peptone media or glucose media give short periods of hyphal production, 

 as also to a less extent do protein media. He found no advantage in semisolid 

 media (0.1% agar) over liquid media in the production of hyphae. Hyphae 

 develop best in liquid media, at least at first. Trying a large number of de- 

 coctions, he concluded that he obtained the best growth with dilute potato 

 decoction. In cultures which have been grown for a long time on solid media, 

 as many as three transplants may be necessary to secure hyphae. Tessier 

 (1890) reported that relatively high acidities favor hyphal production, but 

 Talice states that this varies greatly with the species, probably accounting for 

 some of the conflicting results by earlier workers. Lowered oxygen tension 

 favors hyphal production to a certain point. Higher temperatures, as 37° C, 

 produce the same results. Surface tension is important, as reported by Hahn 

 & Junker and by Milochevitch, but again this varies with the species. The 

 dictum of Roux & Linossier in the case of their strains of Monilia albica^is that 

 complexity of morphologic structure increases with molecular weight of the sub- 

 stances in the culture medium does not hold in this group. Talice regards the 

 yeast form as senescent. 



Shaw (1931) suggests the morphology on dextrose ag-ar and gelatin stabs 

 (i.e., the diameter of the hyphae, length of cells, size and position of monili- 

 form clusters, and shapes of spores) is important in separating species and 

 species groups. Pijper had previously noted that the creamy or membranous 

 character of the giant colony is correlated with other characters, but Langeron 

 & Talice first emphasized its fundamental importance. 



The most complete consideration of morphology so far produced is that 

 of Langeron & Talice (1932). They emphasize the distinction between creamy 

 and membranous colonies, the former producing abundant sprout mycelium 

 while the latter do not, although the hyphae easily break apart in plane sec- 



