194 MEDICAL MYCOLOGY 



from one pole, which by proliferation, prodnce dichotomously or polychot- 

 omously branched chains of cells. When the branching is repeated in each 

 cell, we have dense bushy masses forming the arhuscules of Ota. 



After a period of sprouting, some of the mature thick-walled cells begin to 

 develop mycelium, very much as if a spore had been formed. The cytologic 

 changes accompanying this process are unknown. A definite slender cylindric 

 germ tube develops instead of a subspheric sprout cell. Sometimes the septation 

 of the hypha follows promptly on its formation, at other times the septation lags 

 until the hypha is very long and often multinucleate. The septa may be close 

 or distant. After a time sprouting from the mycelial cells begins, producing 

 the sprout conidia or blastospores. Sometimes these blastospores are borne 

 in verticils, as in Mycotorula, or some of the members may be rudimentaiy and 

 transformed into a hyphal branch, as in Mycocandida. 



The terminal portion of the hypha furnishes an important character. In 

 Candida, the hyphae, instead of ending in a verticil as in Mycotorula, terminate 

 in a chain of blastospores, which in turn may be branched but never verticillate. 

 In Mycocandida and Blast odendrion each hypha ends in a single cell of variable 

 length. In Mycotorida the hypha ends in a verticil or a dense tuft of blasto- 

 spores. In Mycotoruloides the hyphal termination is a dense compound verticil. 



Hypnospores are often terminal. Thej^ appear on liquid media and in 

 microcultures beginning to dry up. The contents of one or more cells migrate 

 into the terminal cell where the cytoplasm appears dense and stains deeply 

 with Lugol's solution. The hypnospores always germinate with a germ tube. 



Coremia are common in the group with membranous colonies (Fig. 3). 

 Here the hyphae are collected into thick flexuous cords which rise perpendicu- 

 lar to the surface and fray out at the top. They appear on all media, even on 

 2% glucose. Occasionally they are seen in some of the other groups where 

 the blastospores are long and relatively slender, but in this case they are rare 

 on 2% glucose. Besides coremia, on malt gelatin where the colony comes in 

 contact with the glass, one often sees long pointed strands. These are also 

 characteristic of the group with membranous colonies. 



The classification of this group presents exceedingly difficult problems. The earlier 

 workers had very poor optical equipment and did not grow their organisms in culture. For 

 the most part their descriptions are so brief and vague that it is very difficult to apply any 

 of their names to organisms encountered at the present time. Since the same name early 

 came to be used for entirely unrelated groups of organisms, we often have two or three 

 distinct traditions for the application of a given name, the followers of each tradition claiming 

 all the advantages of priority. To make the confusion worse, many authors have quoted 

 incorrectly or cited dates from secondary sources. Frequently when one attempts to verify 

 an original description, it is so different from that quoted that one can only conclude that 

 the original description was not seen by the modern author. In the following discussions, I 

 have attempted to present the various names in chronologic order, quoting from their original 

 description, and tracing the various applications to various groups. It will thus be seen that 

 practically none of the names published in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are 

 legitimately available for members of this group, although many such names are in common 

 use. There are only two alternatives, either we must abandon them altogether as has been 

 done by Langeron & Talice, or else adopt by legislation in our code of nomenclature certain 



