ASPERGILLACEAE 



609 



while Schikorra describes them as having an ascogenous hypha similar to that 

 of Pyronema. In this form we have a differentiation of the female copulation 

 branch into a receptive cell, the trichogyne, and the true gametangium, the 

 ascogonium proper. 



In the closely related Magnusia nitida (Satina 1923) the cells are uninu- 

 cleate, and the imperfect stage often forms coremia as in Penicillium. The 

 multicellular trichogjme grows toward the unicellular antheridium, twines 

 around it, and fuses with it. The contents of the antheridium pass into the 

 trichogyne and thence to the ascogonium. The latter develop ascogenous 

 hyphae of the crozier type. The perithecia are shining, black, ellipsoid or 

 irregularly angular, with long spiral appendages which begin below the sur- 

 face of the perithecium. This highly developed type is very close to that of 

 the higher Ascomycetes. 



Fjg-, 88. — Aphanoascus cinnabarinus. 1, conidiophore and conidia ; 2, small ascogonium 

 coils about spherical antheridium ; S, J,, later stages ; 5, section of periphery of an immature 

 perithecium. The cells of the ascogenous hyphae are about to develop laterally to asci ; 6, 

 mature fructification {1-5 X900 ; 6 X15). (After Dangeard 1907.) 



The other series of developmental forms has diverged from the main line 

 but is of greater interest to the medical man, since in this line many pathogens 

 are found, especially in Aspergillus and Scopulariopsis, perhaps also in Peni- 

 cillium. Many species of this group are industrially important on account of 

 their hydrolysis of starch, sugars, and tannins and their fermentations which 

 produce oxalic, citric, and gallic acids, more rarely alcohol; e.g., Aspergillus 

 Oryzae, Avhich furnishes the taka diastase of commerce, A. We^itii used in the 

 manufacture of soy bean sauces, etc. Penicillium Roqueforti and P. Camemberti 

 lend to the corresponding cheeses their characteristic textures and flavors. 

 A few species are mild facultative parasites of plants, although the genera 

 as a whole are predominantly saprophytic. 



