TORULEAE 



677 



We owe our first extensive study of this disease to Montoya y Florez who 

 described it in Colombia as apparentlj^ confined to full-blooded negroes. Pro- 

 ducing spots from 0.5-2 mm. in diameter on the forehead, chin, forearms, and 

 legs; rarely generalized, smooth, not pruriginous or scaly. The skin is much 

 vascularized and the epidermis very adherent. Sometimes it remains in this 

 stage, at other times it results in achromia which may cover the whole body 

 except the face, backs of the hands, and feet. The plantar surface is usually 

 hyperkeratinized. The disease in Brazil was first described by Parreiras Horta 

 from the case of Joao Ramos e Silva and Jose Torres in Werneck Machado's 

 service. The lesion was a black spot on the left hypothenar region, slightly 

 elevated with slight desquamation. Silva (1929) reports a similar lesion on 

 the side of the middle finger. Fonseca & Ferreira da Rosa (1930) report it 

 from various sites on the hand, frequently causing hyperkeratosis of the 



Pig. 109. — Dematium hispidulum. (After Saccardo. ) 



palmar surface. The white race seems to be affected as well as the negro in 

 Brazil. Cerqueira studied the condition as early as 1891 but did not publish 

 his results. A. Sartory, R. Sartory, Rietmann & J. Meyer found subcutaneous 

 and intraperitoneal injections into guinea pigs negative. Superficial inocula- 

 tion in the inguinal region produced black plaques developing in 5-7 weeks, 

 forming scaly crusts before spontaneous healing. The liquid from culture 

 media produced death by anaphylactic shock. Lesions were easily reproduced 

 on inoculation into human subjects. 



Mycelium dimorphic, some hyphae slender and branched, septate, other 

 hyphae larger, varicose, thick-walled with many chlamydospores ; hyphae aris- 

 ing from the massive mycelium bearing terminal pyriform conidia. In scales, 

 hyphae long, septate, terminated by arthrospores ; others slender, solitary, 

 rounded or narrowed at the tips, often flexuous, whole mycelium dark green- 



