158 



CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF THE 

 INDIAN ASPERGILLI 



By 

 Captain Froilano Pe Mello, 



Professor of the Medical College and Director of the Bacterio- 

 logical Laboratory, Nova Goa, Portuguese India. 



Aspergillus (Sterigmatocystis) polychromus Sp. Nov. 



Introduction. It is a very common fact that in India, specially 

 in the rainy season, the culture media in laboratories are covered by 

 a large number of moulds belonging to the most varying genera- In 

 bacteriological investigations, these growths do not matter much, but 

 the difficulties arise when one is dealing with cultures made for the 

 study of human or animal mycoses, a field of research which in India 

 has not yet been fully explored. 



The subject of my investigations is the genus " Aspergillus '' 

 and its ally "STERIGMATOCYSTIS". A systematic study of Indian 

 Aspergilli has not yet been made and it is hoped that this short con- 

 tribution may not be without value towards this mycologic investiga- 

 tion. 



The species I am now describing is quite a new species and it 

 can be easily recognized both by its macroscopic and microscopic 

 characters. In Nova Goa I have, up to the present, identified the 

 following species : — 



A. (St.) niger Cramer 1859. 



A. (sensu stricto) lierbariorum Wiggers 1780. 



A. (St.) sulphurous Fresenius 18G3. 



A. (sensu stricto) orizoac Ahlburg 1876. 



Four other species, one white, two yellow and one green, aro 

 now under investigation and I will be very thankful if scientists 

 working in India will be kind enough to send me cultures of Aspergilli 

 found in different parts of India. 



This study would remain incomplete but for the excellent mono- 

 graph on Aspergilli by Whemer. This work was, very kindly, placed 

 at my disposal by Dr. B. J. Butler, Imperial Mycologist, to whom my 



best thanks are due. 



Origin of the Culture. This species was found in August, 1919, 



contaminating two Erlenmeyer flasks containing Bndo's medium 



and plain agar. One of the cultures was grey, slightly brownish, 



the other had a light chocolate colour. On cultivating the fungus 



from these two sources, I was able to identify both these cultures as 



