262 



MANUAL OF POISONOUS PLANTS 



Aspergillus flavus. Link 



Hyphae arachnoid, white; the fertile erect, slightly cespitose; conidia 5-7 m 

 in diameter, small, globose, vari-colored, slightly wart-like, collected about the 

 white sub-globose, wart-Hke apex; apex finally becoming yellowish; sclerotium 

 very small, dark. 



Aspcrgilhis fumigatus. Fresenius 



Forms greenish or bluish gray masses on the surface of the substratum, 

 conidiophores short with a semi-spherical mass 8-20 M in diameter. Sterigmata 

 bear the spherical conidia 2.5-3 M in diameter, which are at first bluish green 

 and later brown. Sclerotia unknown. Grows best at a temperature of 

 37-40° C. 



Distribution. Widely distributed. 



Fig. 89. Section of kidney of rab- 

 bit showing mycelium of an Aspergillus. 

 After Grawitz. 



Pathogenic properties. It has been known for some time that several 

 species of Aspergillus are pathogenic for animals. In 1815 Mayer and Emmert 

 found the fungus in the lungs of a jay. In 1826 it was reported in the long 

 bones of a white stork by Heusinger, and numerous other cases in birds like 

 the flamingo, duck, chicken, ostrich, and turkey, have been reported, especially 

 in Europe. Kiihn, in 1893, furnished quite conclusive evidence that certain 

 species of Aspergillus can produce necrosis and disease. Chantemesse, at the 

 tenth International Congress in Berlin, called attention to a disease of pigeons 

 resembling tuberculosis which he said was produced by an Aspergillus. Saxer 

 attributed mycosis to an Aspergillus, and, according to Sticker, the disease 

 may appear sporadic and endemic, the latter to persons who feed pigeons and 

 to the hair combers in Paris. It is spontaneous in horses, cattle, dogs, and 

 birds, and is sometimes quite epidemic in birds. The form of the disease 

 when it occurs in the lung is callel Bronchopneumomycosis ; it appears that 

 various species of Aspcrgilli also occur in connection with otomj'cosis, and oc- 

 casionally in the nose or the eye. A very complete history is given by Drs. 



