122 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



above on artificial media the myeelial filaments may run in 

 straight or curved bundles with little entangling. 



As to biological characters the fermentation reactions of 

 these organisms are apparently not very uniform or definite. 

 Gougerot says that Sporotrichum beurmanni ferments saccha- 

 rose but not lactose, whereas Sporotrichum schenckii ferments 

 lactose, but not saccharose. He states, however, that he does 

 not know whether these properties are fixed for all strains 

 and for the pleornorphic forms. Greco noted that his strain 

 from South America failed to ferment lactose, saccharose and 

 mannite. This does not agree with the fermentation reactions 

 for Sporotrichum beurmanni as given by de Beurmann and 

 Gougerot but they nevertheless classify the South American 

 strains as Sporotrichum beurmanni. At the same time they 

 use this difference in the fermentation of lactose and saccha- 

 rose to differentiate Sporotrichum beurmanni from Sporo- 

 trichum scJienckii. 



Meyer and Aird 27 have made a careful study of the fer- 

 mentation of American strains and of Sporotrichum beur- 

 manni. They were not able to confirm the finding of 

 Blanchetiere and Gougerot that Sporotrichum schenckii fer- 

 mented lactose. Furthermore, they found the fermentation 

 of saccharose irregular. They state that "in considering 

 these results purely from a differential diagnostic viewpoint 

 it is quite evident that it cannot be used for this purpose and 

 the fermentation of carbohydrates is just as little a criterion 

 of the type of Sporotrichum as is the absence of pleomorphism 

 and the chlamydospore formation". Their conclusions are so 

 definite and so relevant that I quote them: 



The differentiation of pathogenic sporotricha into two distinct 

 species by means of the fermentation of carbohydrates, is impos- 

 sible. The reactions are not fixed and are as inconstant as the 

 many variations noted in the formation of chlamydospores and, 

 frequently, in pleomorphism. There does exist however an ap- 

 parent relation between the pigmentation of the Sporotrichum 

 strains and the ability of these strains to ferment saccharose. 

 The alpha and beta types are the most active fermenters. 



Jour, of Inf. Dis., 16, p. 399, 1915. 



