FUSARIUM AQUAEDUCTUUM 519 



f . ' 



F[ SARIUM AQ( r AFJXJCTUl T M (Fusisporium moschatum) 



I LIQUEFIES GELATINE I 



Authority. Kabenhorst and Kadlkofer described it under the name of 

 Sclenosporium aquaeductuum. Eyfert, ' Zur Entwickelungsgeschichte des 

 Selenosporium aquasductuum Babenhorst und Eadlkofer,' Botanische Zeitung, 

 1882, p. 691. Kitasato, ' Ueber den Moschuspilz,' Centralblatt fiir Bakterio- 

 logie, vol. v., 1889, p. 365. Heller, ' Zur Kenntniss des Moschuspilzes,' Central- 

 blatt fiir Bakteriologie, vol. vi., 1889, p. 97. Von Lagerheim, ' Zur Kenntniss 

 des Moschuspilzes,' Centralblatt fiir Bakteriologie, vol. ix., 1891, p. 655. 



Where Found. Found by Eyfert in enormous numbers on mill wheels and 

 turbines in Brunswick, actually impeding the motion of the wheels. He also 

 mentions that the intensely strong aromatic smell which it generated was so 

 penetrating as to give the men working in the mill headaches. Found by 

 Kitasato in hay infusions ; found by Lagerheim in the tap-water of Upsala, 

 forming large greyish white slimy masses, which hung down like long raga 

 from the opening of the pipe. It is also sometimes pale pink and brownish in 

 colour. 



Microscopic Appearance. The spores are semilunar, or meniscus-, also 

 sausage- or club-shaped, and are about 7 /u. to 13 /j. long and 1 /a to 1'5 n broad, 

 each spore possessing three to four transverse walls, which, however, are not 

 always equally distinct. These spores, when dried and preserved for five 

 months, will still grow. Highly refractive bodies are visible in the spore, 

 which must be regarded as small drops of oil. The spores are easily stained 

 with aqueous solutions of aniline colours, but the latter are removed by the 

 usual decolorising agents. They are also stained by Gram's method. At 15 

 to 18 C. in from twelve to fifteen hours a tube-like extension is visible, pro- 

 ceeding from the pointed end of the sickle-shaped spore, which in eighteen 

 hours is three to four times as long as the spore, and exhibits numerous small 

 swellings indicating the commencement of the branching of the filament. 

 These filaments grow rapidly, producing lateral branches, and later small mould 

 centres, which quickly increase in size. The spores are produced from the 

 filament both laterally and terminally. (Lagerheim.) 



Cultures. 



GELATINE TUBES. In three to four days forms a cloudy growth consisting of 

 masses of fine interwoven threads, at the edge of which the individual threads 

 are distinctly seen. The central portion becomes more and more opaque, and 

 assumes first a white, then a yellow, and finally a red colour. In consequence 

 of slight liquefaction the colony sinks somewhat into the gelatine. 



AGAK-AGAR. Grows as in gelatine, but without liquefaction. 



POTATOES. Forms a white, star-shaped expansion, which becomes larger 

 and thicker, and gives rise to delicate, bundle-shaped ramifications, which 

 extend over the surface. As the culture becomes older the white colour gives 

 place to pale pink, and finally vermilion. 



BROTH. Produces masses of flocculent material of a dirty grey colour, which 

 collect at the bottom of the tube. 



Remarks. It grows best at 15 C., very slowly at 3 C., and not at all at 

 -5 C. The spores are destroyed at 38 C. in forty-eight hours. The spores will 

 germinate very readily in distilled water. It is strictly aerobic. It is pathogenic to 

 frogs when subcutaneously injected (Heller). In all cultures a strong odour of musk 

 is produced. 



