86 MICRO-ORGANISMS AND FERMENTATION. 



the inner colourless branches break through the black outer 

 rind and throw up the conidiophores (a). If, however, the 

 sclerotium is not brought into a moist place until after it has 

 been in rest for some time, a large tuft of filaments develops 

 from the inner tissue, and these shoot up perpendicularly and 

 finally spread out to a flat, plate-shaped disc (6 and_ps) ; the 

 ends of the filaments appear parallel on the free upper surface 

 of the disc ; some of them remain thin, others swell up to 

 club-shaped asci, and each of these asci forms in its interior 

 eight oval spores (n). The mould has now entered upon the 

 stage in which the formation of apothecia takes place. The 

 spores germinate when they are set free, and the germ tubes 

 grow into conidiophores. 



According to Bersch, Fitz, and Reess, this organism is 

 the cause of one of the diseases of wine, which manifests 

 itself as an unpleasant smoky taste and smell. Similar cases 

 of disease have been occasionally observed in breweries ; it has, 

 however, not yet been determined with certainty whether 

 they are caused by this mould. 



2. PENICILLIUM GLAUCUM. 



A mould which is far more widely distributed in the 

 fermentation industries, especially in green malt, is Peni- 

 cillium glaucum. It forms a felt-like mass on the sub- 

 stratum, is at first white, then greenish or bluish-grey, 

 and spreads with great rapidity. The mycelium consists of 

 transparent branched and divided filaments, which, w T hen 

 immersed in liquids, are able to swell somewhat irregularly. 

 From these filaments the conidiophores (A) are thrown 

 up perpendicularly. They consist of elongated cylindrical 

 cells, the terminal cell of which soon stops in its longi- 

 tudinal growth and becomes tapering and pointed; the cell 

 next below throws out one or more opposite branches, which 

 rise up close to the terminal cell and, like this, consist 

 of one pointed cell. In more vigorous individuals the 

 branches may again ramify (compare Fig. 18J., above), 



