1921] SPENCER—BRAZIL NUTS 283 
Taxonomy.—A culture of this species was sent to CHARLES 
THom, and the following excerpt is taken from his reply dated 
January 29, 1920: 
The organism belongs to the general group in which we are trying to 
separate three lines, the Aspergillus oryzae-flavus line, the Aspergillus wentii 
section, and the one which has been designated by Kira as Aspergillus tamari. 
This one, from the examination today, would appear to belong to the section 
containing A. famari. Whether it is safe to identify it under an existing 
name or not would be doubtful. 
5. BACTERIAL DECAY 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION AND MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS.— 
When Brazil nuts are affected by. this bacterial decay, the shell 
is black and greasy, and usually exhales a rancid odor. When the 
shell is cracked open the remains of the kernel are found as a 
white mass which ordinarily fills only a small portion of the shell 
cavity. Microscopic examination of fragments of the refuse shows 
numerous bacterial spores, but usually no vegetative forms and no 
fungi. When dilution plates were made from the decayed residue, 
one spore-bearing organism largely predominated. 
The vegetative cells of the organisms in cornmeal broth are 
rod-shaped, rounded at the ends, vigorously motile, and usually 
single but often in chains of from two to six individuals. The rods 
measure 2.5-5.0 uXo.8-1.2 uw. Spores are formed within forty- 
eight hours in one end of the vegetative cells. When the cells are 
stained by LorFFieR’s method, the organism is found to have 
humerous long, peritrichiate flagella; stained with LOEFFLER’s 
methylene blue the protoplasm is seen to be granular with from two 
to four darkened patches which are unevenly distributed, usually _ 
giving a banded effect, although often the bands are oblique as well 
as horizontal (fig. 38). The organism stains readily with methylene 
blue, Gentian violet, and carbol-fuchsin, but it is Gram negative. 
When sterile nut plugs were inoculated with the bacillus from 
pure culture, they were reduced in about fifteen days to an oily 
mass which, in all essential characters, was like the remains of the 
nut kernels in the natural cases of nut decay. Dilution plates 
made from nut meats that had decayed, following pure culture 
