Cultivation 



757 



hj^ha are simple, sometimes they fork, the ends are always clavate. 

 The hypha give off buds at right angles along their course. 



The spores are oval, doubly contoured, as a rule, but may be 

 round or pointed and more or less polyhedral. They measure 3 to 8 

 li in length and 3 to 4 ;ti in breadth. They form the great central 

 mass of the scutulum, which is the oldest part. Together with them 

 one finds a number of detritus granules, fat-droplets, and occasional 

 swollen epidermal cells. 



Cultivation. — The cultivation of the achorion is quite easy if 

 care be used, for the central part of each scutulum contains pure 

 cultures of the organism. The best method is probably that of 

 Krai,* which is as follows: "A good deal of the material from the 

 scutula is rubbed up in a porcelain mortar dish with previously heated 

 diatomaceous earth, with a porcelain pestle, without exerting too 

 much pressure. Melted agar-agar tubes are then inoculated with 



Fig. 318. — Achorion schonleinii. 

 Four weeks old culture upon beer- 

 wort agar-agar (Kolle and Wasser- 

 mann). 



Fig. 319. — Achorion schonleinii. 

 Pure culture, four weeks old, on 

 beerwort agar-agar (Kolle and 

 Wassermann). 



two or three loopfuls of the crushed material and poured into Petri 

 dishes. Greater dilution can be made if desired. The plates are 

 examined after forty-eight hours. 



Cultures may, however, be directly made with material from the 

 center of a scutulum. Agar-agar should be used, as the cultures grow 

 best at the body temperature. The young colonies that appear in 

 forty-eight hours can easily be transplanted by fishing under a lens. 



The best medium was found by Sabouraud to consist of maltose, 

 4; peptone, 2; fucus crispi, 1.5; water, 100. 



As the colonies eventually become quite large it is recommended 

 that, instead of tubes, they be made in Erlenmeyer flasks, the trans- 

 planted Httle colonies being placed at the center of the medium con- 

 gealed upon the bottom of the flask. 



The appearance of the cultures varies considerably. Plaut gives 



* See Plaut, in Kolle and Wassermann's "Pathogene Mikroorganismen," i, p. 

 608. 



