146 MYCOLOGY 



fully and bear terminally asci of a pyriform shape. These contain 

 eight grooved ascospores. Aspergillus hcrbariorum, as a domestic 

 and industrial fungus, is selective. It does not thrive on liquid sac- 

 charine media with mineral salts and inorganic nitrogenous food, while 

 black bread and wort gelatin are suitable media. Moderate tempera- 

 tures (8 to io°C.) are best for its growth, and it ceases growth entirely 

 at blood temperatures. The temperature limits are 7° to 30°C. with 

 optimum at 20 to 25°. It grows on tobacco, cigars, hops, cotton-seed 

 meal, acid pickles, and smoked meats. It causes the blackening and 

 spoiling of chestnuts and is found on the kernels of various nuts even 

 before they are removed from the shell (see Appendix VII, pages 702 

 to 721). 



The rice mould, Aspergillus oryzea (Fig. 49), is of practical impor- 

 tance as a saccharifying fungus, and it has been cultivated for centuries 

 by the Japanese and used by them in the preparation of the r!ce mash 

 for Sake, as well as in the production of Miso and Soja sauce. It grows 

 luxuriantly and is usually yellow-green in color turning brown with age 

 with large closely set tough conidiophores about 2 mm. tall. The tops 

 of its conidiophores are obovate, or spheric. The sterigmata are radially 

 arranged producing yellowish-green spheric conidiospores (6 to 7/i) in 

 chains. The sterigmata are larger than in A . herbariorum 4 to s/i by 1 2 

 to 20/i . No perithecia have yet been observed. This mould secretes a 

 very active diastase and it has been used in the making of pharmaceutic 

 preparations, such as Taka diastase, which is used in the dose of 2 to 5 

 grains either in tablet, capsule or solution in cases of indigestion im- 

 mediately after meals. It converts the starchy food into dextrin and 

 sugar. The discovery of this diastase in Aspergillus was made by 

 Takamine, a Japanese zymologist, and his product has been used over 

 the civilized world. 



Aspergillus Wentii, which is readily kept in culture on glucose or 

 beerwort agar, is used in the preparation of Tas Gu in Java. It appears 

 spontaneously on boiled soy beans that have been covered with leaves 

 of Hibiscus and it causes a loosening and disintegration of the firm 

 tissues of the bean. The growth of this species is of a pale coffee color 

 with conspicuous conidiophores about 2 to 3 mm. in height, their thick 

 brown heads up to 200/i in diameter are on pale smooth stalks. The end 

 of the conidiophore is globular 75 to 90^ in diameter and is covered 

 with slender simple sterigmata {411 by 15/u) which bear small globular 

 to elongated conidiospores, 4 to 5/1 diameter. The mycelium at first 



