MADUROMYCOSES 



2119 



In America it has been described in the United States by Wright, 

 and in the West Indies by Scheult. 



In Europe it has so far only been found in Italy, Macedonia, and 

 Southern Germany. 



This distribution, according to political geography, has but little 

 meaning when the object being studied is a fungus, and for further 

 details we turn to plant geography. According to Drude, climatic 

 and local conditions permit the division of the surface of the world 

 into six zones of vegetation, viz.: — The Northern Glacial Zone, 

 the Northern Cold Winter Zone, the Northern Hot Summer Zone, 

 the Tropical Zone, the Southern Hot Summer Zone, and the Southern 

 Cold Zone. 



The black maduromycoses occur in the Northern Hot Summer 

 Zone, which includes Spain and Italy, North America, the Sahara, 

 Indo-China, Malay Archipelago, the United States (roughly south 

 of Utah), and Mexico. The general characters of this region are: — 

 Very hot summer temperatures with cold nights and no real winter, 

 but with varying rainfall. It contains very dry climates; it also 

 contains wet areas. The black maduromycoses are most commonly 

 met with in the dry parts of this area. 



The Tropical Zone, which appears to be the real home of these 

 fungi, is generally humid, but contains arid regions bordering upon 

 the preceding. In this zone comes the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, in 

 the northern or more arid part of which black maduromycoses are 

 common, and the same remarks apply to Somaliland, while West 

 Africa is mostly nioist. 



It also includes the greater part of India, in which the distribution 

 of mycetoma, according to Boccaro, is interesting. 



This observer states that Major Train divided India into six 

 floral regions, viz.: — India Deserta, India Diluvia, India Aquosa, 

 India Vera, India Sub-Aquosa, and India Littorea, while black 

 maduromycosis is found in only India Deserta and India Vera, and 

 is practically almost absent in other regions. 



India Deserta includes the Indus Plain Region — v.e., Sind, 

 Rajputana, and the Punjab; while India Vera includes the Deccan 

 Region, consisting of the dry but not desert triangle between the 

 Western and Eastern Ghats, with its apex at Tinnevelly and its base 

 at the borders of the plain of the Ganges. 



The white varieties of mycetoma are also found in this area, but 

 are outnumbered by the black maduromycosis, while in India 

 Deserta the preponderance of the black maduromycoses is even 

 more marked than in India Vera. 



In Madura and adjoining districts of Tinnevelly, Palmcotta, and 

 Coimbatore, situate in India Vera, mycetoma is very common, and 

 the climate is hot and arid. 



The Southern Hot Summer Zone includes South Africa, where 

 the disease has been recorded, but where it is apparently rare. 



This is as far as the present state of our knowledge permits us 

 to go with regard to geographical distribution, and more research 



