Feb.. 1921] 
THOM AND CHURCH — ASPERGILLUS 
121 
ment of caterpillars. The conidia in this form are at first golden yellow, 
then fulvous, and lemon-shaped instead of globose as given for A. fulvus. 
Dr. Thaxter's culture already described agrees, therefore, closely with 
A. citrisporus as described by von Hohnel. A specimen in the herbarium 
of the New York Botanical Garden collected by Peck upon excrement of 
caterpillars at Sandlake, N. Y., appears to be identical with Dr. Thaxter's 
culture. The characters reported in common for these four strains from 
caterpillars suggest either identity or the existence of a series of related 
forms widely distributed and associated with caterpillars. The strain 
in culture is distinguishable from the forms included under A. tamari, 
although evidently related to it. 
The name A. tamari Kita is retained here for the group common in 
food-stuffs and fermentation products, A. terricola var. Americana Mar- 
chal for the soil organism isolated by Scales, and A. citrisporus von Hohnel 
for the caterpillar organism. These are readily separable in culture. 
The following paragraphs give specific relations of species and strains of 
the Aspergilli here under consideration to various culture media. 
A. tamari on seed corn. A reversible variation due to corn as a sub- 
stratum was noticed with strains of Aspergillus tamari. We first noticed 
abnormally large sterigmata and occasionally conidia of this species in 
exsiccati. For example, a fungus of this type growing on grains of Zea 
Mays, Waco, Texas, 2-26-1909, Comm. F. Hedges, PI. Disease Survey," 
and deposited among the exsiccati of the Department of Agriculture, 
showed sterigmata with primaries 20 to 30 by 5 to 6 /x and wedge-shaped, 
secondaries 8 to 9 by 3 to 3.5 ju. S3 Asp (a strain recovered from canned 
sardine paste) had on a Czapek agar slant a vesicle measuring 35 /x, primary 
sterigmata 8 to 14 by 3 to 5 ^u, secondaries normal, conidia 5 to 6 ^t. Material 
from this tube was inoculated into a bottle of unsterilized, clean corn. 
Two weeks later the new culture showed vesicles 100 ji, primary sterigmata 
25 to 35 by 5 to 9 /X, secondaries 15 by 3 to 4 /x, conidia 8 to 9 The same 
observations were made with two other strains of this species. Retransfer 
from the corn culture to Czapek solution agar produced what is considered 
typical growth using Czapek as a standard. 
Tests for phenolic substances with an aqueous solution of ferric chloride 
align the Aspergillus tamari group closely with the A. flavus-oryzae group 
as to this particular chemical reaction. All strains of these three species 
which were tested showed a red reaction, varying from brownish red to a 
rich wine-red. This variation is dependent both on the ability of the indi- 
vidual strain to produce a given quantity of a phenolic substance and on the 
ingredients of the culture medium. Aspergilhis Wentii gives, however, a 
clear yellow color when tested with ferric chloride. The best results were 
obtained by using a transparent liquid medium^^ from which a sample of 
(i) Ordinary household rice extracted in water at 58-60° C, for one hour. (2) 
Tap water, i liter; starch (soluble), i per cent; ammonium nitrate, 0.05 percent; K;HP04, 
0.05 percent. 
