3o4 REPORT OF THE HARVARD AFRICAN EXPEDITION 
rhoea, are all forms of Malassezia ovale and that the flask bacillus of Unna and the 
morococcus represent different methods of reproduction of this fungus. Acton 
and Panja also report successful cultivation of this organism. In the beginning 
they tried in vain to obtain it in pure culture in ordinary media but the cultures 
were always so overgrown by staphylococcus that they were unsuccessful. It 
seemed clear to them that a medium was required that would inhibit the staphy- 
lococeus and which would contain fat. Successful cultures were finally obtained 
on Petroff’s glycerinated medium, an egg medium containing gentian violet to 

No. 282. — Umbilical hernia and phagedenic ulcer, 
Case 189 
the amount of 0.004 per cent. On this medium the primary cultures appeared as 
small, dry, chalky, white colonies visible to the naked eye about the third day. 
The fungus appeared in scales of the skin as flask-shaped bodies, round, swollen 
forms, smaller coccoid elements, and irregularly-shaped mycelia. They remark 
that this apparently is the first time that the organism has been cultivated. 
Tropical or phagedenic ulcers (Nos. 280-282) were also met with in Liberia as 
well as in the Congo, usually single and situated on the leg. However, tropical 
ulcer was not nearly as common as it is in some other parts of the tropics, Ama- 
zonia and the Far East, for example. The typical forms showed upon microscop- 
ical examination the usual appearance of large numbers of spirochaetes and- 
fusiform bacilli, as well as cocci and sometimes other bacteria. 
