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CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF THE
INDIAN ASPERGILLI
By
Captain Froilano de Mello,
Professor of the Medical College and Director of the Bacteriological Laboratory, Nova Goa, Portuguese India.
Aspergillus (Sterigmatocystis) polychromus Sp. Nov.
Introduction. It is a very common fact that in India, specially in the rainy season, the culture media in laboratories are covered by a large number of moulds belonging to the most varying genera. In bacteriological investigations, these growths do not matter much, but the difficulties arise when one is dealing with cultures made for the study of human or animal mycoses, a field of research which in India has not yet been fully explored.
The subject of my investigations is the genus "Aspergillus" and its ally "Sterigmatocystis". A systematic study of Indian Aspergilli has not yet been made and it is hoped that this short contribution may not be without value towards this mycologic investigation.
The species I am now describing is quite a new species and it can be easily recognized both by its macroscopic and microscopic characters. In Nova Goa I have, up to the present, identified the following species:—
A. (St.) niger Cramer 1859.
A. (sensu stricto) herbariorum Wiggers 1780.
A. (St.) sulphurous Fresenius 18G3.
A. (sensu stricto) orizoac Ahlburg 1876.
Four other species, one white, two yellow and one green, are now under investigation and I will be very thankful if scientists working in India will be kind enough to send me cultures of Aspergilli found in different parts of India.
This study would remain incomplete but for the excellent monograph on Aspergilli by Whemer. This work was, very kindly, placed at my disposal by Dr. B. J. Butler, Imperial Mycologist, to whom my best thanks are due.
Origin of the Culture. This species was found in August, 1919, contaminating two Erlenmeyer flasks containing Endo's medium and plain agar. One of the cultures was grey, slightly brownish, the other had a light chocolate colour. On cultivating the fungus from these two sources, I was able to identify both these cultures as
