Tuatara
Journal of the Biological Society
Victoria University of Wellington
New Zealand
Victoria University of Wellington
New Zealand
Volume19
Part2
May1972
Tuatara aims to stimulate and widen interest in the natural sciences in New Zealand, by publishing articles which (a), review recent advances of broad interest; or (b), give clear, illustrated, and readily understood keys to the identification of New Zealand plants and animals; or (c), relate New Zealand biological problems to a broader Pacific or Southern Hemisphere context. Authors are asked to explain any special terminology required by their topic. Address for contributions: Editor of Tuatara, c/o Victoria University of Wellington, Box 196, Wellington, New Zealand. Enquiries about subscriptions should be sent to: Business Manager of Tuatara, c/o Victoria University of Wellington, Box 196, Wellington, New Zealand.
Contents
Tuatara
Dominion Museum, Wellington
James Adams was born near Killarney, Co. Kerry, on May 12, 1839, and was the eldest son of Alexander and Edith Adams. In common with the whole of the Irish countryside the family was deeply affected by the potato famine that resulted in great hardship for the people on their land and an almost total loss of income for the landowner. James was educated in Ireland and as a young man went to London where he took a B.A. degree at London University. In 1865 he obtained the post of headmaster at a privately endowed grammar school at Douglas on the Isle of Man. Although well versed in Latin and Greek from an early age he was against boys spending so much time on the classics when chemistry, physics, mathematics and, of course, natural history were, to his mind, very important. His forward-thinking ideas on education, particularly that it should be free, secular and for girls as well as boys, led him to give up a pleasant and comfortable life to emigrate to New Zealand. With his wife, Ann, and four small children he left Liverpool in September, 1870, on the steamer ‘Great Britain’ for Melbourne. They intended to settle in Dunedin where the educational system of the Scottish settlement seemed to be very close to his ideals. The steamer ‘Gothenburg’ brought them to Port Chalmers but to his disappointment he was unable to secure a teaching post and was forced to use his letters of introduction to the Bishop of Auckland. Within a short time he and the family were living in Parnell following his appointment as assistant master at the Church of England Grammar School at St. Mary's Cathedral. In 1872 he succeeded the Rev. Dr. Kinder as headmaster and remained so for the next eight years. It was at this time that he formed a long and close friendship with Fig. 1:
Immediately the rugged bush-clad hills of the Coromandel Peninsula claimed his interest and he followed Thomas Kirk's account of the botany of the Thames goldfields with his own observations published in the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute in 1883. During the years 1881, 1882 and 1883, often with his eldest son, Ernest, then a surveying cadet under Percy Smith in Auckland, he climbed many of the high peaks on the peninsula — Table Mountain (Whakairi), Kaitarakihi and Maumaupuki amongst them — and crossed the peninsula to Mercury Bay and Tairua. Two notable plant finds were Celmisia adamsii from the crags of Table Mountain and Castle Rock and Elytranthe adamsii from the Hape Creek above the township of Thames (then consisting of two settlements, Shortland and Grahamstown, collectively called ‘the Thames’).
It seems that Cheeseman and Adams had a plan to visit all the isolated high hills in the Auckland district and together or separately they carried this out over a number of years. Pirongia in 1879, the peaks south of Coromandel between 1880 and 1883, Te Aroha, 1884, were those that Adams visited. The most significant discovery came in January, 1888, when with his son, Ernest, then surveying near Cabbage Bay, he climbed to the high peak of Te Celmisia incana, Podocarpus nivalis, Pentachondra pumila, Carpha alpina and Ourisia.
Other botanical trips were made to various parts of New Zealand — the Mt. Arthur Plateau with Cheeseman and Meyrick the entomologist in January, 1886; Mt. Hikurangi and the east coast with Petrie in January, 1897 (on this trip they were accompanied by J. Lee, a teacher from the Native School near Hicks Bay and two Maoris, Winiata and Morgan); North Cape with Cheeseman in 1895; and the Mt. Cook district and Lake Tekapo with Cheeseman in January, 1898. Herbarium specimens show that he also visited the Volcanic Plateau, Mt. Egmont and Castle Hill, Canterbury, but no field notes for these trips remain.
Podocarpus halli Kirk is named. Hall exchanged seeds of native trees with friends in Britain over many years including the Dorrien-Smith family of Tresco in Cornwall where many New Zealand plants flourish. His own arboretum of native and exotic trees remains in part amongst a new housing estate on the hillside above the south end of Thames (see Trans. N.Z. Inst. 34, p. 388).
Fig. 2: Castle Rock, Coromandel Peninsula
In 1906 Manual of the New Zealand Flora for which all of his own botanical observations and collections had been made in the hope of assisting his friend. His small herbarium was presented to the Auckland Institute and Museum but because, it is said, a well-meaning daughter tidied away many scribbled notes and labels, the specimens have been left with fewer details than he would have provided. With the herbarium are some field notebooks covering some of his Thames collecting trips, and the Mt. Arthur, Mt. Hikurangi and Mt. Cook expeditions; regrettably the remainder have been lost.
Publications
New Zealand Oceanographic Institute, D.S.I.R., Wellington
The Date of publication of Thomson's well-known work is a matter of some interest in respect to a problem of zoological nomenclature. This problem of priority is somewhat complex and the taxonomic aspects have been considered elsewhere (Dawson, 1971).
In brief, the Tertiary to Recent brachiopod originally named Terebratulina cancellata Koch was renamed Terebratulina hedleyi by Cancellothyris australis. The need for renaming arose from the preoccupation of the specific name by Terebratula cancellata Eichwald, 1829. Both Finlay's and Thomson's names have been used subsequently.
Since Thomson's 1927 monograph also contains eight new generic names (Hispanirhynchia, Abyssothyris, Japanithyris, Jaffaia, Pictothyris, Neobouchardia, Pirothyris, Malleia) which have been used subsequently and might well be involved in priority questions, I have made some effort to determine the actual date of publication of Thomson's ‘Brachiopod Morphology and Genera’.
This book was published by the New Zealand Board of Science and Art, under the imprint of the Dominion Museum (
The archives of the Dominion Museum hold some correspondence and papers of Dr.
In a letter, dated May 26, 1927, to Professor Ichiro Hayasaka of Tohoku University, Thomson stated:
‘I am very shortly bringing out a manual of the Morphology and Genera of Recent and Tertiary Brachiopods, and it would be perhaps as well for you to see it before completing your revision’ [of the Tertiary Brachiopoda of Japan].
To J. Wilfrid Jackson, Thomson wrote (September 15, 1927):
‘I have delayed answering your letter until I could send you a copy of my book…. It is now being printed off by the Government Printer, but may be a little delayed because at this time ofthe year there is a pressure of Parliamentary printing at the printing office. Meanwhile I send you page proofs. I am having the greatest difficulty in getting the figures straightened up — I fear they will disfigure the book. I have arranged to be allowed to distribute a number of free copies to correspondents who will consent to review the book in some suitable scientific journal, and hope you will accept one on these conditions. You are in a better condition to judge of the value of the new book, and to appreciate what parts are original and new, than any one else. I hope its perusal will tempt you back to the group…. Now that the book is off my hands I hope to … tackle a palaeontological bulletin on the New Zealand Tertiary species. My health, however, prevents me making very quick progress, for I have just had to take another three months sick leave, and have to nurse my powers very carefully. I am sorry to see the ranks of Brachiopod scholars rapidly thinning. I had hoped Clarke and Walcott and Dall would live to see my book. Schuchert tells me he has a young man taking up the group, who will work on his very extensive collections and test out my new proposals in classifications and phylogeny, which he does not apparently like. I am not exactly old yet and am rather amused that a tyro is to put us all right …’
The ‘tyro’ was Dr. G. Arthur Cooper, now the world's leading brachiopod specialist, lately retired from the U.S. National Museum as chairman of the Department of Paleobiology (cf. Dutro, 1971); how prophetic Schuchert's words to Thomson were is well shown by Cooper's latest work, a fundamental analysis of the criteria on which generic classifications in the Brachiopoda have been established (Cooper, 1969).
On November 28, 1927, Thomson wrote to S. S. Buckman:
‘At last my book … is due from the printers, and a copy will be posted to you by an early mail. The book is issued by the Board of Science and Art, but I have secured free copies for my correspondents mainly on the understanding that they will treat them as review copies. In your case no such stipulation is made, but if you care to write a review and send it to one of the Science journals, I shall be very grateful, as there is no more competent than yourself to do so. The paper I previously submitted for the Royal Society consisted of extracts from the book, and as Dr. Butler considered it too long for the amount of new matter contained in it (which he apparently estimated mainly by the number of new names proposed), I withdrew it and awaited the publication of the book. The reading of the proofs and checking of the references occupied most of my spare time till the middle of this year. Since then I have been again on sick leave, and unable to do any further original work. Now that the book is off my hands, I hope when health permits, towrite a paper on Dr. Mortensen's Pacific collections and then to return to my Bulletin on the New Zealand Tertiary species.’
There seems to be no further conclusive evidence in Thomson's papers of the date of publication. It would seem that the book had not appeared by the end of November, 1927. The library of the Dominion Museum possesses two copies, one presented in 1958 from the library of the late Dr.
Finally, a word must be said of the worth of Thomson's book, the completion of which may be said to have cost him his life (judging by Thomson's letter to Buckman). Thomson died, a victim of tuberculosis, on May 6, 1928, at the early age of forty-six. Contemporary reviews appeared in Nature, Geological Magazine, American Journal of Science, N.Z. Journal of Science and Technology, amongst others (see Anon., 1928; C.S., 1928; G.H.U., 1928; Jackson, 1928) and included such comments as: ‘Since … 1894 … no other work has dealt so comprehensively and so lucidly with this group’ and ‘The book, indeed, is a model of what a text book in a biological group should be’ and, a word of criticism, ‘considering the somewhat high price of the book, it is regrettable that the two plates have been printed back to back, and that their reproduction is not more distinct’. In his memorial to Thomson, Oliver (1928) wrote: ‘It is not too much to say that in all zoological literature there is not a work of its type better done.’ Thomson's father, the Hon.
Thomson's work has not been surpassed even by the magnificent two-volume Section H of the ‘Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology’ published in 1965 but, rather, is complemented by it. Nor does Rudwick's (1970) recent book of brachiopod structure and function render it redundant. It remains a fine memorial to a great scientist
Acknowledgments
I am much indebted to the Director of the Dominion Museum for allowing me to quote the letters of Dr.
Nature, Lond., 122 (3074), 472-3.
Mem. geol. Soc. Am.67 [Treatise on marine ecology and paleoecology, vol. 1, Ecology] (1), 1113-6.
Proc. N. Am. Paleont. Conv., part C. The genus: a basic concept. Pp. 1-164. Lawrence. Kansas: Allen Press.
Terebratulina hedleyiFinlay, 1927, for
Cancellothyris australisThomson, 1927 (Brachiopoda).
Rec. Dominion Mus.7 (16): 151-4.
Smithson. Contr. Paleobiol.3: xiv + 1-390.
Ann. Mag. nat. Hist.(12) 4 (40): 305-34, text-figs 1-5.
Geol. Mag.LXV (VIII): 373-5.
N.Z. Jl. Sci. Tech.X (2) 65-70, 1 pl.
Am. J. Sci.15 (90): 526-7.
N.Z. Jl. Sci. Tech.X (3): 190-1.
N.Z. Geological Survey, Lower Hutt
In a Continuing Study of the geology near Waikanae 14C dates have contributed to the geochronology of the last 35,000 years, when climate, vegetation, and sea-level fluctuated dramatically in response to the last two discernable cold stadials of the Last Glaciation (Otiran) and to post-glacial warming.
The time-span covered by 14C is small compared with the total spectrum of geological history, but disproportionately significant because of the importance of late events to the understanding of present geography and vegetation. What can be dated depends more on the limited occurrence of datable material (lignite, peat, wood fragments) than on the sediments one wants to date; many sequences spanning parts of the 14C range remain undatable because they contain no carbon.
The early temptation to submit samples on the chance of them being datable resulted in dates beyond the limit of the method. With more knowledge of the geochronology, later samples have all produced positive dates. In an unknown area, it is most profitable to work back in a stratigraphic framework, from known post-glacial samples towards Late Glacial, awaiting results from younger samples before asking for older ones, but this assumes a leisurely timetable for the project. Palynological examination provides so much more significant history to date than a mere lithological sequence that it is perhaps unjustified to submit 14C samples from a carbonaceous sequence unless pollen analysis has already determined its vegetational and climatic history.
The geological interest in testing the contemporaneity of coolings in different parts of New Zealand and the biological interest in vegetation history during the Otiran (‘Glacial’) Stage gives dates in the range 20 to 40 thousand years a particular importance so that improvement of the reliability of the method in this range is amply justified.
The area called the Golden Coast by land-agents is the coastal lowland between
Fig. 1: Diagram showing topographic expression of the main formations of the
The total span of time represented by the deposits of the district covers about 200 million years, back to the Triassic greywacke suite forming the Tararua Range and its foothills; 14C dating covers at most 40,000 years. But because we look back to the past through ‘perspective spectacles’, the period to which 14C can contribute is far more important to the geologist than any 40,000-year period in the last 199 m. years.
We can skip over the deposition of the Triassic greywackes (Fig. 1 I), their deformation and elevation in the Rangitata Orogeny (L. Cretaceous), subsequent peneplanation and transgression by Oligocene seas (40 m. years ago), and the deformation that resulted in a narrow infaulted strip of Oligocene greensand behind Otaihanga (Fig. 1, II). Later in the Tertiary, about 10 m. years ago, the deformation of the Kaikoura Orogeny began to raise the Tararua Range as a complex of high blocks (and Kapiti is a smaller one); these anticlinals were progressively elevated in relation to the synclinal or relatively subsiding area of Cook Strait and the narrower synclinal between Kapiti and the mainland.
Older Pleistocene (Wanganui Series)
The Quaternary Era is first represented by a formation of ancient coarse gravels (Reikorangi Gravels, III in Fig. 1) that are strongly deformed and weathered. They probably represent the early Pleistocene Wanganui Series and are in part equivalent to the Kaitoke Gravels of Hutt, the Moutere Gravels of Nelson, and the marine Wanganui Series of the Palmerston-Wanganui Basin to the north-west. At some later Quaternary date the land surface was deeply weathered
Before the later ice-ages, the land gained more or less its present outline, although tilting and faulting movements have continued. Interpretation of younger Pleistocene deposits is within the framework of several theoretical generalisations, some of which are still being tested:
-
Climatic fluctuations (and the deposits they controlled) were contemporaneous, in a general way, through New Zealand if not throughout the world.
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During each glacial period, when glaciers advanced in the South Island mountains, the Tararua Range suffered a periglacial climate even if it did not support glaciers. Mountain vegetation was reduced to sub-alpine grassland and herb field, solifluction was widespread, and streams and rivers, overloaded with waste, aggraded their beds to a steep gradient with coarse ill-sorted gravels derived by even steeper fans from tributary streams. Small glaciers (VIII in Fig. 1) were certainly present in the highest Tararuas in the Last Ice Age (Adkin, 1910).
-
World-wide withdrawal of ocean water to form ice sheets and glaciers lowered ocean level to depths of some 120 to 200 m. below its present level. Because deep water is quite close to the Golden Coast (south of Kapiti), ice-age gravel plains plunged steeply to coastlines at no great distance from the present shores.
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During interglacial periods, melting of ice raised sea levels generally to heights above present sea-level. The land was fully forested; rivers cut down in their inland courses. Gravels in rivers and on coasts tended to be better sorted.
-
Tectonic movements, continuing through the Pleistocene, have caused irregularities in the levels of glacial and interglacial shorelines but were not sufficiently strong to obliterate completely the cycle of relatively low levels for glacial and high levels for interglacial ages. Therefore marine deposits on land are almost certainly interglacial, coarse ill-sorted gravels probably glacial.
-
Sand dunes characterise stable or prograding coasts (not advancing seas), so that most dune-sand deposits, especially those containing mica derived by long-shore drift from Tertiary beds further north, probably date from a period of sea retreat
from a high interglacial level. There are, in fact, some dune sands (Koputaroa and Te Whaka Dunesand) of glacial age, derived not from beaches but from glacial riverbeds, but they can be distinguished from beach-derived interglacial dunesands by absence of mica.
In the valleys of the Waikanae and other rivers terrace remnants of the penultimate and probably anti-penultimate glacial gravels (Fig. 1, IV) can be recognised as such by their altitude, dissection and strongly weathered loess soils that are developed on them. Remnants of the deposits of the Antipenultimate Interglacial are also suspected in several places. These have to be recognised and classified by geomorphological, pedological, and lithologic criteria; they are all beyond the range of 14C. In practice, so little carbonaceous material occurs in gravels formed by cold-climate aggradation that there has been little temptation to submit material from such deposits.
Last Interglacial (Oturian Stage)
The most conspicuous formation of the coastal lowland has long been known as the Otaki Sandstone or Otaki Formation (Fig. 1, V) and was studied by Adkin, Oliver, and Cotton before the development of 14C techniques. Te Punga (1962) described a well-exposed section near Te Horo and collected a sample (N.Z. 65) dated as greater than 45,000 years from a lignite band. By the criteria listed above, the Otaki Formation is Interglacial, consisting of the marine beach gravels and sands of a transgressive high-level sea, the beach-derived micaceous dune sands that advanced as the sea retreated, and lignite deposited in swamps ponded by the dunes. It is backed by an old cliff-line (Fig. 2, Line A-A). As it is the latest interglacial deposit recognised on the coast, the Otaki is attributed to the Last Interglacial Age, which from isotope datings overseas is thought to be about 80,000 to 120,000 years old and thus beyond the range of 14C.
Last Glacial (Otiran Stage)
Overlying the Otaki Formation are a variety of deposits attributed to the last glacial stage: coarse ill-sorted river gravels in terraces, sometimes with erect pebbles indicating frost climate near the surface (
Fig. 2: Diagram illustrating relationship of Matenga Fanglomerate (M) laid down in fans during the Otiran glacial stage, to the deposits of the preceding interglacial (Otaki Sandstone, O) and to the Foxton Dunesand (F) and Paraparaumu Peat (P), deposited on the coastal plain during the Holocene. R: Ruahine Greywacke Suite. A-A: Interglacial sea cliff. B-B: Post-glacial sea cliff. (From Fleming, 1970)
The fan gravels occasionally preserve thin lenses of carbonaceous silt, representing swampy deposits later buried by the growing fan (Fleming, 1970). One such deposit yielded a sequence of pollen samples indicating cold wet grasslands — shrubland vegetation with a temporary silver beech phase, dated (N.Z. 573) as 19,200 years B.P. (± 560 years), and thus falling in the period of the Later Kumara-2 glacial advance of Westland (Suggate, 1965) and (less precisely) of the Takapu Stadial of Wellington Peninsula (Brodie, 1957). The fans appear to slope concordantly to the main terrace of the
In two exposures near the crossing of the Waikanae River by Main Highway No. 1, Earlier Kumara-2 of Westland, and the Opunake glacial cooling of Taranaki (Grant-Taylor, 1964), dated as 30,000-38,000 B.P.
In the second exposure, 0.75 km. downstream, a relatively complete section of the Otiran Stage overlies Otaki Formation (Oturian Stage) (Fig. 3)
The Waimahoe Lignite (C) records a cool-warm fluctuation before the cooling that presumably led to the ‘Earlier Kumara-2 = Opunake’ glacial (D-E). The only 14C sample, collected by Te Punga from an uncertain horizon, is N.Z. 22 (more than 35,000 B.P.). If confident dating in the range 35,000-40,000 becomes possible the section is worth re-sampling for 14C, as it is a rare example of three cold stadials in stratigraphic sequence in a single exposure.
Twenty-seven miles north of Waikanae on broad surfaces above the aggrading riverbeds, Koputaroa Dunesand (a cold climate dunesand) accumulated over a span of time that included a climatic cooling indicated by pollen in peat (McIntyre, in Cowie, 1963) since dated as 35,000 ± 1700 years B.P. (N.Z. 522) (i.e. equivalent to Early Kumara-2) and also the Oruanui Ash (dated as about 20,000 B.P. by correlation and thus Later Kumara-2). Recognition of this ash shower, widespread throughout the North Island (Vucetich and Pullar, 1969), allows a valuable link with the history (and 14C dates) of other districts. A similar but younger cold climate dunesand (Te Whaka Dunesand) overlies the
Fig. 3: Section exposed in south bank, Waikanae River, 0.75 km. downstream from main road bridge. A: Otaki Dunesand (Last Interglacial). B: Interglacial Paleosol. C: Waimahoe Lignite (< 35,000 years B.P.). D: Weathered gravel. E: Tini Loess (35,400 ± 900 years B.P. at top). F:
Younger Quaternary Deposits Near Waikanae
Stratigraphic Table
Post-Glacial (Aranuian Stage)
During the Otiran, the sea is assumed to have been at low levels (c. 120-200 m.) and the coast to have been somewhere south of the Kapiti Strait synclinal, which was a deep depression receiving the gravels from Waikanae district.
As the sea level rose it flooded the Kapiti Strait depression which later was partly filled by long-shore drift and prograding deposits.
At Foxton, sea level had risen to −50m. by 9900 (± 150) years B.P. (N.Z. 81). Thick beach sands with shells (e.g. at −63m. at Paraparaumu Aerodrome) presumably represent this period of rising sea level, but have not been dated. They are represented by IX on Fig. 1, and have been named Kenakena Formation. Post-glacial sea level rose to its maximum at about 5140 ± 90 years B.P., a date (N.Z. 519) from the beach deposits (Paripari Formation) near Centennial Inn,
The oldest dune group (Foxton Dunesand, see Cowie, 1963) laps on the post-glacial cliff and probably began to accumulate soon after the sea retreated from it as progradation began. 14C dates for woody peats interfingering with the oldest Foxton dunes at Waikanae are 4730 and 5290 years B.P. (N.Z. 2973) suggesting that the Waikanae coast was already prograding before the sea retreated from the cliff behind Centennial Inn, a situation comparable with the present. The next formation, Taupo Dunesand, formed largely from pumice granules derived from drift pumice piled on the beaches after the Taupo Pumice eruption (c. 1800 B.P.), is a prominent marker from
The table of formations (Table 1) summarises the stratigraphy and dates.
Trans. R. Soc. N.Z.79: 157; 1910:
Trans. N.Z. Inst.43: 496; 1919:
Trans. N.Z. Inst.51: 108.
N.Z. Jl. Sci. Tech.B38: 623.
Trans. N.Z. Inst.50: 212.
N.Z. Jl. Geol. Geophys, 6: 268.
N.Z. Jl. Geol. Geophys.8: 1222; 1970:
Trans. R. Soc. N.Z. (Earth Sci.)7 (11): 197.
Egmont National Park(Egmont Nat. Park Board).
N.Z. D.S.I.R. Geol. Mem.7.
N.Z. Geol. Surv. Bull.n.s. 77.
N.Z. Jl. Geol. Geophys.5: 517.
N.Z. J. Geol. Geophys.12 (4): 784.
Botany Department, Victoria University of Wellington
Contents
Introduction
In Part I of these studies the problem of microbial contamination of aviation fuel was discussed and the role of the ‘kerosene fungus’ Cladosporium resinae (Lindau) de Vries (perfect state Amorphotheca resinae Parbery) in contamination and corrosion evaluated. Part II deals with the natural habitat of this interesting fungus.
Cladosporium resinae is not only capable of growing in and utilising kerosene as a source of food, it can grow on wood impregnated with coal tar products such as creosote and utilise these products as food (Christensen, Kaufert, Schmitz and Allison, 1942). In the late 1930's several people (Dr. C. et al., 1942). Because of the known toxicity of these preservatives to micro-organisms in general these workers initially more or less disregarded this sporadic appearance of a fungus on treated wood and thought of it only as a laboratory phenomenon. This is understandable when one considers that coal tar products, especially creosote, have been used for over one hundred years to protect wood from attack by fungi, insects and other organisms. According to Christensen et al. (1942), each cubic foot of wood impregnated with these products contains 8 to 20 pounds, or 1 to 2½ gallons, of the preservative and the long service of timbers so treated is evidence of the value of the coal tar products as preservatives. However, in the fall of 1939 an investigation was initiated by
Hormodendrum resinae (= Cladosporium resinae — see Part III) which Lindau had described in 1907 from the resin of a conifer, Picea excelsa, and that it is a common inhabitant of wood treated with coal tar products including creosote. These workers also isolated the same fungus from resinous wood and from asphalt street pavements.
Some years later Marsden (1954) became interested in this fungus in connection with its possible deleterious effects on the preservative used to protect the wood against decay. He confirmed the findings of Christensen and his colleagues regarding occurrence on creosoted timbers and deep penetration into wood. He found fruiting structures produced within tracheid cavities as well as on the surface of the wood and indications that this mould may deleteriously affect the toxicity of creosote. He described five strains of the fungus (see Part III), and he coined the name ‘creosote fungus’ in 1954. Christensen and colleagues were unable to isolate C. resinae from soil except on one occasion (glasshouse soil) and neither they nor Marsden were able to isolate it from the air. The indications were, therefore, that C. resinae occurred naturally in resinous wood and on creosoted timbers, but not in soil.
With the implicating of C. resinae in contamination of jet aviation fuels and in corrosion of aircraft tanks in the 1960's interest in this fungus revived. Leonard and Klemme (1961) believed that this fungus could be soil-borne because most other Cladosporia could be isolated from the soil. But it was not until the late 1960's that this was confirmed by Parbery (1967). After devising a method which successfully isolated C. resinae from soil he investigated its occurrence in soils from Australia, Britain and Continental Europe. On the basis of his findings he concluded (1969b) that C. resinae is a natural component of the soil microflora and is widely distributed in nature. His conclusions are supported by the results of recent work in New Zealand (Sheridan, Steel and Knox, 1971).
None of the earlier workers were able to isolate C. resinae from the atmosphere yet Christensen et al. (1942) and Hendey (1964) were, according to Parbery (1969b), still of the opinion that it is airborne. Parbery (1969b) referred to three independent trappings of this fungus from the atmosphere, thus supporting this view. Within the last few years Harvey (1971—personal communication) has isolated C. resinae from the air in Wales in very small quantities, but consistently. More recently, using a method which selectively isolates this fungus from the air (Sheridan and Nelson, 1971b), it has been possible to trap it consistently from the atmosphere over Wellington, New Zealand (Sheridan, Sheridan, Hoverd and Nelson, 1971; Sheridan, 1971).
Figure 1: Distribution of
C. resinae in airfield fuel systems in Australia. (Figures from Hazzard, 1963.) Black dot + ve Hollow dot —ve
From the foregoing it is quite clear that this extraordinary and intriguing, if not treacherous, fungus is very elusive. It has slipped through the fingers of the earlier workers when they have attempted to isolate it from soil and air. Results obtained by the use of new methods have given a better understanding of its distribution and role in nature but we will have to be patient until results from the wider application of these methods become available. In this paper the body of knowledge available at the present time on the occurrence of C. resinae in nature is reviewed in an attempt to determine its natural habitat.
The first report in the open scientific literature of the occurrence of Cladosporium resinae in hydrocarbon fuels appears to be that of Hendey in 1964. He reviewed the occurrence of this fungus in kerosene-type fuel storage tanks and fuel tanks of aircraft. Hazzard (1963) identified C. resinae in aviation kerosene in Australia in 1961 but his results are contained in a technical report which has not been widely circulated. In the same year Prince (1961) reported finding a Cladosporium sp. in jet fuel in the United States of America and his photographs indicate that it was probably C. resinae. As stated in Part I of these studies, contamination of kerosene-type fuels with
C. resinae was widespread in the 1960's — until recently it was much easier to isolate this fungus from kerosene than from soil and Hendey's application of the name ‘kerosene fungus’ to this organism is indeed appropriate. The accompanying map (Fig. 1) shows the distribution of C. resinae in airfield fuel systems in Australia. The figures are taken from Hazzard (1963) but the map is incomplete because of the difficulty of locating some of the airfields. Figures are not yet available for New Zealand, hence the distribution of C. resinae cannot be plotted. (For figures for Australia and California see Part I.)
The fungus has been isolated from lighting and aviation kerosene in France (Nicot and Zakartchenko, 1966 — ‘Mazout, kérosène carburants pour l'aviation’) and we have isolated it from both of these in New Zealand. We were not able to confirm from the literature that C. resinae had been isolated from petrol (= gasoline), diesel oil or lubricating oils, but the first sample of petrol we examined yielded five colonies of C. resinae from 250 ml. of the sample. Fuel/water samples of aviation gasoline are at present under test.
C. resinae has been isolated from aviation fuel, from tank filters or aircraft fuel tanks in Australia (Hazzard, 1963), Brazil (Gutheil, 1966), Denmark, England, India, Nigeria, New Zealand, Syria (Anon., 1968), U.S.A. (Engel and Swatek, 1966) and Japan (Inoue, Iwamato and Minoura, 1965).
It has been reported that C. resinae can remain alive for rather a long time in kerosene-type fuels (Hendey, 1964). Nicot and Zakartchenko (1966) found the fungus in their samples to be alive after 30 months but the results of their tests were not consistent. Hazzard (1967) found that it could remain viable for several years in essentially water-free petroleum products. This aspect has not yet been studied in our laboratory.
Four forms of C. resinae are known to exist (see Part III) but only one, j. avellaneum, has apparently been recovered from kerosene-type fuels (Hendey, 1964; Inoue, Iwamoto and Minoura, 1965) (Table 1). C. resinae f. resinae has arisen in culture from f. avellaneum (Hendey, 1964) and been isolated occasionally from soil (Parbery, 1968). An albino has arisen in culture from f. avellaneum (Parbery, 1969a; Sheridan, Steel and Knox, 1971) and is morphologically similar to it (Figs. 2 and 5). De Vries (1955) gave the name f. albidum to an albino which was morphologically similar to f. resinae. For the present purpose we shall refer to both of these as f. albidum (see Part III).
The only form isolated by us directly from kerosene fuels (and soil) is C. resinae f. avellaneum. Both f. albidum and f. resinae have been found in New Zealand as saltants in culture. All three forms have been tested by us for ability to grow in kerosene; all were able to do so (see Fig. 3). Parbery's (1968) isolates of f. resinae from
Figure 2: Colonies of
C. resinae f. avellaneum on V-8 juice agar containing 0.1% creosote.
Cladosporium resinae was repeatedly isolated from wood impregnated with creosote and coal tar, e.g. telephone poles and railway ties, by Christensen, Kaufert, Schmitz and Allison (1942). Samples were taken near the ground line from twenty-nine creosoted poles in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Delaware. C. resinae was isolated from twenty-seven of these. It was likewise isolated from six of eight creosoted ties sampled in Minnesota, and from all of eleven ties from Ohio, from all of four ties from Louisiana, three from the State of Washington, and from ties sampled in Missouri and Indiana. The fungus was also found on several creosoted southern pine fence posts in service for seventeen years in Iowa. These workers also successfully isolated this fungus from resinous woods.
Their work led the above workers to an investigation of the natural habitat of the fungus. Soil was tested around the University Farm, St. Paul, Minnesota, which included cultivated and uncultivated land, and soil near a creosoting plant but no C. resinae was found. Neither were they able to isolate it from the atmosphere. The reason for this failure to isolate the kerosene fungus from the soil and air was almost certainly due to the use of unsuitable techniques (see 3. The occurrence of C. resinae in soil). Marsden (1954) isolated
C. resinaein aviation turbine kerosene. Left: f.
avellaneum isolatedfrom soil. Right: f.
avellaneumisolated from air. Centre: f.
albidum.
C. resinaefrom creosoted wood by placing chips of wood from creosoted poles on to malt extract agar containing 1% creosote. In this way
C. resinaewas obtained from several treated and partially decayed poles from Georgia, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Santo Domingo. Christensen
et al.(1942) and Marsden (1954) were of the opinion that creosoted timbers or resinous wood constituted the natural habitat of this fungus. Although we have not attempted to isolate
C. resinaefrom creosoted timber in New Zealand we have consistently isolated it from soil collected around the base of creosoted telegraph and electric poles. Using a creosoted matchstick method of isolation (Sheridan, Steel and Knox, 1971) we often found the fungus growing and sporulating on the matchsticks as well as on the soil (Fig. 4).
De Vries (1955) has studied various strains of Cladosporium resinae including two of Marsden's (1954). He concluded that Marsden's New York strain agreed with C. resinae f. avellaneum and his New York saltant strain with f. resinae (Fig. 5). The fungus isolated by Christensen et al. (1942) appears to be f. avellaneum (Table 2). De Vries tested the growth of five strains of the fungus on media containing 4% coal tar or 1% creosote. The strains tested were: 1, Enola; 2, ‘Christensen’ (received from Marsden); 3, C. resinae f. avellaneum; 4, C. resinae f. resinae; 5, C. resinae f. albidum. Contrary to De Vries's expectations, the last three strains did not grow on these media while the Enola and Christensen isolates made good growth. More recent work confirms that this fungus produces a wide variety of morphological forms and these vary in their ability to tolerate and grow in kerosene and creosote (Hendey, 1964; Parbery, 1969b). This aspect is dealt with more fully in Part III of these studies.
C. resinaein soil
Cladosporium resinae was first isolated successfully from soil by Parbery (1967), working in Australia. He devised the ‘creosoted matchstick method’ in which two decapitated matchsticks, sterilised and soaked in sterile creosote, were added to a Petri dish containing moistened soil (See Fig. 4). The plates were incubated at 25° C. along with control plates containing non-creosoted matchsticks for up to three weeks. In Victoria, Parbery took soil samples from the base of, and some distance from, test creosoted poles and from virgin bushland, 50 metres from the testing site. C. resinae appeared in twelve out of fourteen soil samples tested. Since the fungus appeared in four samples of soil from the virgin bushland, this was considered by Parbery (1967) to be a strong indication that the fungus occurs naturally in soils. This observation led Parbery to further studies on the distribution of C. resinae in soil (Parbery, 1969b). He collected sixty isolates of C. resinae from soils in Australia. Britain, France and Sweden, proving the fungus to be widely distributed and indicating that it is a natural component of the soil microflora. The collection sites of soil yielding C. resinae were:
In England — fallow soil, under pines and poplar, by a creosoted pole, from soil under a larch and under Norway spruce.
In Wales — garden soil, the bases of creosoted poles, grass tussock and soil under firs and pines.
In France — soil under juniper, Norway spruce, oak, beech, Picea pungens, Cedrela sinensis and a soil bitumen mixture near base of pole.
In Sweden — there were two positive isolations from Stockholm, under Picea pungens and under oak and elm.
In Australia — isolates from Victoria were collected from burned hilltop forest, alluvial soil, beside a creosoted pole, skeletal hillside, roadside under eucalypt, petrol station, virgin bush, mountain soil of virgin bush, sandy arid soil and under Pinus radiata.
In New Zealand this fungus was first isolated from a garden soil in Wellington, near a creosoted fowl house, in November, 1969 (Sheridan and Knox, 1970). A modification of Parbery's ‘creosoted matchstick method’ was used. The matchsticks were steeped in creosote for 48 hours, transferred to a clean beaker covered with aluminium foil, and then autoclaved for 30 minutes at 103 kNm-2. This modification ensured that very little liquid creosote was transferred to the soil. This is an advantage because none of our isolates would tolerate as much as 3% creosote and the presence of excess creosote could suppress growth. C. resinae has subsequently been found to be widespread in soil in this country (Figs. 6 and 7), occurring most frequently in and near built-up areas but also occurring occasionally in soils remote from human habitation.
Figure 4: Cresoted matchsticks on soil contained in Petri dishes.
Figure 5: Conidiophores and conidia of C.
resinae. Left: f. avellaneum. Right: f. resinae.
We have isolated C. resinae in New Zealand from cultivated garden soils, from soils at the base of creosoted poles and fence posts and soils at the edge of a tar spillage on a roadside, from the top of sawdust mounds on old saw mill sites (Ketetahi Mills, near Taurewa, and near spiral railway, Raurimu), from soil under grass, gorse, conifers, scrub and native bush and from sandy soil in the Rangipo Desert. It has been found from sea level up to 5,000 feet. The collection sites are shown in Table 3.
Parbery (1969b) reports that there does not appear to be any correlation between isolation of C. resinae and any soil or vegetation type but there does appear to be some positive correlation between frequency of isolation and the annual average rainfall. This correlation could, in his opinion, be related to soil mosture or to organic matter content. This aspect warrants further study. In both Parbery's and our own studies not all soil samples taken beside creosoted poles yielded C. resinae, and several isolates were obtained from what is regarded as virgin soil.
C. resinae does not compete actively with other micro-organisms in a soil plate in the absence of creosote but this does not exclude it from being a soil inhabitor. Jones and Edington (1968) have demonstrated that there is an ecological niche available to hydrocarbon-utilising micro-organisms in soil. According to Parbery (1968) C. resinae can possibly utilise oils, waxes, steroids, terpenes, hydrocarbon and other biochemically related compounds in the soil for which it is able to compete against other micro-organisms. More recently Jones (1970) has reported studies on the origin and distribution
Figure 6: Sampling sites for
C. resinae in soils in New Zealand. Red spot +ve Black spot —veFigure 7: Sampling sites for
C. resinae in soils in Wellington area. Note position of Hirst spore trap. Red spot +ve, black spot —ve.C. resinae in soils and the nature of hydrocarbons presents. While the distribution of this fungus in New Zealand suggests that the spread of C. resinae is associated with the construction of tar-sealed roads and the use of creosoted timbers in fencing and as power poles, the fungus has been found from time to time in areas remote from roads and from creosoted timbers. In some places at least, C. resinae must have been a natural component of the soil microflora for a very long time. In the near future it is hoped to examine soils from the old kauri forests of New Zealand for the presence of C. resinae. If it is found there this would be evidence to support the suggestion that C. resinae was present in this country before the advent of the jet age; perhaps before the arrival of the white man. This fungus grows readily on kauri gum so it is possible that it will be found in the old kauri forest areas.
Parbery (1969b) reports that of seventeen isolates tested, seven were able to grow in medium with kerosene as the only carbon source. All of the New Zealand soil isolates tested by us were able to grow in medium with aviation turbine kerosene as sole source of carbon but not all isolates from kerosene fuel could do so (Sheridan and Nelson 1971a).
Data on the occurrence of C. resinae in soil and the forms of the fungus found is presented in Table 4.
Christensen et al. (1942) exposed in their laboratory and out-of-doors, creosoted wood blocks and agar containing creosote but failed to recover C. resinae from the air. Nevertheless, they concluded that this did not exclude the possibility of spores being airborne or being present at certain times and places. Neither Marsden (1954) nor Hendey (1964) reported successful isolation from the air. According to Parbery (1969b), Christensen et al. (1942) and Hendey (1964) were of the opinion that spores of the fungus are airborne even though they failed to demonstrate this. Parbery (1969b) reports knowledge of three independent trappings of this mould from the atmosphere which support this view. These are: Anon. (1961) refers to a culture of C. resinae collected from an air filter, Chabert (1968) reports isolating it several times from the atmosphere over Rabat, Morocco, and Dr. H. J. Stewart, University of Melbourne, has given Dr. D. G. Parbery a culture of C. resinae collected from air over Johannesburgh, South Africa. Parbery (1969b) concludes that it is probable that the general failure to trap this mould from the air demonstrates the inadequacy of technique rather than the absence of spores of this mould in the air. Other experiments carried out
Figure 8: Diagrams of Hirst spore trap and air slit sampler. Left: Impactor unit on larger scale; approximately one-third natural size. Arrows indicate how the air circulates.
C. resinae did not remain viable when they were exposed to light (Hirst, 1971—personal communication).
Harvey (1967; 1971 — personal communication) has isolated C. resinae from the air in Wales in very small quantities, but consistently over a period of years. Parbery (1969b) was apparently not aware of Harvey's work.
We became interested in the possibility that C. resinae was a significant component of the airspora in New Zealand because of its widespread occurrence in soils and profuse sporulation, but all our initial attempts to trap it failed. After some ten months work we eventually perfected a technique which consistently isolated the fungus from the air of our laboratory. The application of the same technique out-of-doors has resulted in numerous trappings. A Hirst spore trap (see Fig. 8) is in use which is capable of continuous operation for twenty-four hours unattended.
Because C. resinae grows readily on a wide variety of agar media containing creosote (Sheridan, Steel and Knox, 1971) and few other fungi (or bacteria) will tolerate the creosote, we experimented with the use of a selective medium containing creosote for the isolation of this fungus. The method described here is a simple one and has proved suitable for isolating C. resinae from the air in New Zealand
(Sheridan and Nelson, 1971b). The selective medium is prepared as follows. Forty grams of Davis agar (other brands should also be suitable) is added to 1,500 ml. tap water in a glass vessel which is heated in a boiling water bath until the agar melts. To this is added 350ml. of V-8 juice (Campbell's Soups Ltd.). The medium is mixed gently, distributed into medicine flats and autoclaved at 103 kNm−2 (15 p.s.i.) for 10 minutes. When the medium has cooled to about 50°C. sterile creosote (sterilised by autoclaving) is added aseptically to give a final concentration of 0.1%. The concentration is not critical since all strains of the fungus studied by us will tolerate creosote up to 1%. However, a lower concentration is undesirable because the volatile components of the creosote disappear rather rapidly when plates containing the selective medium are exposed to the air.
Plates of this selective medium are exposed in an Air Slit Sampler (see Fig. 8) with an intake of 18 litres of air per minute, for periods of up to 30 minutes. An exposure of less than 30 minutes is uneconomical; a longer exposure results in growth of contaminants and unreliable results. After exposure, plates are incubated at 25° C. for 5 days. Colonies of the fungus can be recognised visually and by the characteristic smell produced on this medium and confirmed by microscopic examination (see Figs. 2 and 5).
For continuous monitoring of the air we use a Hirst Spore Trap (see Fig. 8) operating 2 metres above the ground with an intake of 10 litres/min., carrying a microscope slide coated with vaseline. When the slide is removed after exposure it is placed into a sterile Petri dish and sterile selective medium at 50° C. is gently poured over the slide. These preparations are incubated as above and colonies identified after 5 days.
Because the volume of air taken into the trap and the rate of movement of the slide past the orifice is known it is possible (assuming that each colony develops from a single spore) to determine the concentration of C. resinae in the air and the time at which the spore landed on the slide (Fig. 9).
For selective isolation of the fungus from air at oil installations, airports and on aircraft during flight, trappings are made on a sterile glass fibre paper in a Personal Dust Sampler (Figs. 10 and 11). After each run (1-8 hrs.) the paper is removed aseptically and placed inside a sterile disposable plastic universal container for transport to the laboratory. On arrival it is placed inside a sterile Petri dish, correct side up, and selective medium at 50° C. is poured over it. Alternatively, 5 ml. of the medium may be added to the universal container. Incubation is as above.
Results of Air Trappings Over Wellington
Results are shown in Table 5 for trappings during November and December, 1970. During 216 hours trapping. 11 colonies were
Figure 9: Colonies of
C. resinae (arrowed), trapped from the air, after five days on V-8 juice agar containing 0.1% creosote. Hirst spore trap.Figure 10: Colonies of
C. resinae, trapped from the air, after five days on V-8 juice agar containing 0.1% creosote. Personal dust sampler.
This spore trap has been operating continuously, day and night, in Brooklyn since March 14, 1971 (see Fig. 7 for location). Up to July 21, 1971, 26 isolations of C. resinae have been made. Eleven were trapped during dry weather, 4 of the remaining 15 during heavy rain; 12 were trapped during daylight, 14 were trapped during darkness (Table 6). There is thus little evidence for the deleterious effect of light or for a preference for wet weather in dispersal. Presumably the spores trapped originated from the soil since the trap is operating in a region where the fungus is known to exist in the soil. Seagulls and other birds may also be implicated since the fungus has been isolated from feathers. (See 5. Occurrence of C. resinae in other habitats.) This work is continuing, but there is now little doubt that C. resinae forms a significant component of the air spora over Wellington.
Monitoring of the air of our laboratory at intervals from April to June, 1971, using this sampler has shown a concentration of C. resinae from 0 to 12 per cu. metre with an average of 6 (Table 7). The higher concentration occurred when we were harvesting C. resinae from kerosene in experiments to determine dry weights. Only one trapping has been made with this sampler from the air at
Karori (23/5/71) and one at the University Field Station, Taurewa, National Park (20/5/71). No fungus has been isolated yet from Wellington Airport, on aircraft or at oil installations in the few tests so far run. Further work is in progress.
The key factor in the isolation of C. resinae from the air is the use of a selective medium. V-8 juice agar containing 0.1% creosote has proved ideal. The acid medium suppresses growth of bacteria, and the creosote suppresses growth of most fungi. Certain precautions must be taken to avoid contamination with C. resinae from within the laboratory. Where possible, preparations of materials, pouring of media and incubation should be done in a place remote from the laboratory. In recent tests the air of our laboratory yielded an average of six spores (assuming each colony arises from a single spore) per cubic metre. The air above Wellington (at Brooklyn) during a trapping schedule in November and December, 1970, yielded 1 spore per 20 cu. m.
Each of the spore traps serves a different purpose. The Hirst spore trap is ideal for continuous monitoring. The personal dust sampler has proved useful for monitoring air inside aircraft, at airports and at oil installations. The air slit sampler is used as a standard against which the others are compared periodically to check on their efficiency.
Only f. avellaneum has been so far isolated from the atmosphere by us. This is not surprising since f. albidum has not been found in soil and f. resinae is only occasionally isolated from soil (Parbery, 1968). We have not isolated f. resinae directly from soil in New Zealand. Further, this form sporulates sparsely and spores are difficult to dislodge.
The ease and regularity with which C. resinae is isolated from the air over Wellington makes one wonder how this fungus has eluded
Figure 11: The personal dust sampler.
C. resinae are not readily distinguishable from those of other species of Cladosporium and secondly in the absence of creosote vapour contaminating fungi quickly over-run C. resinae. With suitable techniques now available the distribution of C. resinae in the air throughout the world should soon be found. Data at present available on the occurrence of C. resinae in the atmosphere is collected in Table 8.
Where none of the three traps mentioned here is available a simple, cheap and efficient substitute can be made using an old
Figure 12: Apparatus for air sampling for
C. resinae constructed from a vacuum cleaner and pieces of plastic water pipe (Belinda’) Approximately one-quarter natural size.
Apart from its occurrence in kerosene, petrol, creosoted timbers, asphalt, soils, and in the air, C. resinae has been isolated from a cosmetic face cream (de Vries, 1952) bituminised cardboard (Anon., 1968), the female sex hormone, progesterone (Fonken, Murray and Reineke, 1964), methyl-p-hydroxybenzoate (Sokolski, Chichester and Honeywell, 1965) and feathers of birds (Sheridan, 1971) (Table 9). In connection with this last source we have made two isolations from chicken feathers and ten from seagull feathers collected in Wellington. The feathers were picked up from the ground or on the beach, cut to size and placed on V-8 juice agar containing 0.1% creosote, in Petri dishes, and incubated at 25° C. for five days. In studies on the dissemination of fungi by migratory birds, Warner and French (1970) have recovered viable spores of C. resinae as long as forty-five days after being applied to birds. Further, Parbery (1969) has found feathers to be an excellent substrate for growth of some of his soil isolates of the fungus. It is anticipated, therefore, that C. resinae will be found, on investigation, to occur on feathers in many countries.
It has been estimated that more than 150 gallons of jet fuel are released into the atmosphere each day from aircraft operating over London (Anon., 1970). This ‘Heathrow Dew’ could conceivably
contaminate birds, particularly seagulls which are often present in great numbers near airports, and C. resinae might be thus deposited on their feathers. Also these birds might pick up spores of C. resinae from the air (See 4. The occurrence of C. resinae in air) and the kerosene select in its favour. Birds may, therefore, be of some significance in spreading C. resinae from place to place.
The forms isolated from the cosmetic face cream (De Vries, 1955) were C. resinae f. avellaneum and C. resinae f. resinae; from bituminised cardboard, from a gold mine in South Africa, C. resinae f. albidum. Only f. avellaneum has been isolated by us from feathers.
When the white settlers first arrived in New Zealand last century they were struck by the majesty of the magnificent kauri forests (Agathis australis) in the north of the North Island. The trees proved very valuable as a source of durable timber with the result that only a few thousand acres of trees remain. C. resinae grows readily on kauri gum and it is possible that the fungus occurs naturally in soils in the old kauri forests. We are looking into this but have not yet been able to visit these areas to procure soil samples.
The ‘kerosene fungus’, Cladosporium resinae, is widespread as a contaminant of kerosene-type fuels, occurs frequently on creosoted timbers, is widely distributed in soil, occurs on feathers and in the air and has been reported from other habitats. There is little doubt that the soil constitutes the natural habitat of this rather extraordinary fungus. From here the fungus can contaminate power poles and fence posts, being selected for by creosote, and enter fuel supply systems with contaminating soil. Airborne spores can, no doubt, find their way into fuel storage and aircraft tanks. The form most frequently isolated from soil, f. avellaneum, is the one most frequently isolated from creosoted timbers, fuels and air. This is to be expected because of its profuse sporulation and ease with which these spores become airborne. The albino, f. albidum, has only been found in culture, with one exception (Anon., 1968), but there appears to be no reason why it should not occur in nature since it can grow readily in kerosene and in the presence of creosote, and sporulates as profusely as f. avellaneum.
The other form, f. resinae, is only occasionally isolated from soil but because it does not sporulate as freely as the other two forms and because the spores are difficult to dislodge from the conidiophores its spread will be restricted. C. resinae f. sterile and intermediate forms have been found in culture by Parbery (1969a) and by us.
Now that reliable methods are available for isolating C. resinae from soil and air new knowledge about the distribution of this fungus will accumulate rapidly.
Acknowledgments
The work which was carried out in our laboratories was supported in part by grants from the Victoria University of Wellington Internal Research Committee. The Hirst spore trap was purchased with a U.G.C. grant. We are grateful to the Chief Superintendent of the Australian Defence Standards Laboratories for permission to quote data contained in D.S.L. Report No. 252 and to the Operations Manager of N.A.C. for permission to sample the air at airports and on aircraft in New Zealand. Thanks are also due to members of the Botany and Zoology Department of this university and to everyone else who assisted in the soil survey. Mr. Ron Hoverd constructed the apparatus shown in Fig. 13.
(References will be combined with those for Part III.)
Zoology Department, University of Auckland
Students doing field studies in ecology or life histories in the Southern Hemisphere are inconvenienced compared with their northern colleagues in not having a tidy relation between the biological annual cycle and the common calendar. Especially important is the lack of a precise start point, corresponding to January 1, from which to tabulate observations on seasonal species.
This problem has been felt particularly in a study of the relation between skuas and penguins in Antarctica which has necessitated the grouping of sparse data over several days. For convenience five-day runs were selected, giving fair numbers of observations in each interval and providing a mid point for recording the mean and variance. In a single year the start of this grouping series can be located at any convenient date, perhaps at the first observation, but difficulties arise when several years are to be compared. Where, then, should the first interval grouping be begun? At the first of all the observations; about the obvious groupings of records, allowing conscious bias; or simply at a selected fixed point, say November 1? If the latter, then what happens if later studies provide even earlier observations; or work on other species with an earlier cycle is to be compared? To overcome these problems a five-day week calendar has been devised (not for the first time one imagines), beginning on June 24. Starting at this date (instead of the actual shortest day) brings November 1, December 1 and March 1 to the start of week periods; giving the closest correspondence possible to the common calendar. No allowance is made for variation in the length of February so that on leap years the last week in this month has six days.
Using this calendar, observations are assigned to the five-day interval in which they occur. Unconscious biassing of results is prevented and the problem of where to begin grouping is obviated.
This calendar has advantages over the simpler one which breaks each month up into six five-day weeks irrespective of actual month length, in having only a single variable week, in February.
Similar tables can be worked out for seven-day weeks. One beginning on June 20 brings July 1 and April 1 to the start of a week interval; the best that can be managed in this system to relate it to the common calendar. Shorter intervals, say three-day periods which are also commonly used, are less likely to cause problems of data grouping.
It is not intended that this system should replace the normal calendar in the present studies except for the special situation
Five-Day Week Calendar
outlined above. The difficulty of needing continually to relate these ‘weeks’ to those of the calendar months argues against its widespread use in descriptive work except where grouping of data is required.
Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Brisbane
Although mites are common parasites of the nasal passages of birds, only one species is known from New Zealand: Ptilonyssus euroturdi, see Ramsay (1970). I am therefore grateful to Mr.
Ornithonyssus sylviarum (Canestrini and Fanzago): 2 females from a blackbird, Turdus merula, Featherston, 3.i.1971, J. D. Tenquist. This species is normally an ectoparasite (Domrow, 1969: 404).
Tinaminyssus melloi (de Castro): 2 males, 1 deutonymph (enclosing a developing female), and 3 protonymphs from a pigeon, Columba livia, Christchurch, 5.x.1970.
Tinaminyssus halcyonus (Domrow): 3 females and 2 protonymphs from kingfishers, Halcyon sancta, Rotorua, 5.v.1970, C. Brown, and W.A.R.C., Wellington, v.1970, R. Solly.
Rallinyssus gallinulae Fain: many specimens from pukekos, Porphyrio melanotus, Lake Rotokare, New Plymouth, 10.iv.1969, Wildlife Division, and Otaki, 10.viii.1969, Police Department.
Rhinonyssus rhinolethrum (Trouessart): 1 protonymph from a duck, Anas superciliosa, Wairarapa, 26.v.1970, J.D.T.
Ptilonyssus emberizae Fain: 1 female and 1 male from yellow hammers, Emberiza citrinella, W.A.R.C., v and 10.vi.1970, R. S. and
Ptilonyssus cractici Domrow: many specimens from magpies, Gymnorhina hypoleuca,* 15.iii, 11.v, and ?iv.1970, A.H. and R.S.
Ptilonyssus euroturdi Fain and Hyland: 1 female from T. merula,* W.A.R.C., v.1970, and 1 female from a song thrush, T. philomelus, W.A.R.C., 11.v.1970, R.S.
Turbinoptes strandtmanni Boyd: many specimens from a gull, Larus dominicanus, W.A.R.C., 13.viii.1971, G. Kelly.
Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W.93: 297-426.
N.Z. Ent.4: 93-94.
56 Church Road, Taradale
Recently the French anatomist Robineau (1968) drew attention to the existence of a third occipital condyle in a skull of the Beaked Whale Mesoplodon bidens (Sowerby, 1804). That condyle, the remainder of the pro-atlas hypocentrum, was among the Mammalia known only in a few primates. In the skull of M. bidens the very small third occipital condyle was functional, viz. it articulated with the ventral part of the atlas. The French scientist also mentioned a skull of Mesoplodon densirostris (de Blainville, 1817) in which a still smaller and non-functional third condyle was present.
On February 13, 1971, a full-grown female Strap-tooth Whale, Mesoplodon layardii (Gray, 1865), (total length 554 cm.), was stranded on the beach at East Clive near Napier, New Zealand. When the skull of this animal was cleaned, a small but functional third occipital condyle was observed (see fig. 1). The following day, another Beaked Whale was stranded on the Haumoana Beach near Napier. This was found to be an adult female specimen of Mesoplodon grayi von Haast, 1876 (total length 498 cm.); the skull of this specimen also showed a third occipital condyle (see fig. 1).
Although the number of observations is still much too small for any definite inference, nevertheless the general impression is that the anomalous condylus tertius is not extremely rare in specimens of the genus Mesoplodon, as it has now been found in the skulls of four different species.
Figure 1: Third condyles ventrally between the occipital condyles of
Mesoplodon layardii (at right) and of Mesoplodon grayi (at left). Distance between outer limits of the condyles in M. layardi 126 mm.
condylus tertius) sur un crâne de
Mesoplodon bidens Sow.(Cétacés, Ziphiidés).— Mammalia 32: 222-224, 1 pl.
Flora of New Zealand, Vol. II
Government Printer, Wellington, 1970. Price $4.50.
The First Volume of The Flora of New Zealand by
Although this second volume has only 354 pages to the 1085 of the first, the two books have about the same thickness as the very thin paper of the first volume has fortunately not been used on this occasion.
Nancy Adams has again provided a very attractive dust cover and a number of clear illustrations through the text. Similarly clear and attractive drawings by
The valuable ‘Annals of Taxonomic Research on New Zealand Tracheophyta’ has been continued with a subject index as a useful improvement.
A new section on chromosome numbers of New Zealand vascular plants has been included which brings together information formerly rather scattered through the literature.
A section missing from this volume is that comprising Latin diagnoses of new taxa. The latter appeared in a series of precursory papers.
In a letter to me an American botanist commented that the principal reason he greatly admired the first volume of The Flora of New Zealand was that the author was quite candid in recognising and describing innumerable problems, whereas most other floras simply conceal and gloss over such matters. I think the second volume deserves the same comment and a further respect in which it is superior to most other floras is the careful way in which the species descriptions have been formulated so that they can be compared point for point within a genus.
We look forward to the volume concerned with grasses and hope it will not be too long delayed.
J. Z. Young is Professor of Anatomy at the University of London and is well known as the author of a number of zoological texts. The present book might be regarded as a synthesis of all his previous works, centring on an understanding of man, but emphasising his unity with life as a whole. The latter point is brought out by a very broad approach to man through chapters devoted to the inorganic and organic constituents of life and to its origins and evolution. Man himself is considered from many aspects and particular attention is paid to present knowledge of the brain with the suggestion that as understanding of the brain's functioning increases the supposed differences between scientific induction and philosophical deduction will diminish and we will come nearer to solving the ‘riddle of the universe’.
This book will be of interest and value to a wide audience ranging from biologists to philosophers.
Comprehensive reports of multidisciplinary research and its global significance. History, biology, glaciology, climatology, conjugate phenomena, ocean dynamics, Gondwanaland. Louis O. Quam, editor. 39 contributions, 784 pp., illus., tables, index, 52 × 48 in. wall map. $24.95 ($19.95 to A.A.A.S. members). American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, D.C., 20005.
We regret the delay in publication of recent issues. This has been due to a temporary shortage of articles, but a number of manuscripts are now in hand or promised and it is hoped that future issues will appear with greater regularity.