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BUD-FUNGI. 345

3. Saccharoniyces conglomeratus, on decaying grapes and at
the beo-'mnino; of wine-fermentation.
4. Saccharomyoes mycoderma (pellicle-fungus, Kalimpilz),
which forms a white, wrinkled coating on fermenting Hquids^
fruit-juices, etc. Cells 2 to 3/i thick and 6 to 20« long, forming
much-branched growths, which sometimes have been mistaken
for moulds. It very often appears in mixtures of bread and
saliva left standing for some time at 25° to 35° C, consumes
the acid, and imparts an etherous smell to the mixture, espe-
cially if brought under the surface by stirring.
Bud-fauffi are almost constant inmates of the oral ca\-ity. If
cultures from the acid food-particles present in dental cavities
be made on slightly acid or neutral gelatine, round, rapidly-
growing, opaque white colonies vnW. usually develop, which
under a low power (70 : 1) may readily be recognized as masses
of yeast-cells. These organisms being widely distributed in
nature, and finding their conditions of growth best fulfilled in
slightly acid or fermenting media, their occurrence in the
human mouth is not to be wondered at. Compared to bacteria,
the bud-fiino-i plav an insio--
^. ^ • . "- Fig. 124
niticant part m the oral cavity.
I resrard them as the most harm-
less of all mouth-parasites.
On examining a piece of
dentine which had been pre-
served in water for some time,
as well as two human teeth
which had been worn in the
mouth as pivot-teeth, I noticed Yeast-Fuxgi, probably Saccharomyces my-
coderma, penetrating solid dentine. 105 : 1.
the interesting fact that the
dentine had been perforated by a bud-fungus (Saccharomyces
mycoderma) (Fig. 124). I described this case in 1882, at the
time expressing the opinion that the fungus in question pro-
duced at its extremity an acid, " by means of which it perforates
or corrodes the hardest dental tissue."
Galippe noted a similar (perhaps the same) occurrence in the
teeth of an exhumed skeleton. He also thought it probable that
"these microbes secrete an acid,'" etc.