ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 289 



and Penicillium were able to germinate at 0° C. but growth was very 

 slow. Other fungi tested: Thielaviopsis paradox, Rhizopus nigricans, 

 Glomerella rufomaculans and Cephaloihecium rpseum did not develop 

 under 5° C. Except Rhizopus, none of them germinated above 36 C. 



The thermal death point of Rhizopus was found to be 60° C, of Penicil- 

 lium bS~ C. The practical results were the determining of the tempera- 

 ture necessary to prevent rotting due to these fungi. The author 

 describes the methods employed by her in the various tests. 



Fermentative Agents.* — A. C. Reavenall read a paper before the 

 Institute of Brewing dealing with the question of the yeast supply, 

 many tons of which are required daily in the making of bread. Yeast 

 is always produced in great quantities at the breweries, and one way of 

 utilizing it has been to dry it and use it as a cattle food. The writer 

 describes the many methods of cultivating yeasts, the materials on which 

 it may be grown with advantage, etc. He comments on the danger of 

 spoiling the yeast by the presence of lactic and butyric acid organisms, 

 and states that the growth of these can be inhibited by the previous 

 introduction of lactic acid into the fermenting tun. The importation 

 of yeast has been very large, but in recent years the output in this 

 country has very greatly increased. 



Enzymes of Aspergillus Oryzse.f — This species of Aspergillus is 

 employed in the preparation of Sake, and cultivated on rice yields Koji. 

 The author (J. Tabramine) of a paper on the subject has grown it on 

 wheat bran and calls the product TaTca-Tcoji, designed as a substitute for 

 malt in various fermentation industries. He describes the method of 

 manufacture. 



Notes on Chestnut Fungus.J — Caroline Rumbold has proved that 

 the chestuut fungus attacks the fruit, and the disease may be spread to 

 other areas by the nuts sold from infected regions. Nuts were collected 

 and kept in moist conditions, when the characteristic yellow mycelium 

 very quickly appeared. 



Roy G. Pierce § reports that specimens of the disease have been 

 gathered at two different localities in Nebraska. In one case, the dis- 

 ease was found to have girdled the main stem of a young tree, one of 

 600 which had been imported from Pennsylvania in the autumn of 1913. 

 Chestnut trees are not indigenous in Nebraska, but they are beginning 

 to be cultivated for the sake of the nuts. 



Diseases of Sweet Potato. || — L. L. Harter has investigated the 

 extent to which sweet potato is affected by several well-known diseases. 

 Stem rot, which is caused by Fusarium hyperoxysporum and /•'. bataiatis, 



* Journ. Inst. Brewing, xxi. (1915) pp. 97-110. 



t Chemical News, ex. (1911) pp. 215-18. See also Journ. Inst. Brewing, xxi. 

 (1915) pp. 117-19. 



t Phvtopathologv, v. (1915) pp. G4-5- 



§ Phytopathology, v. (1915) p. 74. 



I! Phytopathology, v. (1915) pp. 124-6. 



