MONOVERTICILLATA 153 



materials undergoing slow decomposition or manufactured items rich in 

 starch or other plant products. Nowhere do they appear in great abun- 

 dance, and it is doubtful whether they exert any substantial effect upon 

 decomposition processes in nature. 



Penicillum javanicuvi van Beyma is capable of producing substantial 

 amounts of fat under proper conditions of culture, and it was studied rather 

 exhaustively from this point of view by a research group in the Bureau of 

 Chemistry headed by Herrick and May. Lockwood (1933) and Lockwood, 

 et at. (1934) reported maximum quantities of fat (up to 34.6%) in mycelia 

 produced upon media containing sugar concentrations of approximately 

 30 per cent; a higher ratio of fat to total weight of mycelium occurred in 

 media containing 40 per cent glucose, but the amount of mycelium de- 

 veloped was markedly reduced. Optimum salt concentrations were in- 

 vestigated and NH4NO3 was found to be the most suitable source of nitro- 

 gen. The fermentation was most efficient when conducted in shallow, 

 surface cultures. Increased air pressure was deleterious. The mold was 

 found to produce some citric acid from glucose, sucrose, and xylose. So- 

 dium oxalate w^as produced from the sodium salts of gluconic, citric, acetic, 

 malic, fumaric, succinic, and tartaric acids. Ward, et al. (1935) subse- 

 quently reported the successful employment of shallow aluminum pans 

 for carrying out this fermentation. They found the free acid content of 

 the fat obtained from mycelium grown upon 30 to 40 per cent glucose solu- 

 tions to be much higher than that of fat similarly derived from 20 per cent 

 glucose solutions upon which the mold made its maximum growth. In 

 addition to fat, the mycelium yielded a complex carbohydrate and a chiti- 

 nous substance. The composition of the fat produced by P. javanicmn 

 determined by Ward and Jamieson (1934) was found to contain oleic, 

 linoleic, palmitic, stearic, and tetracosanic acids. The fat produced was 

 reported to be entirely different from that earlier isolated by Browne (1906) 

 from an unidentified Citromyces. May and Ward (1934) reported that 

 the chitinous complex formed 17.4 per cent of the fat free tissue of the mold 

 mycelium. The degradation and chemical composition of this fraction was 

 investigated. 



Fat production by PenicilUum javanicum has been studied also by Gar- 

 oglio and Ciferri (1940), w^ho reported yield of fat up to 9 per cent based 

 upon the sugar consumed, and by Soeters (1941), who reported 5 to 6 per 

 cent yield. Yields obtained in both cases approximated those earlier re- 

 ported by Lockwood and co-workers, which, when calculated upon the 

 same bases, ranged from 6 to 8.15 per cent. 



Taufel, et al. (1937) discussed fat production by Cilromyces sp., a form 

 which may or may not be closely related to PenicilUum javanicum. 



PenicilUum ehrlichii Klebahn was reported by Ehrhch (1932), its dis- 



