MONOVERTICILLATA 109 



other wood products stored in constant or intermittently moist environ- 

 ments. There is httle evidence that the species is particularly significant, 

 but its ubiquity undoubtedly indicates some role in general processes of 

 decomposition. Examining the flora of forest soils and litter, Stapp and 

 Bortels (1935) found P. thomii to be abundant and to be especially active 

 in the decomposition of tannin. Kreutzfeldt-Plathe (1939a) found it to 

 seriously impair the quality of stored butter and in this connection con- 

 ducted a study of its metabolism under controlled conditions. Moore 

 (1941) reported it as causing a leaf blotch of a cultivated Cypripedium. 

 Karow, et al. (1944) reported the production of penicillic acid by P. 

 thomii. 



Penicillium sclerotiorum van Bejona is of special interest because of the 

 brilliant orange-red color of the mycelia that characteristically surround 

 the sclerotia of this species. The responsible pigment, designated sclero- 

 tiorine after the species name, was isolated by Curtin and Reilly (1940a 

 and 1940b) and has been intensively studied by these and other workers 

 at the University of Dublin. Sclerotiorine is a chlorine-containing com- 

 pound (C20H20O5CI) insoluble in water but soluble in most organic solvents, 

 which possesses the properties of an indicator, being wine red in NH4OH 

 solution and becoming golden yellow upon acidification with the end point 

 somewhat clouded. Pigment in yields of 2 per cent can be obtained by 

 extraction of the dried mycelium with petroleum ether, and crystallizes as 

 fine hair-like yellow needles. Reilly and Curtin (1943) demonstrated that 

 sclerotiorine production was not enhanced by increasing the amount of KCl 

 in the medium, nor did replacement of this salt with KBr or KI yield other 

 halide derivatives analogous with sclerotiorine. Pigment production is 

 reduced as the NaNOs is increased from 0.2 to 0.4 percent, the metabolism 

 of KCl being an inverse function of the nitrate concentration (Reilly, Long, 

 and Curtin, 1944). 



In addition to sclerotiorine, Penicillium sclerotiorum was found to produce 

 a polysaccharide, termed sclerotiose, which upon isolation was found to 

 represent a polyglucose (Albericci, Curtin, and Reilly, 1943). Maximum 

 yields were obtained in neutral media with acid substrates having a hy- 

 drolysing effect. Sclerotiose production is favored by a low nitrate content, 

 10 percent y\e\A being obtained in media containing 0.1 percent NaNOs 

 against 3 percent yields in media containing 0.2 percent NaNOs. 



Penicillium turhatujn Westling was reported by Florey, et al. (1944) 

 to produce a penicillin-like antibiotic. Quantitative data were not sup- 

 plied. 



No biochemical or physiological studies of Penicillium pusillum Smith 

 are known to us; or of P. lapidosum Raper and Fennell, aside from the 

 studies of Williams, et al. (1940) on the heat resistance of its sclerotia. 



