374 A MANUAL OF THE PENICILLIA 



ciated with processes of spoilage or deterioration, nor that they are often 

 used as test species in microbiological investigations. Bisby, et al. (1933) 

 reported P. chrysogenum and P. terrestre to be common in butter and recom- 

 mended the addition of an increased amount of salt as a protective measure. 

 Groom and Panisset (1933) found P. chrysogenum to be the most prevalent 

 mold associated with "mildew" of book materials in the Public Records 

 Office in London. Swift (1931) reported P. meleagrinum to grow in the 

 fine cracks developing in painted pottery, producing an effect commonly 

 referred to as "crazed crockery." Semeniuk and Ball (1937) reported 

 P. chrysogenum and P. notatum to be common on meats in cold storage 

 lockers in Iowa. Panassenlvo and Tatarenlvo (1940) reported P. chryso- 

 genum and P. puheruhmi to be able to grow at unusually low temperatures, 

 hence to commonly occur upon meat and other foodstuffs in cold storage. 

 Nagel and Semeniuk (1947), investigating the molding of shelled corn, 

 found P. chrysogenum, Aspergillus niger, and A.fiavus to be the most active 

 decomposers of maize organic matter. 



Everitt and Sullivan (1940) studied the fungistatic and fungicidal action 

 of fifty organic sulphur compounds against Fleming's strain of Penicillium 

 notatum and several common molds. Mercaptobenzothiazole was the 

 most active compound tested, inhibiting the growth of all test strains at 

 50 to 100 p.p.m. Kampf and Nungester (1944) reported sodium azide in 

 high dilutions to inhibit the growth of P. notatum, A. niger, and other 

 molds. Gonzalez (1945) investigated the inhibitory effect of vitamin K 

 and two other quinones upon P. notatum. Ramon and Richou (1945) 

 found P. notatum able to grow in concentrations of formaldehyde sufficient 

 to inhibit most bacteria. Gustafson (1920) had earlier investigated the 

 effect of H-ion concentration on the respiration of P. chrysogenum. 



Members of the Penicillium chrysogenum series are fairly active bio- 

 chemically and produce a number of interesting metabolic products in 

 addition to penicillin. Birkinshaw and Raistrick (1931) reported P. chryso- 

 genum to produce some gluconic acid and mannitol. May, et al. (1934) 

 found a selected strain of the same species (Thom's No. 5034.11 = NRRL 

 811) to produce good yields of gluconic acid from glucose. When grown 

 submerged under three atmospheres air pressure, and with added CaCOs, 

 further improvements were realized and yields of 80-87 per cent (based on 

 the sugar consumed) were obtained in 8 days. In a separate paper, Moyer, 

 et al. (1936) discussed the nutrition of this mold and the influence of the 

 surface area to volume ratio in relation to gluconic acid production in 

 surface cultures. The addition of FeCls stimulated vegetative growth and 

 increased acid production when high-purity nutrients were used. Lenti 

 (1940) discussed the various steps in carbohydrate metabolism by a strain 

 of P. chrysogenum. More recently Wolf (1947) has carefully investigated 



