ASYMMETRICA-VELUTINA 417 



(CnHzoOe) and four additional metabolic products having the following 

 empirical formulae: CgHeOe, C10H10O5, CioHioOe, and C10H10O7. The last 

 two acids were present in every instance; whereas CsHeOe and C10H10O5 

 were probably formed but were not detectable with certainty in all cases 

 because of the small yields. Mycophenolic acid, having the largest mole- 

 cule, was formed by only 12 strains. It was noted that freshly isolated 

 strains gave the highest yields of mycophenolic acid while those long main- 

 tained in culture tended to lose the capacity to produce this product while 

 retaining their ability to produce the smaller molecules. None of the 

 phenolic acids were produced by a strain of P. aurantio-griseum Dierckx 

 var. poznaniensis Zaleski, which Thom, because of the compact character 

 of its penicilli, had assigned to the P. hrevi-compadam series in 1930 (see 

 p. 496). Oxford and Raistrick (1932), investigating the product CsHeOe, 

 reported it to be 3 : 5-dihydroxyphthalic acid (M.P. 188-190°C.) and 

 hence constitutionally related to a large group of lichen acids. In the 

 following year, the same investigators (1933a) elucidated the molecular 

 constitution of the products C10H10O5, CioHioOe, and C10H10O7, and reported 

 these acids to be closely related to each other, to 3 : 5-dihydroxyphthalic 

 acid and to mycophenolic acid, and to divaricatic acid from lichens. The 

 molecular constitution of mycophenolic acid was considered in an accom- 

 panying paper by Clutterbuck and Raistrick (1933). In a fifth paper 

 Oxford and Raistrick (1933c) investigated the production of the different 

 phenolic acids by a strain of P. brevi-compadum . The yield of mycophe- 

 nolic acid increased throughout the incubation period of 56 days, although 

 50 per cent of the total was present at 8 days. C10H10O7 could not be 

 detected in early stages and 40 per cent of the total appeared after the 

 glucose was used up. GioHioOe increased rapidly to a maximum in 15 days, 

 after which it declined to zero at 56 days. CgHeOe, never present in large 

 amounts, increased steadily throughout the whole period, 60 per cent being 

 formed after the glucose was consumed. Finally, C10H10O5 was present in 

 very small amounts in the early stages of metabolism but absent after 22 

 days. No satisfactory explanation covering the initial steps in their forma- 

 tion from glucose was evolved. 



Investigating the mycelial constituents of Penicillium hrevi-compactum 

 and related species, Oxford and Raistrick (1933b) isolated ergosteryl palmi- 

 tate from all but one of 15 strains investigated. In most cases the yield of 

 recrystallized ergosteryl palmitate was of the order of 0.02 per cent of the 

 dry weight of the mycelium. In a single instance, viz., P. aurantio-griseum 

 Dierckx var. poznaniensis Zaleski (Cat. No. P69), the yield of purified ester 

 was as high as 0.5 per cent. This strain, it will be recalled, had failed to 

 produce the phenolic acids characteristic of other members of the series 

 (Clutterbuck, et al., 1932). The biochemical behavior of this mold be- 



