264 PRINCIPLES OF SOIL MICROBIOLOGY 



disappear partly or entirely. De Bary 92 was the first, however, to 

 demonstrate that Botrytis vulgaris can decompose cellulose; actually 

 he established that this organism can dissolve the middle lamella, which 

 was not distinguished from cellulose by the older anatomists. Behrens 93 

 first used filter paper as a nutrient for fungi and established the fact 

 that Botrytis cinerea, Sclerotinia libertiana, Botrytis vulgaris, and a 

 pseudo-Dematophora were able to derive their energy from pure cellulose. 

 However, only about 10 per cent of the paper was decomposed, which 

 led Schellenberg 94 to suggest that only the impurities or hemicellulose-like 

 compounds were decomposed. 



Van Iterson 95 inoculated, with soil or humus, filter paper moistened 

 with a solution of 0.05 per cent ammonium nitrate and 0.5 per cent of 

 KH 2 P0 4 in tap water. He isolated 35 fungi including the genera 

 Sporotrichum, Chaetomium, Botrytis, Stachobotrys, Cladosporium, 

 Trichocladium, Mycogone, which are capable of decomposing cellulose. 

 Not more than 4 to 14 per cent of the paper was decomposed. These 

 results were subject to criticism, since tap water, which may contain 

 various impurities, was used. The comparatively small loss in the 

 weight of the cellulose was ascribed to the hemi celluloses present in the 

 cellulose source used. Fusarium vasinfectum and other species of 

 Fusarium were found 96 to transform as much as 50 to 80 per cent of the 

 cellulose, in the form of filter paper, into soluble forms; the medium used 

 consisted of 10 gm. of paper and 50 cc. of a synthetic solution (KN0 3 , 

 KH0PO4, MgS0 4 ) placed in Erlenmeyer flasks. As late as 1908, 

 however, both Schellenberg and Froehlich 97 claimed that, with the 

 possible exception of Botrytis, Fusarium and wood destroying fungi, 

 it has not been demonstrated as yet that fungi are capable of decom- 



92 de Bary, A. Uber einige Sclerotinien und Sclerotinienkrankheiten. Bot. 

 Ztg., 44: 377, 420. 1886. 



93 Behrens, J. Untersuchungen uber den Wurzelschimmel der Reben. 

 Centrbl. Bakt. II, 3: 584, 639, 743. 1897; also Ibid., 4: 514, 547, 577, 635, 700, 

 739, 770. 1898. 



94 Schellenberg, H. C. Untersuchungen liber das Verhalten einiger Pilze 

 gegen Hemizellulosen. Flora, 98: 257-308. 1908. 



95 van Iterson, C. Die Zersetzung von Cellulose durch aerobe Mikro- 

 organismen. Verslagen d. k. Akad. Wetensch., 9: 807-820. 1903; Centrbl. 

 Bakt. II, 11: 689-698. 1904; van Iterson, C. J. and Koning, C. J. La connais- 

 sance de la vie des champignons humicoles. Arch, neerland. 2 ser. 1904, 34. 



96 Appel, O. and Schikhorra. Beitrage zur Kenntnis der Fusarien und der von 

 ihnen hervorgerufenen Pflanzenkrankheiten. Arb. K. biol. Anst. Land. u. 

 Forstw., 5: 155-188. 1906. 



97 Froehlich, H. Stickstoffbindung durch einige auf abgestorbenen Pflanzen 

 haufige Hyphomyceten. Jahrb. wiss. Bot., 45: 256-302. 1908. 



