


1913] CURRENT LITERATURE 507 
the mucors flourish better than in pure cultures. With other sources of carbon 
present amygdalin is more or less protected from the action of fungi, The 
influence of other factors, such as light, metal salts, and osmotic pressure on the 
hydrolysis of amygdalin by fungi is also considered. Quantitative data are 
entirely absent from the paper. 
In a short paper HérissEy and LEBas? report that aucubine, the glucoside 
of Aucuba Japonica, is hydrolyzed by Aspergillus niger in acid solution and 
more slowly in neutral solution. Fuller details as to the mode of hydrolysis 
are lacking. , 
KNupson” reports the results of a series of investigations on the hydrolysis 
of tannic acid by fungi. He finds that the substance is generally toxic in 
concentrations of 4-5 per cent. Of 23 species of fungi, representing mucors, 
ascomycetes, and basidiomycetes, only 3, Aspergillus niger, A. flavus, and a 
species of Penicillium, made good growth, ona 10 per cent solution. Aspergillus 
niger was originally described from material growing on tannic acid solution by 
VAN GHEM, who first observed that this organism and a species of Peni- 
cillium (“P. glaucum”) brought about the hydrolysis of tannin with the 
formation of gallic acid. KNUDSON studied the action of Aspergillus niger and 
a species of Penicillium probably different from that of VAN TIEGHEM, and 
finds that the Aspergillus is the more active in bringing about the hydrolysis of 
tannic acid. A part of the gallic acid formed is consumed by the fungi. The 
extent to which the acid is consumed depends on the presence of other more 
favorable food substances. In a synthetic culture solution containing tannic 
acid the gallic acid is consumed to a greater extent than in gall-nut infusions 
which contain other food substances. Ina 10 per cent sugar solution the gallic 
acid is left intact. The hydrolysis takes place also under anaerobic conditions, 
and under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions a part of the enzyme diffuses 
into the culture medium. 
Statements by PrincsHerm and ZEMPLEN that certain fungi (Rhizopus 
tonkinensis, Mucor javanicus, Penicillium purpurogenum, P. africanum, and P. 
brevicaule) not possessing invertase are capable of utilizing cane sugar have led 
TTER to reinvestigate the behavior of a number of fungi in relation to their 
capacity for utilizing that sugar. His results are in accord with the general 
proposition that in fungi, as well as in higher plants and in animals, cane sugar 
is not capable of direct assimilation, but can be utilized only by those organisms 
Producing invertase. Among the fungi which Rirrer™ tested, Mucor spinosus, 
M. javanicus, Thammidium elegans, Rhizopus nigricans, and R. tonkinensis 

° Hérissey, H., et Lesas, C., Utilization de l’aucubine par L Aspergillus niger V. 
Tgh. Compt. Rend. Soc. Biol. Paris 70:846-848. IQII. | 
* Knupson, L., Tannic acid fermentation I. Jour. Biol. Chem. 24:1597 
1913. 
_ “Rirrer, G. E., Uber das Verhiltnis der Schimmelpilze zum Rohrzuoker. 
Biochem, Zeitschr. 42:1-6, 1912. 
184. 
