
508 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [DECEMBER 
made practically no growth on nutrient solutions containing cane sugar with 
potassium nitrate or ammonium tartrate as sources of nitrogen. Penicillium 
pur purogenum, which grew well on cane sugar, was found to contain invertase, 
contrary to the statement of PRINGSHEIM and ZEMPLEN. 
JEcoroFF,” studying the assimilability of phytin by mold fungi (Asper- 
gillus niger and Penicillium sp.), confirms the results of Dox, according to 
which that substance is hydrolyzed by the action of molds, the phosphorous 
radicle being utilized as a source of phosphorus by the fungi. Sterilization of 
nutrient solutions containing phytin does not in itself cause hydrolysis of the 
substance. In cultures containing peptone and cane sugar inorganic phos- 
phorus (potassium dihydrogen phosphate) gave a better yield than phytin, but 
in cultures containing only cane sugar or only glycerine as sources of carbon, 
phytin gave better yields than inorganic phosphorus. Peptone gave low yields 
with both phytin and potassium dihydrogen phosphate, the culture showing 
little difference in favor of either. 
a e work of a number of investigators has shown that urea, uric acid, 
hippuric acid, and glycocoll serve not only as sources of carbon and nitrogen for 
fungi, but also as sources of nitrogen for green plants. The availability of these 
compounds as nutrients for fungi has been further investigated by Kossow1cz’3 
with reference to the following fungi: Botrytis Bassiana, Penicillium crustaceum, 
P. brevicaule, Mucor Boidin, Cladosporium herbarum, ee pee 
aha glaucus, A. niger, Isaria farinosa, and a species of Fusisporium. 
ds that in cultures with cane sugar all the pats ak good Bie in 
cae containing urea or uric acid; Cladosporium herbarum failed to grow 
on solutions containing glycocoll; ahd Penicillium crustaceum, P. brevicaule, 
Aspergillus glaucus, and Cladosporium herbarum failed to grow on hippuric acid. 
In later experiments, however, in which dextrose or mannite were substituted 
for cane sugar, and the culture solution was somewhat modified as to its 
inorganic constituents, these four species also were able to utilize all of the 
compounds in question. The cause of this peculiar difference of behavior is 
not discussed. Some of these compounds served as sources of both carbon and 
nitrogen for certain of the fungi. Uric acid served thus for Aspergillus glaucus, 
Isaria farinosa, Penicillium glaucum, Mucor Boidin, Phytophthora infestans, 
and Botrytis Bassiana; hippuric acid for P. glaucum, A. niger, A. glaucus, I. 
Jarinosa, B. Bassiana, Ph. infestans, Cladosporium herbarum, and Fusisporium; 
and glycocoll for P. glaucum, C. herbarum, B. Bassiana, 1. farinosa, Ph. 
infestans, A. niger, A. glaucus, and M. Boidin 

* Jecororr, M. A., Uber das Verhalten von Schimmelpilzen (Aspergillus niger 
und Penicillium “crucstocandes zum Phytin. Zeitschr. Physiol. Chem. 82:231~242 
1912, 
* Kossowicz, A., Die Zersetzung von Harnstoff, Harnsiure, Hippursaure, und 
aa je Schinmelpilze. Zeitschr. Girungsphysiol. 1:60-62. 1912; 
2°51-54. 

