590 Marine Microbiology 



TABLE 1 



Species of Rhodophyceae which Contain Agarose 



Source 

 Gelidium amansii Japan (2) 



G. cartilagineum U. S. A. (7) 



Pterocladia lucida New Zealand (16) 



P. capillaceae 



Ahnfeldtia plicata U. S. S. R. (15) 



Gracilaria confervoides Australia (4) 



South Africa 



TABLE 2 



Species of Rhodophyceae which Contain k Carrageenan 



Source 



Chondrus crispus (British agar) England (11) 



Gigartina stellata 



Hypnea musciformis (Hypnea agar) U. S. A. (3) 



Furcellaria fastigiata (Danagar) Denmark (8) 



Alginic Acid 



Alginic acid was separated into two fractions (5); with a 

 high concentration of mannuronic acid in one fraction and 

 guhu-onic acid in the other. 

 Carrageenan 



This sulphated polysaccharide was fractionated with potas- 

 sium chloride into the k and A fractions (11). A third component 

 (10) may be present in tlie A fraction. 



Microorganisms 



In most studies on the utilization of these algal polysac- 

 charides, the object has been to isolate the bacteria which would 

 degrade either agar or alginic acid. This has led to two view- 

 points on the classification of these bacteria. 



Thj0tta and Kass (14) suggested that "the production of 

 alginase must be a rare property in bacteria -.-.- well fitted to 

 characterize a genus." The opposite viewpoint was expressed by 

 Humm (6). He described twenty species of agardigesters and of 

 these 70 per cent attacked alginic acid, 25 per cent attacked 

 chitin and 20 per cent attacked cellulose. All species utilized the 

 extract from Chondrus crispus (carrageenan) and none attacked 

 the extract from Gigartina acicularis. Preliminary evidence sug- 



