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296 ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 
ing to note that although we have every reason to believe that 
cytase is present in timber-decay organisms yet its presence has 
been demonstrated only indirectly by cytological methods. 
It is true, however, that many of the investigators mentioned 
above who found no cytase used the sporophores in their 
experiments and not the mycelium. 
Тһе status of the subject of the enzymes concerned in the 
metabolism of parasitie fungi is given in Reed's recent publica- 
tion (42), which concerns itself with the enzymes produced by 
the parasitic fungus Glomerella rufomaculans. This author has 
proved that the parasite produces many of the enzymes that 
had previously been reported for saprophytes, and by quan- 
titative methods has demonstrated different enzymes acting 
on the several classes of nutritive substances, such as carbo- 
hydrates, glucosides, fats, and proteins. He did not, however, 
investigate the cytolytic activity of the fungus but states that 
the nature of the diseased host would indicate that cytase very 
probably is not produced by this fungus. Peltier (41), as a re- 
sult of his investigations with Botrytis Fuckeliana, finds that 
the host cells are killed in advance of the fungous penetra- 
tion, and that the parasite secretes a thermo-stable toxic sub- 
stance, but, unlike Smith, finds no oxalic acid. Тһе method 
of testing for oxalic acid unfortunately is not given. 
The action of bacteria on cellulose and other plant products 
has been extensively studied by a number of investigators, but 
for the purpose at hand it will suffice to cite some of the more 
recent publications in which the earlier literature is reviewed. 
The work of Jones (29, 30), which gives a good resumé of the 
early work on this subject, is reviewed below under the dis- 
cussion of pectin. 
McBeth and Scales (38) report that а number of bacteria and 
fungi hydrolyze cellulose and claim that filamentous fungi play 
a very important róle in the destruction of cellulose in soils. 
Тһе cellulose-destroying fungi, according to these authors, act 
differently toward different kinds of cellulose, but their experi- 
ments do not seem to support this conclusion. Kellerman and 
McBeth (32) have also contributed to our knowledge of the cyto- 
lytie activity of fungi. Kellerman (31) has employed a method 
