. [Vor. 1 
322 ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 
placed іп flasks and incubated for a week and found to be sterile, 
after which the flasks were inoculated with Sclerotinia cinerea. 
At the expiration of thirty-seven days these cultures were ana- 
lyzed and were found to contain the following amounts of oxalic 
acid per 50 сс. of the respective juices: 
Plum Шісе.................. 0.0019 grams of oxalie acid, 
Peach јиісе. ................ 0.0077 grams of oxalic acid, 
Peach juice. ................. 0.0094 grams of oxalic acid, 
emo No trace of oxalic acid. 
Plum and peach juices that had been sterilized by heat, thereby 
precipitating some of the contained proteinaceous material, 
were also used as culture media, and here, too, every culture 
containing the fungus gave a positive test for oxalic acid. 
For investigating the production of охаПс acid by the fungus 
in the unaltered fruit, lots of 500 grams each of peaches were 
disinfected with bichloride of mercury solution, inoculated 
respectively with Sclerotinia, Penicillium, and Aspergillus niger, 
and kept under sterile conditions until the fruits were decayed, 
or, in the case of the Penicillium and Aspergillus, until partially 
decayed. Тһе decayed fruits were then digested with hy- 
drochlorie acid and analyzed for their oxalic acid content with 
the following results: 
Peach inoculated with Penicillium ..No trace of oxalic acid, 
Peach inoculated with Aspergillus. ..No trace of oxalic acid, 
Peach inoculated with Sclerotinia сіпегеа.................. 
0.0087 grams of oxalic acid, 
Peach сопіто!.................... No trace of oxalic acid. 
The results of these experiments with oxalic acid show that 
Sclerotinia cinerea when grown either on fruit juices or on 
peaches produces more or less oxalic acid as a result of its meta- 
bolism. It is also significant that the other two fungi employed, 
namely, Aspergillus and Penicilliwm, which are not natural 
parasites on the plum or the peach, produced no oxalic acid 
under the conditions in which the experiments were carried out. 
SUMMARY 
1. The brown-rot organism will infect fruits which are im- 
mature, even penetrating those which are not more than half- 
grown or those in which the pits are still soft, provided the 
