1916] 
ZELLER—PHYSIOLOGY OF LENZITES SAEPIARIA 473 
It seems from experiments carried out by Kohnstamm (201) 
that the juice of Merulius lacrymans, expressed according to 
Buchner’s process, gave evidence of the existence of a true 
cellulase. He found, that after 50 hours of action of the ex- 
pressed juice on leaves of Elodea, there was a corrosion 
in the form of fine lines extending out from definite spots in 
the walls. These streaks soon became thin, and the walls 
appeared to be obliquely marked with alternate light and 
darker lines. He mentions that this corrosion in these definite 
lines, which are always in the same direction, is influenced 
apparently by the micellar structure of the cell walls. 
Buller ('06) attempted to prove the presence of cellulase 
in the sporophores of Polyporus squamosus in the following 
way: Thin sections of barley grains, which had been cleared 
of starch by means of the action of saliva, were placed in the 
fungous extract. No indication of cellulase was obtained, but 
owing to the disappearance of the cellulose from diseased 
wood, he assumed that the vegetative part of the fungus pro- 
duced abundant cellulase. 
In Falck’s (209, p. 156) discussion of the destruction of fir, 
pine, and spruce wood by means of Lenzites, he says that in 
the beginning of the destructive stages the lignin reactions 
are decreased, and in the last stages they have almost com- 
pletely disappeared, but that the reactions for cellulose are 
negative in all stages of decay. On the other hand, in dealing 
with the same fungus Spaulding (711) says that **phloro- 
glucin and hydrochlorie acid give a bright red in the rotted 
балақ ..... Chloriodid of zine gives a blue color only in 
part of the tissues in early stages of the disease, but in later 
ones it gives blue throughout.” This would seem to indicate 
that the fungus had disorganized the lignocellulose, but had 
left the free cellulose and most of the hadromal. 
Reed (713) grew Glomerella rufomaculans upon a nutrient 
solution containing strips of filter paper. There was con- 
siderably more growth in the flasks containing cellulose than 
in the controls. At the end of 2 months there was somewhat 
more than 3 times as much dry fungous matter in the regular 
as in the controls. The solution gave no tests for reducing 
