[VoL. 3 
488 ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 
of decay shrinks and cracks. The cracks in the walls always 
follow the same general direction and seem to begin with the 
bordered pits. The slits are spiral in form and pass obliquely 
across the pits from left to right upwards. By changing the 
focus these lines are from right to left upwards on the farther 
wall of the tracheid. Von Schrenk ('00") also observed this 
in the tracheids of Taxodium distichum infected with **pecki- 
ness.’’ In the erosion of the cell walls of Elodea leaves, due 
to the action of an enzyme preparation from Merulius lacry- 
mans, Kohnstamm (’01) noticed that the action took place in 
definite lines. He is inclined to believe that this is due to the 
micellar structure of the cell walls. 
In general, the Lenzites decay is of the same type as that 
produced by Merulius lacrymans and reported on by Czapek 
(’99), but the hydrolysis of the cellulose is much more rapid 
in the former. In contrast to this type we have the other ex- 
treme represented by the pin rot of pine due to Trametes 
Pini, the white rot of cedar due to Polyporus juniperinus, and 
the rot of oak produced by Thelephora perdix. In this case, 
as mentioned before, all substances are used by the fungus 
with the exception of cellulose which is left as a pure white 
by-product. 
INULINASE 
Inulinase was discovered by Green (’88) in the Jerusalem 
artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus). It was first demonstrated 
in fungi by Bourquelot (’93) who found it in Aspergillus 
niger, but later with Hérissey (’95) did not find it in the sporo- 
phores of Polyporus sulphureus. Dean (’03) verified Bour- 
quelot’s work with Aspergillus niger and Penicillium glaucum 
and found inulinase to be an intracellular enzyme. Dox (710) 
reported that Penicillium Camemberti had slight action on 
inulin unless cultivated on a substrate containing inulin as the 
source of carbon. In this case inulinase was produced more 
abundantly. 
In our experiments with Lenzites the enzyme preparations 
from the mycelium and the sporophores were used. To 10 cc. 
of a 1 per cent solution of inulin 2 cc. of the enzyme dispersion 
were added and toluol used as an antiseptic. There was a 
