1 n a l VoL - 6 



JVJ4 ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 



of an electric fan. When thoroughly dry the material was 

 finely ground. 



Esterases 

 In the study of the esterases of these three fungi 



me 



acetate, ethyl acetate, ethyl butyrate, triacetin, and olive oil 

 emulsion were used as substrates. When esterases act upon 

 esters fatty acids are liberated, and thus the concentration of the 

 active acidity can be used as an index of the degree of enzyme 

 action. First, a determination was made of the hydrogen ion 

 concentration of the substrate. A similar determination was 

 also made of the substrate to which a certain amount of auto- 

 claved fungous meal had been added. These two determina- 

 tions did not always check, due to the introduction of certain 

 substances with the fungous meal and perhaps also to certain 

 buffer effects. The latter determination was taken as the con- 

 trol in each case and compared with a third determination made 

 of the substrate to which a similar amount of fungous meal had 

 been added and incubated twenty-one days. 



It was found that there was no apparent esterase activity of 

 any of the fungi on any of the substrates except methyl acetate 

 upon which a slight esterase activity was shown in the case of 

 Daedalea confragosa and Polyporus lucidus. These results are 

 similar to those found for Lenzites memaria.i 



Carbohydrases 



The action of carbohydrases was determined upon maltose, 

 lactose, sucrose, raffinose, potato starch, inulin, cellulose from 

 various sources, and hemicellulose. The amount of sugars 

 which reduce Fehling's solution in the enzyme cultures after 

 incubation was taken as the index of enzyme activity. Since 

 this study is merely to indicate the relative activity between 

 the different fungi on the different substrates the results are 

 given as the number of cc. of N/20 potassium permanganate 

 required to oxidize the dissolved copper oxide. The results in 



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been deducted 



1 Zeller, S. M., /. c. 



