1919J 



SCHMITZ AND ZELLER — ENZYME ACTION IN CERTAIN FUNGI 195 



TABLE I 



SHOWING THE ACTION OF CARBOHYDRASES ON POLYPORUS LUCIDUS, 



ARMILLARIA MELLEA, AND DAEDALEA CONFRAGOSA 





Substrate 



P. lucidus 



A. mellea 



D. confragosa 



In- 

 cubation 

 period 



With 



fun- 

 gous 

 meal 



With 

 fun- 

 gous 

 meal 

 auto- 

 claved 



With- 

 out 

 fun- 

 gous 

 meal 



With 

 fun- 

 gous 

 meal 



With 



fun- 

 gous 

 meal 

 auto- 

 claved 



With 

 fun- 

 gous 

 meal 



With 



fun- 

 gous 

 meal 

 auto- 

 claved 







Number of 



cc. of — KMn0 4 



20 



14 days 



Maltose 



36.1 



1 



16.3 



13.1 



36.2 



16.3 



23.5 



14.7 



24 days 



Lactose 



31.7 



23.0 



18.8 



36.9 

 31.3 



26.0 

 2.3 



24.9 



19.3 



6 hours 



Sucrose 



27.5 



1.6 



1.0 



111 



0.3 



2 days 



Raffinose 



32.5 



5.2 



0.8 



12.5 



• 



25.3 



2.6 

 2.6 



12.5 



7.7 



0.6 



6 hours 



Potato 

 starch 



19.2 



6.1 



1.4 



• 



1.5 



2 days 



Inulin 



20.3 



4.9 



0.8 



15.4 



2.4 



7.8 



0.9 



28 days 



Ash 



cellulose 



5.6 



7 



0.3 



4.1 



0.5 



4.3 



1.8 



28 davs 



Fir 



cellulose 



5.8 



3 



0.2 



3.3 



0.4 



4.7 



0.4 



28 days 



Oak 



cellulose 



3.8 



0.2 



0.1 



3.6 



1 



3.1 



1.3 



28 days 



Hemi- 

 cellulose 



4.4 



0.3 



0.1 



2.9 



0.1 



3.2 



1.8 



. In g 



lucidus 

 with t] 

 Daedal 



eneral the 

 and Arm 

 tie possible 

 ea confragc 



carbo 

 rillarii 



exce] 

 )sa a] 



hydrate 

 i melle* 

 ption o: 

 Dproxirr. 



\ activit 

 a than 

 i raffim 

 lates i\ 



:y is { 



in I 



ise wl 



mt oi 



greater 

 ^aedalec 

 here th 

 - Armil 



in Po 



i con) 

 e acti 

 laria 



lyporus 



r ragosa, 



vity in 



mellea. 



The striking feature of the results is the evident presence of 

 lactase in the three fungi. This is the first record of the presence 

 of lactase in the higher fungi. 



In the study of cellulase pure cellulose was prepared from 

 Douglas fir, ash, and red oak, according to the method frequently 

 reported from this laboratory. Suspensions of these in doubly 



