14.] 



ETHYL ALCOHOL 



49 



The moulds Mucor racemosus, M. sto- 

 lonifer, M. circinello'ides, M. spinosns', 

 M. erectus, Exoascus alnitorquus (Sade- 

 beck), Penicillium glaucum, and Rkizop^ls 

 nigricans are generally included among" 

 alcohol-producing fungi (Reess, ' Botan. 

 Untersuch. iiber die Alkoholgarungs- 

 pilze/ 1870; also J. R. Green's ' Fer- 

 mentation/ p. 325 et seq.). Mucor 

 spinosus and M. cirdnello'ides ferment 

 glucose (Gayon, Ann. Chim. [5] 14, 

 258 ; Comp. Rend. 86, 52 ; Bull. Soc. 

 [2] 31, 139; for earlier work on alco- 

 holic fermentation by Mucor racemosus 

 see Fitz, Ber. 6, 48 ; 8, 1540 ; 9, 1352 ; 

 1354; Brefeld, Ber. 7, 282). Mucor 

 mucedo, M. erectus, M. spinosus, M. 

 alternans, M. circinello'ides, and Rkizopus 

 nigricans cannot invert and ferment 

 saccharose; with the exception of the 

 latter they can all produce alcohol from 

 maltose and they all ferment dextrose 

 and laevulose. Mucor alternans fer- 

 ments trehalose, but not raffi nose. These 

 moulds cannot fermentgalactose directly, 

 but only after inversion (Lafar's ' Tech- 

 nical Mycology/ II, 81). M. racemosus 

 is the only one of these species of Mucor 

 that can invert and ferment saccharose 

 (for quantitative results see Emmerling, 

 Ber. 30, 454) ; the others ferment not 

 only glucose, but ' invert ' sugar and 

 maltose. M. erectus can produce alcohol 

 from dextrin (Hansen as quoted by 

 Jorgensen, ' Mikroorganismen/ &c. 

 126). Chinese yeast contains Mucor 

 (Amylomyces)rouxii (Calmette, Ann. Inst. 

 Past. 6,604), and this produces alcohol in 

 culture solutions of dextrose, d-f ructose, 

 galactose, trehalose, d-mannose, maltose, 

 dextrin, and a-methylglucoside, but not 

 from saccharose, lactose, xylose, arabinose, 

 rhamnose, tagatose, raffinose, melibiose, 

 /3-methylglucoside, or inulin (Sitnikoff 

 and Rommel,quoted by Lafar, ' Technical 

 Mycology/ II, 89 : see also ref. given 

 below and Wehmer, Centr. Bakter. II, 

 6, 353 ; for industrial use see Boidin 

 and Rolants, Abst. in Journ. Fed. Inst. 

 3, 445; Collette and Boidin, Ibid. 4, 

 43 2 5 675j 5, 128: for behaviour of 

 two other species of Amylomyces towards 

 various carbohydrates see Sitnikoff and 

 Rommel, Journ. Fed. Inst. 7, 112, from 

 Woch. Brau. 17, 621 : for technical pro- 



duction of alcohol by joint action of 

 Mucedince and yeast see Lafar's ' Tech- 

 nical Mycology/ II, 94 ; also Barbet, 

 Germ. Pat. 128173 of 1899 ; Ch. Centr. 

 1902, 1,444). 



Chinese yeast from Cambodia con- 

 tains Mucor cambodia, which produces 

 alcohol in saccharine solutions (Chrzascz, 

 Centr. Bakter. II, 7, 326). 



The ' koji ' ferment used for prepar- 

 ing rice wine ('sake') in China and 

 Japan (see also under dextrose [154]) 

 can produce alcohols from sugars (not 

 lactose). The ferment is said to con- 

 tain Eurotiitm (Aspergillus) oryzte (Lieb- 

 scher, Bied. Centr. 1881, 707) yeasts, 

 a red yeast, Penicillium glaucum, Mucor 

 stolonifer, a Torula, and a white mould - 

 fungus : the latter ferments saccharose, 

 raffinose, dextrose, maltose, and d-f ruc- 

 tose (all slightly), but not trehalose, 

 rhamnose, lactose, or melezitose. The 

 yeast (sake-yeast) ferments saccharose, 

 maltose, d-mannose, dextrose, d-fructose, 

 and methylglucoside (all readily) ; tre- 

 halose and d-galactose (less readily) ; and 

 not lactose or rhamnose (Kozai, Centr. 

 Bakter. II, 6, 385 et seq. : see also 

 Kellner, Mori, and Nagaoka, Zeit. 

 physiol. Ch. 14, 297). 



The ferment used in Java for pro- 

 ducing ' raggi ' saccharifies starch by 

 the mycelium of Chlamydomucor oryza, 

 and alcohol is produced by the fermen- 

 tation of the sugars by Manilla javanica 

 and Saccharomyces vordermanni, the other 

 constituents of the ferment (Went and 

 Prinsen Geerligs, Bot. Zeit. 1895, 143 ; 

 Sorel, Rev. Ch. Ind. 8, 13; Journ. 

 Fed. Inst. 3, 443). The Monilia can 

 ferment dextrose, Isevulose, maltose, 

 saccharose, and raffinose, but not lactose. 

 The Javan product contains also Mucor 

 javanicus, which produces alcohol from 

 cane sugar, glucose, and lactose (Weh- 

 mer, Centr. Bakter. II, 6, 610; Journ. 

 Fed. Inst. 7, 113). The Chlamydomucor 

 is accompanied by a mould, Mucor 

 clubius (? n. sp. ; Ibid. Centr. Bakter. II, 

 7, 313 ; Journ. Fed. Inst. 7, 493)- 



A Monilia resembling M. variabilis, 

 Lindner, contained among the organ- 

 isms concerned in the production of the 

 Japanese ' awamori ' can produce slight 

 fermentation in wort (Inui, Journ. Imp, 



