Dr. Axel Preyer 21 



nourishing liquid. The cells of the sediment 

 have a short, compact formation, and those 

 of the mycoderm skin are of very long cylin- 

 drical form, generally with rounded ends, the 

 latter variety being up to '032 mm. long. The 

 contents of the cells consist of plasma and 

 vacuols (vakuolen hollow spaces in the 

 protoplasm of a cell), and these are, in most 

 cases, easily discernible. In the long myco- 

 derm skin-cells three or four vacuols are 

 also to be found. With the withdrawal of 

 nourishment, Askospores form in eighteen to 

 twenty hours (in 25 G). The spores are 

 very small, and fill the cells in large quanti- 

 ties. S. theobromcz are found in Ceylon on 

 fermented cacao. A pure bacilli culture can 

 be made in a decoction of fermented cacao 

 beans. In raw sugar solution yeast is not 

 found, and no fermentation takes place, but 

 degenerate dwarf-shapes form, and finally die 

 off. In the cacao decoction the fungus begins 

 to form after one and a half to two days 

 (at 25 C), at first a white, later a grey, 

 mycoderm skin, which becomes light red on its 

 upper edge (on the walls of the test tubes). 

 The yeast germinates in cacao pulp of alcoholic 

 fermentation. 



Thus are explained a few facts about the 

 nature of cacao fermentation ; but it still 

 appears doubtful how the contents of the 

 seeds, i.e., the cotyledons, can become affected 

 through the outer fermentation of the pulp. 



