Dr. Axel Preyer oa 
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° C.): The spores are 
very small, and fill the cells in large quanti- 
ties. S. ¢heobrome 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, z.e., the cotyledons, can become affected 
through the outer fermentation of the pulp. 
