xii, a. 2 Brill, Parker, and Yates: Copra and Coconut Oil 



65 



covers a piece of coconut meat 10 centimeters in diameter with 

 a tangled mass of aerial mycelium, which may attain a height 

 of from 3 to 5 centimeters and which is specked with small black 

 sporangia. The aerial mycelium collapses upon the slightest 

 drying. The spores germinate in about six hours in a hanging 

 drop of coconut decoction. Although this mold grows rapidly 

 and destroys a high percentage of the oil in the meat, it is prob- 

 ably the least important of the four molds considered in this 

 paper. It grows only upon fresh meat, and hence its growth 

 is checked and the plant killed almost as soon as drying com- 

 mences. Rhizopus can rarely make any considerable growth, 

 since the meat is usually treated or placed on the grate and heat 

 applied within the period necessary for the germination of the 

 spore. 



Morphology. — Mycelium hyaline, young hyphse clear, older 

 ones filled with granular material. Filaments about 8 fx in dia- 

 meter. Sporophores arising in groups of two or three; stalk 

 about 0.8 to 1 millimeter in height, 10 /x in diameter. Sporan- 

 gium 100 to 140 fi in diameter, first globular, the wall later rup- 

 turing and folding back. Spores black in mass. The single 

 spore brownish, smooth, 7 to 9 by 4 to 5 ft. 



Oil loss caused by Rhizopus sp. {white mold). — Table VII 

 shows the oil loss due to white mold acting upon grated coconut 

 meat in a saturated atmosphere during a period of about ten 

 days. The experiment was performed and the oil loss calculated 

 as follows: Freshly grated meat from one coconut was divided 

 into several samples of approximately 10 grams each and ac- 

 curately weighed into separate tared extraction thimbles. The 

 original total oil of the several samples was calculated from 

 the average analysis of two of the samples, and the remaining 

 tubes and contents were sterilized and inoculated with spores 

 of Rhizopus sp. After the mold had been allowed to act for a 

 period of ten days, the thimbles were extracted with chloroform, 

 and the loss in oil was calculated from the original total oil 

 content and the total oil remaining after mold action. 



Table VII. — Oil loss due to the action of Rhizopus {white mold). 



Sample No. 





Total oil in copra. 







Acidity 

 as oleic. 



of 

 copra. 



Before 

 mold ac- 

 tion. 



After 

 mold ac- 

 tion. 



Lobb of oil. 





O. 

 4.7734 

 6. 1445 

 6.3562 



(7. 



1.4749 

 1.9646 



O. 

 0.8392 



g. 

 0.6357 



Per cent. 

 43.1 



Per cent. 

 21.0 





















