110 Scientific Proceedings (126) 



ethyl alcohol and C0 2 are the main products of the action of the 

 organism on the glucose. This suggests an analogy to yeast fer- 

 mentation. In the conventional equation for yeast fermentation, 

 the carbon in the alcohol and in the CO- 2 is in the ratio of 66.33 ; 

 in the present data it is in the ratio of 62.35, which is a good 

 agreement considering the fact that alcohol is consumed by 

 Fusarium lini, as will be mentioned below. The other by-prod- 

 ucts of yeast fermentation, such as glycerol, acetone, and succinic 

 acid, have not been identified in the present study, with the ex- 

 ception of one instance where succinic acid was found in small 

 amounts. It is interesting to note that the quantity of alcohol 

 increases until the glucose is gone, and that the fungus continues 

 to grow at the expense of the alcohol, using it for growth and 

 metabolism. The change in P H of the medium is rather marked, 

 and it appears to be due to a selective absorption of ions rather 

 than to a production of organic acid. The lead precipitate is 

 practically negligible and cannot account for any appreciable 

 amount of succinic acid. 



The same experiment was performed starting with media at 

 a P H of 3.685 and 8.960. The results were not essentially differ- 

 ent from those here reported. 



To prove more definitely that Fusarium lini can utilize ethyl 

 alcohol as an only source of carbon, a series has been run in 

 which increasing amounts of ethyl alcohol have been the only 

 source of carbon. Good growth has been observed on cultures 

 containing 4.04 per cent, of ethyl alcohol by volume. There was 

 no growth on a culture containing 5.38 per cent, of alcohol. The 

 best growth occurred where there was about 2 per cent, of alcohol. 



We may conclude from the above study that Fusarium lini 

 produces ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide as the main by-prod- 

 ucts of metabolism when grown on glucose media, and that in 

 the absence of glucose it can utilize the alcohol for metabolism 

 and growth. 



