ss 



K. ASc. 



sodium hydrate and filtering-, the quantity of sugar was deter- 

 mined as dextrose by Allihn's method, and I obtained 20.017% 

 of it in the dr)' matter. 



To see how much sugar is contained in the alcoholic ex- 

 tract, I extracted the spores with alcohol {93%) and the 

 evaporation-residue was dissolved in water, and after boiling 

 this for about three hours with dilute hydrochloric acid (about 

 2 -5%), tlie quantity of sugar was determined by the above- 

 mentioned method. Here I obtained 6.225% sugar as dextrose 

 in the dry matter. 



The difference between these two quantities perhaps cor- 

 responds to that of the carbohydrates, which are soluble in hot 

 water under some pressure and insoluble in boiling alcohol. 

 Cramer ( ° determined carbohydrates in the spores of Penicillium 

 glaucum under the name of starch by inverting the carbohyd- 

 rates with dilute sulphuric acid, but he did not investigate their 

 properties. Marschall (2) determined starch in the mycelium of 

 some fungi by converting it into glucose with an acid, but he 

 could not obtain any positive proof of its presence. It appeared 

 to me of some interest to investigate the carbohvdrates in the 

 spores of Aspergillus oryzae. I tested the spores as well as 

 the mycelium of the fungus with iodine solution under the 

 microscope ; no blue, but the characteristic dark brown colour 

 for glycogen was observed. It is then clear that the spores as 

 well as the mycellium contained no starch, but glycogen. 

 Indeed, starch has never been found in fungi, while glycogen is 

 spread widely among them. 



When the alcoholic extract was left for some days, some 

 tabular crystals were obtained besides the needle-shaped 

 crystals of mannit. They were rhombic prisms, colourless and 

 transparent, carbonized on heating and left no ash on ignition. 

 It was sweet, without smell, insoluble in ether and chloroform, 

 nearly so in cold alcohol, soluble in hot alcohol, easily so in 

 water, melted at ioo° C, even in a strongly boiling water bath, (3) 

 and solidified to a glassy mass on cooling. Its aqueous solution 

 was neutral and could reduce Fehling's solution only after 



(1) Centralbl. f. Bak. II. Abtheilung, Bd. I. 



(2) Archiv f. Hygiene Bd. XXVIII. 1896. 



(3) The temperature in this was about 99. 0 8 C. 



