THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF THE SPORES. 93 



In 100 parts 

 of 



dry matter, 



Spores of 



Pollen-grains 

 of 



hazelnut. 



Soy-bean.* 



Aspergillus 

 oryzae. 



Penicillium 

 glaucum. 



Crude protein 



39.88 



28.44 



3I-63 



37-H 



N-free substances. 



54-97 



69.65 



64.36 



57-33 



Ash 



5-15 



1.91 



4.01 



5-56 



B. THE MINERAL CONSTITUENTS. 



1. Total ash. 



Though the quantity of ash in the spores of fungi depends 

 partly upon the medium in which they were cultivated, yet it 

 seems to me singular that such a great difference as is shown in 

 the following table should be found between the ash of Asper- 

 gillus oryzae and of Penicillium glaucum. 



Spores Mycelium 

 of of fungi. 



Aspergillus. Penicillium. In the average. 



In average. 



Ash in dry matter, 5.37% 1.91% 6.37% 



It will prove interesting to analyse many other kinds of 

 spores and deduce some general conclusion on this point. 



2. Ash Constituents. 



Marschall made a qualitative analysis of the ash of the 

 mycelium of fungi and found iron, phosphoric acid, chlorine, 

 sodium and potassium etc ; besides some other ingredients which 

 were not remarkable. I determined the ash ingredients of the 

 spores of Aspergillus oryzae quantitatively and found all com- 

 mon ingredients except manganese. 0) Very interesting was the 

 high percentage of oxide of iron found in this ash ; it is probably 

 present in the spores as a nuclein compound ; thus haematogen 



* This is the average composition of many sorts of soy-beans. 

 (1) I made a qualitative test for this. 



