ENDOTHIA PIGMENTS 
337 
tical. They are found within the same areas, the United States and 
Japan, and on the same hosts, Castanea sp. Yet E. fluens is a sapro- 
phyte while E. parasitica is one of the most uniformly destructive 
fungous parasites known. This is perhaps the only case yet recorded 
of two closely related fungi, growing on the same host, one of which 
is a virulent parasite and the other a saprophyte. The tNO species 
grow readily and can be easily distinguished on artificial culture 
media. It is obvious that cultural or physiological differences between 
E. fluens and E. parasitica are of great interest. 
It was to study the production of the various colors in species of 
the genus that the work described in the present paper was taken up. 
Some attention has been paid to the coloring matter produced by 
E. parasitica. Pantanelli^ considers the pigment to be a lipochrome 
but records no experimental work in proof of this statement. Ander- 
son^ disagrees with Pantanelli on this point. He considers the pigment 
to be an aurine and quotes unpublished work by Mr. C. T. Thomas to 
substantiate his view. It was hoped in the present investigation to 
obtain more evidence on this disputed point. 
In taking up the study of the pigments various solvents were tried 
to see which was most favorable for the extraction of the pigment 
from the mycelium and the mass of rice upon which the fungi were 
grown. It was found that the coloring matter of all the species was 
soluble in ethyl alcohol, and a considerable portion of it readily 
soluble in ether. Accordingly extracts were made of the culture 
media and mycelium, with alcohol, at room temperature. The 
alcohol was evaporated and the residue extracted with ether. The 
ether extract was then filtered, the ether distilled and the pigments 
taken up in alcohol again. All tests were made in alcoholic solution 
unless otherwise noted. The coloring matter was found to be yellow 
when acidified with either hydrochloric, sulphuric, nitric, phosphoric, 
or acetic acids. When the acid solution was treated with dilute 
alkali, sodium, potassium or ammonium hydroxides, or sodium or 
potassium carbonates, it became a deep red. Apparently all the fungi 
elaborated pigments which were bright yellow when acidified and red 
when made alkaline. While the alcoholic extracts from all the fungi 
^ Pantanelli, E, Sul parassitismo di Diaporthe parasitica Murr. per il Castagno. 
Rendiconti della R. Accademia dei Lincei, Classe di Scienze, Fisiche, Matematiche 
e Nati*rali. V. 20: 366-372, 191 1. 
^ Anderson, P. J. The morphology and life history of the chestnut-blight fungus. 
Bull. Penn. Chestnut Tree Blight Comm. 7: 1-43, 1913. 
