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passing through the ahmentary canal of higher animals, but it seems 
doubtful from the work of Seilliere^ and of Swartz that the digesting 
enzymes are secreted by the higher animals themselves. Seilliere 
attempted to show that the digestion of xylan by various animals 
was not carried out by the intestinal or pancreatic juices of these 
animals but by the bacteria present in the intestines. His work 
seems to be corroborated by the investigations of Swartz. Seilliere^ 
showed further, however, that the extracts of the digestive organs of 
snails hydrolyzed xylan, and later obtained similar results with other 
molluscs^ and also with the larvae of certain Coleoptera.^ 
The question of the utilization of pentoses and pentosans by 
plants, especially by fungi, has received some attention. Behrens^^ 
has shown that Botrytis vulgaris and some Penicilliums can utilize 
both arabinose and xylose as a source of carbon. Went^^ obtained 
good results when growing Monilia sitophila (Mont.) Sacc. upon xylose. 
Cross, Bevan and Smith, Schone and Tollens,^^ and Cross and 
Tollens^^ consider that the disappearance of pentoses in fermenting 
mixtures of sugars is due to the utilization of pentoses in the building 
up of the yeast plant. Kriiger^^ has recently shown that a species of 
Gloeosporium parasitic upon apple, which he calls Gloeosporium 
fructigenum germanicum, can utilize arabinose. Other writers have 
^ Seilliere, G. Sur la digestion de la xylane chez quelques mammiferes herbi- 
vores. Compt. Rend. See. Biol. 64: 941-943. 1908; Sur la digestion de la xylane 
chez les mammiferes. Compt. Rend. Soc. Biol. 66: 691-693. 1909. 
^ Seilliere, G. Sur la presence d'une diastase hydrolysant la xylane dans le 
sue gastro-intestinal de L'Escargot. Compt. Rend. Soc. Biol. 58: 409-410. 1905- 
^ Seilliere, G. Sur la presence de la xylanase chez differents Mollusques gastero 
podes. Compt. Rend. Soc. Biol. 59: 20-22. 1905. 
^ Seilliere, G. Sur une diastase hydrolysant la xylane dans le tube digestif de 
certaines larves de Coleopteres. Ibid. 58: 940-941. 1905, 
Behrens, J. Beitrage zur Kenntnis der Obstfaulnis. Centralbl. Bakter. und 
Parasit. Abt. II 4: 547-553- 1898. 
Went, F. A. F. C. Monilia sitophila (Mont.) Sacc, ein technischer Pilz 
Javas. Centralbl. Bakter. und Parasit. Abt. II 7: 591-598. 1901. 
^2 Cross, C. F., Bevan, E. J., and Smith, Claude. The Carbohydrates of Barley 
Straw. Journ. Chem. Soc. 73: 459-463. 1898. 
" Schone, A., und Tollens, B. iJeber die Garung der Pentosen. Journ. Landw. 
49: 29-40. 1 90 1. 
Cross, W. E., und Tollens, B. Versuche iiber das Verhalten der Pentosen 
in garenden Mischungen. Journ. Landw. 59: 419-428. 191 1. 
1^ Kriiger, Frederich. Beitrage zur Kenntniss einiger Gloeosporien I und II. 
Arbeit. Kaiserl. Biol. Anstalt Land und Forstwirt. 9: 233-323. 1913. - 
