On the Germination and Growth of Fungi at various 
Temperatures and in various Concentrations of 
Oxygen and of Carbon Dioxide. 
BY 
WILLIAM BROWN, M.A., D.Sc. 
(From the Department of Plant Physiology and Pathology , Imperial College of 
Science and Technology , London .) 
With four Figures in the Text. 
Introductory. 
T HE present investigation was carried out under the auspices of the 
Food Investigation Board of the Scientific and Industrial Research 
Department, and had for its object the examination of the behaviour of 
fungi under the conditions prevailing in the practice of fruit storage. There 
are two methods of storage, known respectively as ‘ cold storage * and ‘ gas 
storage *, the former of which is now widely established in practice, while the 
latter is still in an experimental stage. As the scope of this investigation 
was to a large extent determined by considerations of a practical nature, 
a brief account of these two methods may appropriately be given here. 
In the ordinary method of cold-storing fruits, where the fruit is 
subsequently to be used for general household purposes (and not, for 
example, for wholesale jam manufacture), a temperature of less than o° C. 
or thereby is not admissible. In actual practice a temperature of 2-3 0 C. 
is the lowest usually considered safe. No attempt was therefore made to 
test the behaviour of fungi at temperatures below this limit, and in fact, 
except for a few experiments, a temperature of 5 0 C. was the lowest 
employed. 
The gas storage method is based on the retarding action of carbon 
dioxide on metabolic processes, so that the retarding effect of a lowering 
of temperature in ordinary cold storage is replaced or augmented by that 
due to a certain concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of the 
store. In practice the carbon dioxide is derived from the respiration of 
the fruit itself (the concentration being maintained at a steady level by 
special devices). In view of the fact that the concentration of oxygen in 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. XXXVI, No. CXLII. April, 1922.J 
