The Enzymes of Polyp orus squamosus, Huds. 
BY 
A. H. REGINALD BULLER, D.Sc., Ph.D., 
Professor of Botany at the University of Manitoba. 
F ROM an anatomical study of wood undergoing decay through the 
agency of Polyporus squamosus , evidence was obtained that various 
enzymes are excreted by the Fungus 1 . Thus the disappearance of starch, 
proteids, and cellulose from the wood suggests that the mycelium produces 
amylolytic, proteolytic, and cytolytic enzymes. The experiments recorded 
in this paper were made partly with the object of supplementing these 
anatomical observations, and partly in order to increase our knowledge 
of the occurrence of enzymes in the Hymenomycetes. A number of in- 
vestigations upon the enzymes of Psalliota , Russula , Boletus , &c., have 
been made by various observers 2 , but little is known about those of the 
large tree-Fungi. Most of the latter belong to the genus Polyporus. Many 
of them are unsuitable for enzyme investigations owing to the tough or 
woody nature of their tissues. This, however, is not the case with Polypomts 
sulphureus and Polyporus squamosus. The former has bulky and very 
juicy fruit-bodies. Bourquelot and Herissey 3 have taken advantage of 
this fact, and have given us an account of the enzymes present in them. 
Polyporus squamosus is one of the largest and commonest of British 
Polyporei. Its ochraceous fruit-bodies, often a foot across and splashed 
with brown scales above, are frequently to be seen projecting in the form 
of brackets, either singly or several together, upon the Sycamore, the Horse- 
chestnut, the Elm, the Ash, and various other deciduous trees in woods, 
parks, and gardens. When the fruit-bodies are young they are soft and 
juicy, and an extract can be made from them with ease. This extract has 
been tested altogether for thirteen different enzymes. The investigation 
has afforded evidence that at least eight or nine are present in the fruit- 
bodies. 
Fresh young fruit-bodies were obtained, as required, from a tree at the 
1 Buller, Polyporus squamosus as a timber-destroying Fungus, Journ. of Econ. Biol., vol. i, 
No. 2 (in the press), 1906. 
2 For literature see Reynolds Green, Fermentation, Cambridge, 1899. 
3 Bourquelot et Herissey, Les ferments solubles de Polyporus sulphureus 7 Bull, de la Soc. 
Mycol. de France, t. x, 4 e fasc., 1895, p. 235. 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. XX. No. LXXVII. January, 1906.] 
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