30 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. VII, No. i 
out upon these fractions, a great variety of products are present in the 
aqueous solution. Glycerol derived from the hydrolysis of lipoid mate¬ 
rials was present in small amounts ; phloroglucinol and catechol or some 
very closely related substance were present in sufficient quantities to give 
all the usual tests (16), and the presence of other unknown com¬ 
pounds capable of reducing Fehling’s solution was not precluded. Pre¬ 
cipitation with normal lead acetate and the subsequent removal of the 
excess of lead with saturated sodium-sulphate solution removed tannin 
derivatives, but it is impossible to remove glycerol by any method of 
treatment which does not also cause some loss of sugars. The figures 
obtained therefore have a comparative rather than an absolute value; 
they indicate a reduction from 49.97 mgm., the quantity found in normal 
fruit, to 12.69 mgm. in totally decayed apples, a reduction of 74.61 per 
cent. 
The results of the determination of polysaccharids were distinctly sur¬ 
prising and effectually destroyed any preconceived ideas as to the utiliza¬ 
tion of these compounds in the metabolism of the fungus. The starch 
content of the normal apples was 0.321 gm., that of half-decayed fruits 
0.344 gm** all d that of wholly decayed fruits 0.318 gm. It was conse¬ 
quently evident that conversion of starch into simpler forms had not 
occurred under the conditions of the experiments. Since Reed (18) 
demonstrated the presence of a diastase capable of acting vigorously 
upon both com and arrowroot starch in enzym powders prepared by 
alcoholic extraction of apples completely rotted by Sphaeropsis malo - 
rum , while Thatcher (25) found no diastase in ripe sound apples, this 
point was subjected to further investigation. Microscopic examination 
of starch grains from completely decayed apples showed no discoverable 
erosion of the starch grains. Since this result might be due to inhibition 
of the secretion of diastase by the fungus in the presence of sugars, as 
Katz (8) found to be the case with several fungi, the senior author 
tested the diastatic activity of fresh extracts of pure cultures of Sphae¬ 
ropsis malorum grown upon a variety of media poor or lacking in sugar. 
In no case was there the slightest activity either upon com or apple 
starch. It would therefore appear that the amylase found by Reed was 
derived from the apple and not from the attacking fungus, and that the 
disagreement between the results of Reed and of Thatcher can be ex¬ 
plained only by the assumption that they were dealing with fruits of 
differing degrees of maturity. Hawkins (5) found that Fusarium oxy- 
sporum 9 F. radicicola , and F. coeruleum were unable to attack the 
starch of potato tubers, showing no action upon it even after one week, 
although extracts of these fungi rapidly digested soluble starch. The 
same investigator has shown (4) that in the case of the peach, rotting 
induced by Sclerotinia cinerea (Bon) Schroter produces only very slight 
decrease in the amount of alcohol-insoluble material capable of reducing 
