Four kinds of the simplified methods of preparing hydroxamic acid solutions for paper partition chromatography have been devised. The methods are as follows:
Method A.-A mixture of 2_??_50mg. esters, NH₂OH•HCl in absolute alcohol and sodium alcoholate is allowed to stand for 24 hours and after being acidified with HCl, it is filtered.
Method B. -A solution of 2_??_50mg. esters, NH₂OH•HCI and KOH in 94% ethanol is heated at 80_??_85° for ten minutes and filtered. The filtrate is evaporated to dryness. cooled. acidified with HCl-ethanol (1:2) and filtered again.
Method C. -When free acids are used, the esters are obtained by boiling the mixture of 5_??_70mg. acids, 94% ethanol and conc. H₂SO₄, at 80_??_85°C for thirty minutes and after neutralization, it is treated as in the method B.
Method D. -When salts of acids are used, 10_??_100mg salts are taken and treated just as the method C.

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Paper partition chromatography of hydroxamic acids using ferric chloride as a coloring reagent can be applied to the separation and identifiication not only of saturated fatty acids, but also of unsaturated and hydroxy-monocarboxylic acids as well as di- and tricarboxylic acids. Thirty-two hydroxamic acid derivatives of these aliphatic acids were synthesized by four methods of preparation, which were devised in the previous paper, and R_{_??_}. values of these hydroxamic acids were determined. Hydroxamic acid of polycarboxylic acid gives two or more spots on the paper chromatogram, each denoting a charactleristic shape. It may be considered to be due to the probable existence of several types of hydroxamic acids produced at the same time in the solution. The authors believe that this method will find wide and, important applications in the microanalyses of various organic acids.

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1. Phosphorylase activity can not be detected in the presence of a large amount of β-amylase. In such cases phosphorylase activity could be be detected nearly quantitatively using appropriate amounts of mercuric compounds to inhibit the β-amylase activity.
2. It wsa ascertained by means of the above procedure that phosphorylase was rather active in sweet potatoes.

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Phosphorylase activity could not be detected in sweet potato or barley extract where β-amylase activity was high. The mechnism of the inhibition of phosphorylase activity by β-amylase was found to be due to the destruction of added soluble starch as an activator by the action of β-amylase. To demonstrate directly the presence of phosphorylase in the sweet potato extract, it was attempted to purify phosphorylase from the sweet potato extract by means of ammonium sulphate. A preparation active in phosphorylase but with little β-amylase activity was obtained.

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Relationship between α-glucosidase (amyloglucosidase) of K. H. MEYER and amylosynthease was discussed. These two enzymes are very similar as to the action on the limit dextrin. Reaction products from limit dextrin and glutinous rice starch produced by these enzymes were tested by SCHOCH's butanol precipitation method, and were proved to be amylose-type polysaccharides. The authors are of the opinion that these two enzymes are identical and that their action consists in the breakdown of the branching points of α-glucosidic chains. The actions of amylosynthease upon the various polysaccharides of starch-series were also discussed.

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As a step to synthesize α- and β-sorigenin, the aglycons of the glycosides in the bark of Rhamnus japonica (Fig. 1), two analogous compounds, i. e. lactone of 3-hydroxymethyl-2-naphthoic acid and lactone of 4-hydroxy-3-hydroxymethyl-2-naphthoic acid, were synthesized from 2, 3-naph-thalene-dicarboxylic acid anhydride and 4-hydroxy-2-naphthoic acid, respectively.

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It is widely recognized that “Tane-Koji”, or a starter for black Koji making, consisting chiefly, of conidia of black Aspergilli, keeps not so well as those of yellow green Aspergilli or Asp. oryzae and Asp. sojae. The present research has been carried out to find out resistant strains for preservation of “Tane-Koji” among Kuro Koji (black Asp.) moulds.
About 14 years ago (from April .to July, 1935) one of the authors (K. SAKAGUCHI) collected 402 samples of Kuro-Koji or mouldy material for Awamori (a distilled wine from rice) and Imo-Shochtû (a distilled wine from sweet potato) making, of soils of the factories and of the fermenting mash, from the southern districts of Japan, such as Kagoshima and Miyazaki prefectures and Lûchû and Hachijo islands, and isolated from them about three hundred different strains of black Aspergilli and classified themt⁽¹⁾. From those samples which have been preserved in tin cans for these 14 years, the authors isolated the black Aspergiilli and other moulds in May, 1949.
(1) The isolated species, which have survived for so long a time, were A. Usamii (2 strains), A. Saitoi (28), A. Saitoi var. Kagoshimaensis (180) and A. awamori (40). While A. Inuii., A. aureus, and A. Nakazawai have not been found.
(2) The amylolytic powers and the rates of acid productivity of the newly isolated strains were compared with those which had practically been used in the above fermentation industries. And several strains belonging to A. Usamii and A. Saitoi var. Kagoshimaensis were found to be effective for the purpose.

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A convenient method, both in the point of economy and time, was devised by improving the two-dimensional method of the CONSDEN's paper partition chromatography (Fig. 1), and some practical conditions were studied on this improved method. The free amino acids in the potato tissue were detected by this method and the results were comparable with those of DENT et al. (Table 1).

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The free amino acids in 11 root crops were separated by the improved method of the paper partition chromatography which CONSDEN, GORDON and MARTIN reported in 1944. 11 root crops are as follows:
potato, sweet potato, taro, elephant foot, chinese yam, Jerusalem artichoke (wild and common), edible burdock, raddish, common turnip, carrot, and ginger.
Many free amino acids, the existence of which was not yet reported, were found in them, and it was confirmed that the kind and quantity of the free amino acids were considerably different in each of the root crops.

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Symbiotic nitrogen-fixing capacities of Crotalaria juncea, L. (I), Sesbania sesban, Merr. (II), and Mncuna capitata, Sw. (III) on the saline soils of Formosa were investigated. The results are summarized as follows: (1) The growth of these host plants, the nodule formation, and the percentage of total nitrogen in the hearvested plants are clearly affeckd by salts above 0.3% (as total salts). II. is more resistant to the injury by salts than I and III. (2) Before desalinizaton, infection of nodule bacteria and dressing of nutrients show no distinct effects on the nitrogenfixing capacities of leguminous plants, but after reclamation, they show obvious efficacies on those capacities. (3) It seems that nodule bacteria are more resistant to the injury by salts than the nodule formation.

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We have synthesized halfmercaptal and mercaptal by making mercaptan to react with several kinds of aldehydes which are supposed to be contained in soy not yet refined. The mercaptal which was synthesized from isovaleraldehyde has a flavor most closely resembling that of soy. Our attempt to obtain an aldehyde from kojic acid was unsuccessful.
The soy flavor is found to be of the following characters:
1. It is unstable against alkalies, but stable against acids.
2. It can form osazone.
3. It is adsorbed by animal charcoal, and its ether soluton (obtained by soaking in ether thus treated charcoal) absorbs Br₂.

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