THE INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE ON THE RATE OF GROWTH OF SPOROTRICHUM CARNIS, FROM -io°C. TO +3o°C

THIS mould is of frequent occurrence on stored carcases and in cold stores. The lean portions of carcases which have been kept for eight or ten weeks below zero centigrade but above — io° C. are frequently covered with mould growth. No such growth has been so far observed on carcases stored at — 20° C. Brooks and Hansford, in reviewing mould growth on cold-store meat, found that some strains of Cladosporium herbarum developed and grew at — 6° C. (Brooks and Hansford, 1923). They also suggested that other moulds including Sporotrichum, would probably grow between o° C. and — 6° C. It is therefore of interest to attempt to determine the precise growth limits of this mould. Two cases have to be investigated : the influence of temperature upon growth per se, and also the effect of physical changes in the medium consequent upon freezing. The present communication is concerned with the first of these only, all measurements below zero having been made on supercooled media: i.e. media cooled below their freezing-points but from which ice crystals had not separated.