The gluten of flour from grain damaged by the "tortoise bug" rapidly changes its aggregate condition without any noticeable increase of the free amino-groups. The disintegration of the gluten and of its components, glutenin and gliadin, which is connected only with a change of the aggregate state of the protein, is an enzymic process. The ferment, which is of an entirely new type, acts at both acid and alkaline reactions and is found in the seeds of wheat damaged by the "tortoise bug" and in the diastatic preparation from malt.