528 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



but with these two exceptions the object has been so far as possible to 

 include every alga known to occur on the coast or in the coast country 

 from the latitude of Cape Flattery northward to the Arctic Ocean. 

 The authors include also the Aleutian Islands, the Pribilof Islands, and 

 St. Lawrence Island. A list is given of the existing collections from 

 this region, and another of the collections on which this list has been 

 largely founded — material brought together from all parts of the district 

 in question. The north-west coast is divided by the authors into four 

 well-marked regions : — the Boreal, the North Temperate, the North 

 Subtropical, and the Tropical ; and an interesting section, Geography, 

 deals with the reasons for thus dividing the district. In the systematic 

 part of this work, certain new species are described and one new genus 

 of Chsetangiacese, Wiidbeyella. An explanatory list of geographical 

 names is given, and the paper is illustrated by eleven plates. 



Marine Algae of Iceland.* — H. Jonsson continues his critical list 

 of these algas with a paper on the Pha3ophyceae of the island. One new 

 species is described, Ascoeyclus islandicus. The full notes which follow 

 the record of each species give much valuable information, which is 

 supplemented by 25 figures in the text. The first part of this work, 

 dealing with the Rhodophycere, was published in 11)01, in the same 

 journal. 



Fungi. 



Proteid Formation in Moulds.! — F. CzapekJ continues his re- 

 searches on nitrogen assimilation in plants. The present paper deals 

 with the utilisation of nitrates, organic nitro-derivatives, hydrazines, 

 oximes, cyanides and thiocyanates. 



Aspergillus niger assimilates the nitrogen of inorganic nitrates. 

 Nitro-methane was used, but there was not much growth ; methyl- 

 hydrazine gave good results, while phenyl-hydrazine was useless. Acetald- 

 oxime and acetoxime were not utilised. Sodium thiocyanate gave fair 

 results ; potassium ferrocyanide gave no growth at all, and potassium 

 ferricyanide and sodium nitroferricyanide very little. As regards sources 

 of carbon, the hexoses are the best. 



Rennet-like Enzyme from Yeast.§ — R. Rapp has shown that from 

 yeast can be extracted a ferment which curdles milk. As long ago as 

 1852 Heubner observed that milk could curdle without either the 

 addition of rennet or of an acid. This was shown later to be due to 

 the action of a bacterial enzyme, and now it has been shown that a 

 similar ferment can be obtained from yeast. The behaviour of the 

 enzyme under various conditions was investigated, and especially its 

 resistance to heat ; a temperature of 55-57° C. for 25 hours having no 

 effect upon its action. 



Helminthosporium macrocarpum.|| — F. Gueguen found this fungus 

 on a branch of maple. He made successful cultures and followed its 



* Bot. Tidssk., xxv. (1903) pp. 141-195. 



t Beitr. Chem. Physiol. Path., iii. (1902) pp. 47-3G. See Journ. Chem. Soc, 

 ixxxiv. (1903) ii. p. 16S. 



% See this Journal, 1902, p. 457, and 1903, p. 190. 

 § Centralbl. Bakt., ix. (1902) pp. 625-30. 

 , |1 Bull. Soc. Mycol. France, xix. (1903) pp. 5G-65 (2 pis.). 



