ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 625 



also on other plants. He found that invertin had a great power of 

 resisting the effect of alcohol. Another series of experiments was made 

 to test the effect of acids. 



Assimilation and other functions of the protoplasm were not hindered 

 by the presence of 1 p.c. of acid, but most enzymes were weakened if 

 not destroyed. 



Proteolytic Ferments.* — M. Javillier continues his researches on 

 the ferments present in the higher plants. He finds in the cell-sap of 

 the ivy and many other plants a casease which carries the digestion of 

 casein beyond the peptone to the acid-amide stage, quite comparable with 

 that which M. Duclaux has discovered in culture liquids of Tyrothrix. 

 The sap of the ivy also contains a gelatinase, that is to say, the enzyme 

 liquefying gelatin, which is so wide spread among microbes, yeasts, 

 moulds, and phanerogams, but which fails to digest coagulated egg- 

 albumin or fibrin, either in an alkaline, neutral, or acid medium. The 

 author's experiments, besides extending to the higher plants the exist- 

 ence of the casease which has hitherto been known for microbes and 

 fungi, denote for it an individuality comparable with that of trypsin, 

 reserving this name for the ferment which digests fibrin and egg- 

 albumin in a neutral or alkaline medium. They show further that 

 casease and gelatinase are two allied enzymes with parallel properties, or 

 are perhaps identical. 



The author finds also in the ivy the ferment discovered by Cohnheim 

 in the intestinal secretion of mammals, namely, erepsin, which while 

 unable to attack albumen or fibrin, transforms peptones and albumoses 

 into crystallisable products. 



General. 



Origin of Angiosperms.! — J. M. Coulter discusses the common or 

 independent origin of Monocotyledons and Dicotyledons, the conclusion 

 being reached that they are independent lines. In case the two groups 

 prove to have a common origin, evidence is advanced to show that the 

 Monocotyledons represent a specialised offshot from the Dicotyledons, 

 contrary to the recent general impression that the Monocotyledons are 

 the more primitive. The origin of Angiosperms from Gymnosperms is 

 shown to be untenable ; and even such heterosporous Pteridophytes as 

 Isoetes and SelagineUa are very improbable ancestral forms. The general 

 conclusion is reached that the Angiosperms have been directly derived 

 from the eusporangiate Ferns, the transition forms to the Mono- 

 cotyledons being unknown ; but the transition forms to Dicotyledons 

 being represented by the abundant and problematical " Proangiosperms " 

 of the early Cretaceous. 



Myrmecophily in Macaranga triloba 4— Winifred Smith suggests 

 the occurrence of myrmecophily, as a result of examination of limited 

 material brought from Singapore. The internodes of the young stem 

 are hollow, and in them were found adult ants with pupae and larvae. 



* Coroptes Eendus. cxxxvi. (1903) pp. 1013-5. 



t « Phylogeny of Angiosperms.' Keprint from the University of Chicago De- 

 cennial Publications, ser. 1, x. (1903) 6 pp. 4to. 

 J New Phytologist, ii. (1903) pp. 79-82 (2 pis.). 



