144 Physiologie. — Algae. 



SUSUKI, S., Can potassium ierrocyanide exert astimu- 

 lating action on plant s? (Bulletin of the College oi 

 Agriculture. Tokyo. Vol. Y. No. 4.) 



Wie Verf. früher beobachtete, ist Ferrocyankalium ein sehr 

 starkes Gift für Phanerogamen. Wird es jedoch in kleinen 

 Dosen (0,1 g pro Kilo Boden) dem Boden einverleibt, so kann 

 es auch wachsthumsfördernd wirken. Doch bleibt es noch 

 unentschieden, ob hier nicht etvv^a lediglich Zersetzungsproducte 

 desselben (NHs und K2 CO3) gewirkt haben. Loew. 



VlNES, S. H., Proteolytic enzymes in Plant s. (Annais of 

 Botany. june 1903.) 



The author now publishes a continuation of his researches 

 on the distribution of these bodies, in which he indicates still 

 more fully their wide-spread occurrence. He takes the opportu- 

 nily of discussing in the light of his own experiments the work 

 published by Buscalioni and Fenni in 1898, which was 

 carried out on gelatine instead of proteids. Certain discrepencies 

 between the results of the two sets of experiments drew his 

 attention to the question of the antiseptics employed in the 

 two cases and led to definite researches into the specific influences 

 of hydrocyanic acid, Chloroform, and fluoride of sodium. He 

 concludes that with papain in faintly acid Solution proteolysis 

 is most marked in the presence of hydrocyanic acid while it 

 is hardly perceptible in Solutions containing fluoride of sodium. 

 The antiseptics were found further to have more influence on 

 the proteolytic than on the peptonising effect of the enzyme 

 when it was made to act on fibrin. With bromelin a different 

 result was obtained, proteolysis being most active in the pre- 

 sence of sodic fluoride and least so in that of hydrocyanic acid. 



Reynolds Green. 



Butters, Fred. K., Observations on Trichogloea liibrica. 



(Minnesota Botanical Studies. Vol. III. March 21, 1903. 



p. 11—21. pl. 5—6.) 



Preserved materiai from the Hawaiian Islands was 

 examined by various methods. A study of the minute structure 

 of the vegetative tract showed that the frond consists of a 

 meduUary portion and a cortical layer. The former is made 

 up of two types of filaments, the larger primary ones which 

 give rise to the other parts of the frond by lateral branching, 

 and smaller filaments of nearly uniform diameter and more 

 dense contents, The cortical area is made up of a complex 

 System of branched filaments in the inner areal and a surface 

 layer of simple moniliform tubes. The development of this 

 region is described in detail, it being shown that at the growing 

 point the large primary filaments of the medullary region is 

 surrounded by a cortex of simple filaments. This primary 



