ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 169 



Compound Starch-grains.* — A. Peter describes the peculiar compound 

 starch-grains found in the endosperm of wheat, barley, and rye. They 

 readily break up into separate grains, and are not to be detected in the 

 dry seed. The number of separate grains of which a compound grain 

 is composed is usually from 20 to 25. They frequently exhibit two 

 peculiarities which have been observed also in ordinary grains, a reticu- 

 late surface, and crater-like depressions due to the commencement of 

 absorption. 



Anthophaein, a Brown Pigment of Flowers, f — Prof. M. Moebius 

 has isolated the colouring matter from the black spots on the corolla of 

 Vicia Faba, and finds it to be a brown pigment dissolved in the cell-sap, 

 to which he gives the name anthophsein. It presents a strong resem- 

 blance in its chemical and optical properties to the phycophaain of brown 

 sea-weeds, but differs from that pigment in its mode of formation, being 

 dissolved in the cell-sap instead of being present in the solid state in the 

 chromatophores. Anthophrein occurs also in the petals of species of 

 Delphinium, but does not appear to be a widely distributed substance, the 

 brown colour in most flowers being produced by a mixture of chlorophyll 

 and anthocyan. 



Alkaloids of the Compositae.J— Out of 150 genera of Compositae 

 examined, M. Greshoff detects the presence of an alkaloid in 50, an in- 

 crease of 30 over the number previously recorded as containing an 

 alkaloid. In EcJiinops Bitio he finds four alkaloids : echinopsine, 

 /5-echinopsine, eehinopsein, and echinops-fluorescine. 



Proteolytic Enzyme in Germinating Seeds.§— W. Butkewitsch pro- 

 duces further evidence of the presence of an enzyme in seeds of Lupinus 

 luteus after germination, which has the power of producing leucin and 

 tyrosin from (manufactured) conglutin. No production of asparagin 

 could be detected. Similar results were obtained from the auto-digestion 

 of the substance of the germinating plant. 



Indican and its Enzyme. || — The enzyme which causes the produc- 

 tion of indigo in the leaves of Indigo/era is called by J. J. Hazewinkel 

 indimulsin. The substance which is decomposed by the enzyme must 

 be a glucoside ; dextrose is formed by the action on it of acids. The 

 product of the technical fermentation is not indigo-white but indoxyl. 



Presence of Methyl-alcohol in the Ferments of Certain Fruits.1T — 

 J. Wolff finds traces of methyl-alcohol in various fruits after fermenta- 

 tion, and in the black currant before fermentation. The proportion in 

 the fermented juice of the grape varies greatly, depending largely 

 on the amount of stalk left in ; while in other fruits (plums, quiuces, 

 apples, cherries, black currants), it is more uniform, averaging from 

 1 to 2 p.c. in 90 p.c. alcohol. 



* 



(Esterr. Bot. Zeitschr., 1. (1900) pp. 315-8 <3 figs.), 

 t Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Ges., xviii. (1900) pp. 341-7. 



* Ber. Deutsch. Pharm. Gea , x. (1900) pp. 148-54. See Bot. Centralbl., lxxxiv. 

 (1900) p. 351. 



§ Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Ges., xviii. (1900) pp. 358-64. Cf. this Journal, 1900, p. 599. 

 || Chem. Ztg., 1900, p. 409. See Bot. Centralbl., lxxxiv. (1900) p. 320. 

 •jf Comptes Rendus, cxxxi. (1900) pp. 1323-4. 



