ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 567 



that is, flowers visited for sake of their pollen, as well as in certain 

 aneniophilous flowers. Among the former are Helianthemum vulgare, 

 Hypericum perforatum, and Papaver Bhoens, while in others, e.g. Solanum 

 nigrum, no trace of sugar was found. Chenopodium album and Plantago 

 lanceolata were also examine! as examples of plants affording a transition 

 between pollen flowers and wind flowers. In both cases sugar was in- 

 dicated by the cuprous precipitate. Of well-marked wind flowers, the 

 hop showed no trace of sugar ; but sugar was found in the anthers of the 

 male flowers of the nettle, the female were not investigated. The stigmas 

 and anthers of several common grasses also showed a well-marked red 

 coloring when heated with the reagent indicating presence of sugar, 

 and the author is convinced that insects play a more important part than 

 generally supposed in the pollination of grass flowers. 



Sugars and Organic Acids in certain Fruits. * — A. Borntraeger 

 has estimated the invert sugar, sucrose, and acidity in a number of 

 generally cultivated fruits including species of Diospyros, the banana, 

 medlar, Eriobotrya, and others. All contained invert sugar, varying in 

 amount in the ripe fruit from 4*7 to 16*2 p.c. Sucrose occurred only 

 in unripe fruit of Arbutus Unedo (7*34 p.c), in ripe banana (7*24 p.c), 

 and in both ripe and unripe fruit of Eriobotrya japonica (from 2*47 to 

 4 • 9 p.c). Malic acid was universally present, but other organic acids 

 such as oxalic, tartaric, and citric were not found except in Eriobotrya, 

 the juice from the unripe fruit of which contained on the average 1 ■ 24 p.c. 

 of citric acid. Tannin occurred in Diospyros Kaki and D. Lotus. 



Two new Sugars extracted from Manna, f — C. Tauret has iso- 

 lated two new sugars from manna. One, manneotetrose, has the formula 

 C 24 H 42 21 , forms minute clinorhombic crystals in aqueous solution, and 

 does not reduce Fehling's solution. It, however, takes up water readily 

 and then becomes a reducing agent. It undergoes partial fermentation 

 by yeast. The other, manninotriose, has the composition represented by 

 the formula C 18 H 32 1G ; is deposited from boiling absolute alcohol in 

 the form of slightly birefractive globules ; it has not been obtained in 

 crystalline form. 



Constituents of Pith of Maize and Elder.} — C. A. Browne, jun. 

 and B. Tollens find pentose to be present in the pith of both maize and 

 elder, and there was also evidence of a sugar resembling dextrose in 

 maize-pith. Xylose and arabinose were also prepared from the pith of 

 both plants by hydrolysis with sulphuric acid. 



Colouring Matters obtainable from Isatis tinctoria.§ — L. March- 

 lewski describes the action of isatin on extract of woad prepared 

 in different ways, and shows that the chemical compositions of dried 

 and fresh leaves of the plant vary very considerably, thus explaining 

 the cause of the differences in the results obtained by Schunk on the one 

 hand and Beijerinck on the other. 



* Zeit. Nahr.-Genussm., v. (1902) pp. 145-55. See also Journ. Chem. Soc, 

 lxxxii. (1902) ii. p. 347. 



t Comptes Eendus, cxxxiv. (1902) pp. 158G-9. 



X Ber. DLutsch. Chem. Ges., xxxv. (1902) pp. 1457-67. See also Journ. Chem. 

 Soc, lxxxii. (1902) ii. p. 420. 



§ Bull. Internet. Acad. Sci. Cracov. CI, Sci. Math, et Nat., 1902, pp. 227-30. 



