598 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



explanation offered by him is that, when present in plants not otherwise 

 poisonous, they are not injurious ; and that their chief toxic effect is 

 indirect, as the carriers of poisonous substances characteristic of the 

 species. 



Reserve Carbohydrates of Hyacinth Bulbs.* — According to Mr. J. 

 Parkin, the most abundant carbohydrate in the bulb-scales of the 

 hyacinth is an inulin, i.e. is levorotary, and is converted by hydrolysis 

 into fructose. There are three kinds of inulins in plants : — those found 

 in Composite and the allied orders ; those in the hyacinth, Scilla, Yucca, 

 and Phleum ; and those found in Galantlivs and Leucojum. 



Reserve Carbohydrate in the Seeds of Trifolium repens.f — Results 

 analogous to those obtained in the lucerne and fenugrec have been 

 reached by M. H. Herissey in the case of the Dutch clover. He finds 

 the reserve carbohydrate to be a mannogalactane which is hydrolysable 

 by seminase, this substance transforming it, at least partially, into 

 reducing sugars capable of being assimilated. 



Endosperm of Gleditschia.J — M. M. Goret finds that the carbohy- 

 drate which composes almost the whole of the endosperm of the seed of 

 GleditscJtia triacanthos is, like that of the caiob, a mannogalactane or a 

 mixture of mannane and galactane. Like the reserve-material of other 

 seeds with horny endosperm, it is hydrolysed by seminase. 



Distribution of Carotin in Plants.* — From a series of observations 

 made on a great variety of different plants, Herr T. Tammes concludes 

 that the pigment of the plastids from green and etiolated leaves and 

 those which turn green in the autumn, from fruits and seeds, and from 

 green, blue-green, brown, and red Algas, agrees, in all its chemical and 

 physical properties, with the carotin of the carrot. He states also that 

 in the plastids of all plants or parts of plants which contain chlorophyll 

 and which are capable of carbon dioxide assimilation, carotin is an 

 invariable accompanier of chlorophyll ; and that carotin shares with 

 chlorophyll the capacity of engendering this assimilation. 



Pathogenic Effects of Primula obconica and sinensis. jj — The well- 

 known effect of these two species of Primula in producing dermatitis on 

 the hands of those who handle them, is traced by Herr A. Nestler to a 

 secretion formed in the glandular hairs on the stem and leaves. The 

 intensity of the toxic effect is very different on different individuals. 



Distribution of ithe Diastatic Enzyme in Plants.lf — In the potato 

 Herr^A. Meyer finds most diastase in old germinated tubers and in the 

 ordinary leaves ; sprouts from germinated tubers contained much less ; 

 and old potatoes from the field, young tubers attached to them, and the 

 ordinary stems, scarcely any. It is the organs from which the carbohy- 

 drates are transmitted through the plant that are richest in the diastatic 

 enzyme. In the sugar-beet none of the organs were found to contain 



* Ann. of Bot., xiv. (1900) pp. 155-7. 



tlCoinptes Rendus, exxx. (li)00) pp. 1719-21. Cf. this Journal, ante, p. 479. 

 li Op. cit, exxxi. (1900) pp. 60-3. Cf, this Journal, ante, p. 479. 

 § Flora, lxxxvii. (1900) pp. 205-47 (1 pi). 



|| Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Ges., xviii. (1900) pp. 189-202, 327-31 (2 pis.). 

 ^[ Jahrb. Landwirth., xlviii. pp. 67-70. See Journ. Chern. Soo., 1900, Abstr. ii. 

 p. 427. 



