ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 599 



any enzyme analogous to invertin. Experiments with oats sbowed that 

 the ripe seed contains much larger quantities of the diastatic enzyme 

 than the half-ripe ears. 



Proteolytic Enzyme in Seeds after Germination.* — From experi- 

 ments made on seedlings of Lupinus luteus and on ungerminated seeds of 

 L. anrjustifolius, Herr W. Butkewitsch confirms Green's statement of the 

 presence in germinated seeds of a proteolytic enzyme which decomposes 

 the seed, with formation of amide-compounds, in a way similar to animal 

 trypsin. The decomposition of the albuminoid becomes gradually slower 

 and slower, and finally ceases. 



Proteolytic Diastase of Malt.t — MM. A. Fernbach and L. Hubert 

 claim to have empirically determined what has previously only been 

 assumed, the presence in malt of a proteolytic diastase. It may be 

 compared to the saccharifying diastase, substituting, in the description 

 of its effects, the term peptone for dextrin, aud amides for maltose. 



Galactase.J — Dr. E. von Freudenreich made experiments relative to 

 galactase, an unorganised enzyme present in milk, which was discovered 

 by Babcock and Russell.§ The results ai'e altogether confirmatory of the 

 existence of this lactic enzyme. 



(3) Structure of Tissues. 



Elastic Swelling of Tissue. || — Herr C. Steinbrinck gives further 

 experimental evidence in support of his view that in the anthers of 

 flowering plants aud the sporanges of ferns, neither the contraction of 

 the valves when they burst, nor their swelling when again moistened, is 

 influenced by the pressure of the external air. 



Laticifers of Eucommia ulmoides.l — M. G. J. Barthelat has inves- 

 tigated the nature of the laticiferous vessels in this tree, belonging to 

 the EuphorbiaceaB or an allied order, the dried latex of which yields a 

 substance of the nature of gutta-percha. The laticifers are unseptated, 

 and do not anastomose ; they differ from those of the typical Euphorbiaceae 

 in but rarely branching. They occur in abundance in all parts of the 

 plant. 



Passage from the Root to the Stem.** — From observation on a 

 number of different species, Sig. L. Montemartini supports the view of 

 Briosi and Tognini, rather than that of Dangeard, viz. that in the 

 majority of cases, whether the root be diarch, triarch, or polyarch, its 

 xylem-bundles are completely continuous with those of the stem, and 

 that the passage from the centripetal to the centrifugal arrangement 

 takes place without torsion. In seedlings there is an apparent torsion 

 of the radial vascular bundles ; the passage of the primary vascular 

 bundles being uninterrupted from the primary root into the hypocotyl. 



* Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Ges., xviii. (1900) pp. 185-9. 

 + Comptes Pendus, cxxx. (1900) pp. 1783-5. 

 X Centralbl. Bakt. u. Par., 2 te Abt., vi. (1900) pp. 332-8. 

 § Cf. this Journal, 1899, p. 525 ; 1900, p. 224. 



|| Ber. Deutseh. Bot. Ges., xviii. (1900) pp. 48-53. Cf.'this Journal, 1899, p. 500. 

 If Journ. de Bot. (Morot), xiv. (1900) pp. 55-9 (8 figs.)." 



** Atti 1st. Bot. Univ. Pavia, 1898, 1899. See Beih. z. Bot. Centralbl, ix. (1900) 

 p. 271. 



