ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 479 



products of decomposition, and the first stage in the formation of pro- 

 teinaceous substances. 



Occurrence of Albumin, Albumose and Pepton in the Vegetative 

 Organs. * — By extracting the finely pulverised vegetative parts of 

 plants with cold water and filtering, Dr. Th. Bokorny finds albumin 

 (using the term to designate those coagulable substances which can be 

 extracted by potassa) to be very widely distributed in the vegetative 

 parts of plants, as in the seeds. It occurs also in Algae (Spirogyra, 

 Oscillator ia) ; but neither pepton nor propepton could be detected in 

 them, though present in yeast and Penicillmm. Both peptons and pro- 

 peptons (albumoses) are very rare in plants ; they appear to be confined 

 to Fungi and carnivorous plants. Vegetable protoplasm breaks up 

 the proteids directly into simple organic substances ; and plants have 

 also the property of transforming these simple substances again into 

 albumen. 



Ferment of Seeds with Horny Endosperm. f — MM. E. Bourquelot 

 and H. Herissey regard the carob, Ceratonia siliqua, as the type of seeds 

 with a horny endosperm, composed, for the greater part, of manuaue and 

 galactane. During germination, the embryo secretes a soluble ferment, 

 which hydrolyses the carbohydrates of the endosperm, producing man- 

 nose and galactose. They have obtained similar results with the feuu- 

 grec (Trigonella fcenum-grsecum) and the lucerne (Medicago sativa). The 

 action of these soluble ferments is comparable to that of dilute sulphuric 

 acid. For the ferment obtained from these two plants, which appears to 

 be distinct from that of the carob, they propose the term " seminase." 

 The reserve-carbohydrates are mannogalactanes capable of being hydro- 

 lysed by the seminase. 



Alleged Proteolytic Enzyme of Nepenthes.J — M. E. Couvreur sup- 

 ports the statement of Dubois that there is, in the pitcher of Nepenthes, 

 no proteolytic enzyme. He states that Prof. Vines has been led to a 

 contrary conclusion by the use of sodium carbonate instead of soda. It 

 is well known that solutions of neutral salts are capable of producing a 

 true digestive action on albuminoids. 



Crystals in Datura Stramonium.§ — Mr. H. Kraemer has studied the 

 form and distribution of the crystals of calcium oxalate in various species 

 of the Solanacese. In Atropa and Solarium they occur uniformly in some 

 of the parenchyme cells of the root, stem, and leaves. In Hyoscyamus 

 these cryptocrystalline crystals may be replaced for the most part by 

 monoclinic prisms or pyramids ; and in Datura stramonium by rosette 

 aggregates and other crystals. The form and distribution of the crystals 

 in this species are described in detail. The cryptocrystalline crystals, 

 which are found in such abundance in the parenchyme of the root and 

 stem, are replaced in part in the petioles and veins of the leaf by prisms, 

 pyramids, and rosette aggregates, while in the lamina the prisms and 

 pyramids are combined to form rosette-shaped aggregates only. Pro- 



* Pfliiger's Arch, gesam. Phys., 1900. See Bot. Centralbl., Ixxxii. (1900) p. 367. 

 Biol. Centralbl., xx. (1900) pp. 53-7. I 



t Comptes Rendu*, cxxix. (1899) pp. 391-3; cxxx. (1900) pp. 42-4,310-2,731-3. 

 j Op. cit, cxxx. (1900) pp. 848-9. Cf. this Journal, 1899, p. 292; ante, p. 76. 

 § Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, xxvii. (1900) pp. 37-9. 



2 K 2 



