sugar at the expense oi the sucrose This reversibility of enzymi< 

 action has been well established in the case of carbohydrates. If 



the sugar cane, therefore, be allowed t irmally grow and mature 



there is a certain time in its history as above mentioned, where the 

 proportion of reducing sugar is at a minimum. The theory above 

 outlined receives continual ion in some analytical data secured in this 

 bureau recently on samples of sugar grown in Florida. Four samples 

 were obtained which were all harvested at the same time, namely, the 

 middle of May, L903. The canes were grown by VV. II. Abel, on 

 Terra (Via Island. Manatee County. Florida, about 150 yards from 

 saltwater. The soil is sandy to a depth of from 12 to IS inches, 

 with a thin stratum of chocolate coloured suhsoil resting on clay 

 which carries some pebble phosphate. The particular samples under 

 question were grown on the edge of a field next to timber, and being 

 in the outside row did not get much cultivation and practically 

 no fertilizer. The samples were cut seventeen months from time of 

 planting. The analytical data obtained from the four samples are as 

 follows : — 



These are the only samples of sugar cane ever analysed under my 

 supervision which did not contain a greater or less quantity of 

 reducing sugar. At the end of two minutes boiling of the juices 

 with an alkaline copper solution there was no trace whatever of any 

 reduction. On longer continued boiling and after allowing to stand 

 overnight there was a mere trace of reddish precipitate due doubtless 

 to the inversion of a part of the sucrose. A great many of the canes 

 grown on this field produced tassels, but Mr. Abel did not state in his 

 description Avhether the four canes sent had tassels or not. The pre- 

 sumption is that they had. We have in the above what appears to be 

 an example of complete cycle of growth in the sugar cane, probably 

 a cycle which would not be realised farther south. Evidently the 

 cool nights of the winter had helped to complete the period of growth 

 while at the same time they prevented a beginning of the second 

 growth which would certainly have reserved the metabolic activities 

 w r ithin the cane and secured an inversion of a part of the sucrose. 

 It is probable that the meteorological conditions which produced so 

 complete a growth do not often obtain, and the above data are there- 

 fore of interest both from a chemical and physiological point of view. 

 The anasesere made in the Sugar Laboratory by Mr. A. W. Bache." 



580.- MILLIPEDES AND CENTIPEDES. 



To many local residents these " creeping things " are looked 

 upon with considerable horror, and the general idea is at once to kill 

 when seen. In the following article their sreneral habits and life 



