June, 1920] PHYSIOLOGY 419 



rule, in specific assimilating tissue, such as the palisade tissue, and are not found in the 

 vascular bundles. The decomposition products of the proteins which might prove harmful 

 arc removed by being fixed as alkaloids. The basic materials are formed in the assimilating 



tissue and transported to storage organs and to the places where they arc used. The waste 

 material is laid down in the epidermis, in the bundle sheath, and in the "physiologically 

 dead" tissue. | Based on Lipschiitz' review, Zeitschr. Allg. Physiol. Heferate 18-: 25 -27. 1019. 

 — William ./. Robbins. 



2859. Tuttle, GwTNBTHH M. Induced changes in reserve materials in evergreen her- 

 baceous leaves. Ann. Botany 33:201-210. 7 Jig. 1919. — The author, after first considering 



the general features of plants witli wilder reserves in the form of starch and fat respectively 

 in the cold regions of northwestern Canada, records a series of experiments with Linnaea 

 borealis L. var. amcricana (Forbes) Itedner, concerned with inducing changes in the reserve 

 material. Linnaea passes the winter with oil as the reserve and no starch. Artificial expos- 

 ure to higher temperature in darkness during January resulted in the disappearance of oil 

 and the re-appearance of starch in two days. The starch disappears when again exposed to 

 moderately low temperature for about 8 days, but the leaves are killed if exposed to extremely 

 low temperature when filled with starch. A decrease in the oil content is evident in leaves 

 which have formed starch by conversion. The presence of lipase was demonstrated in ma- 

 terial undergoing conversion. Oxidases are present in the leaf at rather low temperatures. — ■ 

 F.J. Lewis. 



2860. Waksman, Selman A. Studies in the metabolism of Actinomycetes. II. Jour. 

 Bact. 4: 307-330. 1919. — -In this paper the author reports the results, as well as the methods 

 employed, of growing several different species of Actinomyces upon egg media, gelatin, and 

 media containing different carbohydrates. Organisms which produce proteolytic enzymes 

 when grown in milk or on coagulated blood serum hydrolize the coagulated egg-albumen and 

 also liquefy gelatin rapidly. The liquefication of gelatin is not a specific characteristic of 

 the forms studied since nearly all liquefied this medium more or less. The rapidity of lique- 

 fication, however, and the amino nitrogen content of the liquefied gelatin showed differences 

 in the different organisms. Several organisms produced brown to black pigment on the egg 

 medium, probably due to the production of the enzyme tyrosinase acting upon certain egg 

 constituents. In determining the utilization of fourteen different carbon compounds by 

 twenty-seven different organisms it was found that starch is probably the best source of 

 energy for most Actinomycetes next in order follow glucose, lactose, maltose, glycerin, 

 sucrose, cellulose, and organic acids; it is probable that the utilization of the carbohydrate is 

 affected by the source of the nitrogen used in the metabolism. The reaction upon the various 

 carbohydrates was determined by the changes in hydrogen-ion concentration. [See also 

 Bot. Absts. 3, Entry 2883.]— Chester A. Darling. 



2861. Williams, R. J. The vitamine requirement of yeast. A simple biological test for 

 vitamine. Jour. Biol. Chem. 38:465-486. 1919. — The water-soluble, beri-beri-preventing 

 vitamine, relatively so abundant in yeast, is necessary for the nutrition of yeast cells them- 

 selves. The fat-soluble vitamine apparently has no effect on yeast growth. The growth of 

 yeast cells may be used as a simple biological test for vitamine. — George B. Rigg. 



2862. Willstatter, Richard, Otto Schuppli, and Erwin W. Mayer. Untersuch- 

 ungen iiber Chlorophyll (von Richard Willstatter) XXV; Uber Phytol II. [Investigations upon 

 chlorophyll ; concerning phytol II.] Ann. Chem. [Liebig] 418: 121-147. 1919. — Willstatter and 

 his co-workers have previously isolated phytol from chlorophyll and identified it as an un- 

 saturated primary alcohol, corresponding to the formula C20H39OH. Failure of the com- 

 pound, and most of its derivatives, to crystallize has led to the use of its ether-soluble sodium 

 salt, phenyl and a-naphthyl urethane, and the peculiar solubility of the silver salt of its 

 phthalic acid ester, for purposes of identification. The latter, on heating with soda-lime, 

 produces a saturated carboxy acid, "phytan saure." This acid is easily converted into an 



