124 EXPEEIMENT STATION RECORD. 



The author claims that the livhig cells of the stem and petiole must give 

 some active help in the asceut of water, but that the amount of help so given 

 varies in different plants. 



The relation of transpiration to the water content of leaves in the ocotillo, 

 F. E. Lloyd (Science, n. ser., 33 (1911) . No. S.'iO, p. 191). — During the summer 

 of 1910 the author made a study of transpiration in the ocotillo (Foiiquieria 

 splendens). 



It vpas foimd that the ratio between the intake and outgo of water was not 

 constant, but that during the day the outgo was greater than the intake. The 

 reversed relation obtained during the night. The amount of water relative to 

 the dry weight of the leaves decreased until some time in the early part of 

 the afternoon, after which it was found to increase until about 4 a. m. The 

 decrease of water in the leaf occurred during the period of the opening of the 

 stoma ta, and these organs were therefore not found closely regulatory of the 

 rate of transpiration. 



Light as a formative factor in the habit of growth of Asparagus plumosus, 

 F. C. Newcombe (Science, n. ser., 33 (1911), No. R.',0, pp. 190, /.9/).— The shoots 

 of this plant are said to gi'ow erect for a time, and then turn their tips to the 

 horizontal position. This bending is geotropic, but it is greatly influenced by 

 the presence of light. Where shoots were so covered as to exclude the light 

 the bending was delayed, and where subterranean buds were covered and 

 caused to grow without ever being in the light the horizontal bend was never 

 complete, but there were nutations through an arc of 20 to 50°. 



This behavior is attributed to one of two hypotheses. Either the etiolation 

 disarranges the normal processes, or there is a weak inheritance of diageotro- 

 pism which needs the supporting influence of light to give the usual form to 

 the plant. 



Respiration in air, in nitrogen, and in hydrogen, B. M. Duggar and G. R. 

 Hill, Jr. (Science, n. ser., S3 (1911), No. 8^2, p. 261).— A brief account is 

 given of experiments relating to the rate, continuance, and decline of anaerobic 

 respiration or carbon dioxid production in nitrogen and hydrogen as compared 

 with aerobic respiration under otherwise similar conditions. The plant ma- 

 terals used were slices of sugar beet and germinating seed. 



Respiration and fermentation, V. I. Palladin (Dnevn. XII. S"'t^zda Russ. 

 Esf.-Isp. i Vrach [Moscow], 1910, No. 3, p. lit; al)s. in Zhur. Opytn. Agron. 

 (Russ. Jour. Expt. Landic), 11 (1910), No. 1, pp. 126, 127).— The experiments 

 of Stanevich are said to have shown that the treatment of wheat seedlings with 

 different solvents, such as acetone, chloroform, alcohol, etc., affects the process 

 of their setting free carbon dioxid and exerts an influence on the extraction of 

 lipoids. From this the author concludes that one of the stages of alcoholic 

 fermentation consists in the combination of glucose with phosphoric acid, and 

 that lipoids act as conservators of the phosphoric acid required for that process. 

 Lipoids are considered necessary for the anaerobic stage of respiration as well 

 as for alcoholic fermentation. 



Prochromogens of the respiratory chromogens of plants, V. I. Palladin 

 (Izv. Imp. AJcad. Naulc (Bui. Acad. Imp. Sci. St.-Petersl).), 6. ser., 1909, No. 5, 

 pp. 371-376; abs. in Zhur. Opytn. Agron (Russ. Jour. Expt. Land!w.), 11 

 (1910), No. 2, pp. 2.'i7, 2J,R).—ln previous investigations (E. S. R., 23, p. 230) 

 the author has found that respiratory chromogens increase in leaves of Rumex 

 patientia with the addition of saccharose to the culture medium. Similar ex- 

 periments made with etiolated leaves of Vicia faha gave negative results. 



On the basis of his experiments the author assumes that the chromogen in 

 the etiolated leaves of the bean is present in a combined state, as can be de- 

 termined by pouring over wheat seedlings extracts of the etiolated leaves em- 



