326 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



the same conditions the green leaves assimilate nitrates energetically, 

 bnt ammoniacal nitrogen much less freely. In darkness the blanched 

 leaves do not assimilate ammoniacal nitrogen and the green leaves do not 

 utilize nitrates for the elaboration of nitrogenous organic substances. 



In the light the green and blanched leaves of Aspidistra assimilate 

 nitric and ammoniacal nitrogen, the first preferring the nitrates, the 

 second ammonia. 



There is no assimilation of nitric nitrogen by the green leaves of box 

 elder under solutions of bichromate of potash and sulphate of quinin. 

 Assimilation, however, is very active under solutions of sulphate of 

 copper and under water, indicating, therefore, that the ultra-violet 

 rays are the ones principally involved in this assimilation. The 

 blanched leaves of this plant do not assimilate ammoniacal nitrogen 

 except to a very slight extent under any conditions, and not at all 

 under solutions of bichromate of potash and sulphate of quinin. Under 

 water, however, there is considerable assimilation, indicating that the 

 assimilation of ammoniacal nitrogen is also stimulated by the ultra 

 violet rays. 



The general conclusions reached are that the assimilation of nitrates 

 will not take place in the higher plants when all the rays of the spec- 

 trum are cut off. The ultra violet rays are necessary to assimilation. 

 These rays are predominant in the assimilation of ammoniacal salts, 

 although the luminous rays may produce assimilation of ammonia to a 

 slight extent in blanched leaves. The intervention of chlorophyll is 

 not necessary. Blanched leaves assimilate ammoniacal nitrogen much 

 more readily than green leaves. 



The dependence of the respiration of plants on their content 

 of insoluble protein, V. I. Palladin (Trudi Obsk. Ispit. Prirodi Imp. 

 Kharkov. Univ., 29 (1896). — The author made a number of experi- 

 ments with wheat, beans, and lupines. The principal conclusions 

 reached were the following: The amount of iusoluble protein gradually 

 increases during the germination of wheat in the dark, while during 

 the germination of lupines in the dark a part of the insoluble protein 

 becomes soluble and further germination is accompanied by the forma- 

 tion of a small quantity of new insoluble protein. The respiration 

 energy of seeds germinating in tlie dark gradually increases, not as a 

 consequence of more rapid growth, but on account of the increase of 

 insoluble protein substance contained in them. When there is a suffi- 

 cient amount of carbohydrates present the quantity of carbon dioxid 

 exhaled by plants is directly proportional to the quantity of iusoluble 

 protein contained in them. The ratio of carbon dioxid exhaled to the 

 nitrogen of insoluble proteids in the author's experiments was constant, 

 the temperature remaining the same. — p. fireman. 



Report of botanical department, J. C. Arthur (Indiana Sta. Rpt. 

 189(>, pp. 28-37, pi. 1, figs. 2). — The author briefly reports upon the 

 various lines of work carried on during the year. The value of formic 



