336 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



The results obtained show thai glucose was readily absorbed through the maize 

 roots with an increased growth and greater dry weighl of the product. This took 

 place whether plants were grown in light or darkness and also in the entire absence 

 of carbon dioxid. Beets grown in the open air, when watered with glucose solutions, 

 gave an increased dry weighl as compared with others not so treated. The roots of 



maize and peas were found to take up soluble starch to some extent. The results 



with dextrin ami saccharose were quite similar to those obtained with glucose. < Uyc- 



erin was readily taken up by the roots of peas and lentils and transformed by the 

 plants into reserve starch. It was hss rapidly absorbed by maize roots. In the 

 experiments with humus compounds maize took up as much as LO per cent of its dry 

 weight from potassium humate. 



In the second part of the paper, the author discusses the influence of these carbo- 

 hydrate compounds on the growth and morphological development of the plants, as 

 well as the anatomical modifications induced in them. The effect of glucose, saccha- 

 rose, and glycerin on the morphological and anatomical structure of plants was com- 

 parable in all cases where isotonic solutions were used. The author concludes with 

 the generalization that all plants are able to secure their necessary carbon from cer- 

 tain organic compounds, chlorophyll and other pigment-bearing plants having in 

 addition to this capacity the power of photosynthesis. 



Investigations on the assimilation of some ternary compounds by plants, 

 P. Maze and A. Perrier (Compt. Rend. Acad. Sri. Paris, 139 (1904), No. 9, pp. 470- 

 473). — The ability of the higher plants to assimilate carbohydrates other than through 

 their leaves has been the subject of controversy for some time, and the author gives 

 the results of investigations in which it is shown that vetch seedlings grown in the 

 dark are able to take up sugar from solutions in a similar way as other nonchlorophyll- 

 bearing plants. Experiments with maize seedlings gave similar results. 



After germination, plants were grown in solutions which had added to them 1 per 

 cent each of glucose, saccharose, mannite, glycerin, and ethyl and methyl alcohol. 

 The seedlings cultivated in the light in the solutions containing ethyl alcohol did 

 not show any appreciable increase in weight. In the methyl-alcohol solutions the 

 plants grew rapidly at the beginning, making a more rapid growth than the check 

 plants. Experiments with glycerin seemed to show that this substance exerted an 

 injurious effect on vegetation. When the maize seedlings were cultivated in solutions 

 to which were added glucose or saccharose, the growth was much more rapid than in 

 the other medium. 



The increase in weight of the plants and the decrease of glucose and saccharose in 

 the different solutions are shown in tabular form, indicating that normal green plants 

 are able to assimilate sugars the same as fungi and bacteria. One important differ- 

 ence which exists between them is that the chlorophyll-bearing plants are able to 

 derive their carbon dioxid from the air, while among the fungi and bacteria so far 

 only the nitrous and nitric ferments are able to draw their carbon from the carbonic 

 acid of the air. 



Sexual reproduction in the Mucorineae, A. F. Blakeslee (Proc. Amer. Acad. 

 Arts and Sri., 40 (1 904), No. 4, pp- 205-319, pis. 4, figs. 5). — This contribution is a 

 result of several years' investigations on the part of the author on this group of 

 molds, and treats of the production of the so-called sexual spores or zygospores 

 which are characteristic of this fungi. After giving a historical review of the theories 

 relating to zygosporic reproduction of the Mucorineae and citing species in which 

 zygospores have been reported, the author describes his observations, dividing the 

 group into 2 forms based upon the method of zygospore formation. 



The production of zygospores is said to be primarily inherent with the individual 

 species and is only secondarily influenced by external factors. In the homothallic 

 group, which comprises the minority of species, the zygospores are developed from 

 branches of the same thallus or mycelium, and can be obtained from the sowing of a 



