BOTANY. 387 



into sugar by boiling with 5 per cent sulphuric acid for an hour. By 

 treating this produ(;t with barium carbonate to remove the sulphuric 

 acid and tlien tilteriug and treating the filtrate with acetate of phenyl- 

 hydrazin, aftei a tew manipulations there were formed yellow needles, 

 soluble with difficulty in hot alcohol and melting at 205° C., evidently 

 plienylglucosazon. From this it is concluded that the sugar is mannose, 

 and the white substance of the seed is <'alled mannane, a polyanhydrid 

 of mannose. It is shown that the seed stores up in the form of an 

 anhydrid, a sugar that is different from the sugars contained in the 

 fiesh of the fruit. 



On the reserve protein in plants, G. Baikuhaka (To^/^v/^; ^l^r., 

 Tokt/o, Japan, BuL, vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 79-96). — The author has sought to 

 discover the form in which reserve protein is held by plants in addi- 

 tion to the aleurone m their seeds. It is supposed that albumen is 

 present m solution in all the plant juices ready for use when needed by 

 the plant. The rehition of active albumen to the production of 

 amnio compounds ni branches j)laced in water, and when phiiits are 

 deprived of light, or m leaf buds in spring, has not yet been deter- 

 mined. Experiments were conducted to ascertain the function of the 

 active albumen m the bark, leaves, flowers, and roots of various plants.- 

 The methods of treatment were those suggested by Loew in Bulletin, 

 vol. 2, Xo. 1 (E. S E., 5, p. Ill), modified in certain particulars to meet 

 the necessities of the experiment. The details of the experiments and 

 beliavior of the proteosomes when subjected to various chemical 

 manipulations are given. ♦ It is shown that the decrease of active 

 albumen stands in close relation to the formation of asparagin. 



In order to deternnne the frequency with which active albumen 

 occurs m plants, inicroscoi^ical examinations were made of various 

 parts of 104 species of plants, representing 52 orders. Of these, 51 

 species in 29 orders contained active albumen stored up as a reserve 

 material. Of the others many contained passive albumen, while some 

 do not store up any albuminous matter m their fully developed tissues. 

 Active albumen sometimes accumulates in the flowers, and is entirely 

 absent in the adjacent parts of the plant. In the Graininece it was 

 found only in the epidermis, and there only in a certain period of devel- 

 opment In the shade active albumen is formed less abundantly than 

 m sunlight. Young leaves are richer in it than old ones, and partly 

 etiolated leaves may show it as abundantly in their white parts as in 

 the green portions. 



The influence of light on diastase, J. li. Green {Ann. Bat., 8 

 {i<S.9i), No. 31, pp. 370-37:]). — It having been shown that the amount of 

 diastase which can be abstracted from foliage leaves varies greatly in 

 24 hours, being greatest after a period of darkness, and relatively less 

 after a long period of illumination, and that solar rays exercise a very 

 destructive influence on certain enzymes that are secreted by various bac- 

 teria, the author investigated the possibility of light being destructive 



