130 EXPERIMENT STATION EECORD. 



It was claimed that subdued light stimulates growth in buds on new tubers 

 with slightly suborized skins, but that the light influence disappears entirely 

 when the skin is removed. The rest period of new potatoes was shortened by 

 wrapping the tubers in cotton saturated with hydrogen peroxid, the abundant 

 catalase in the potato tuber decomposing the hydrogen peroxid diffused through 

 the skin and liberating free oxygen. 



The above treatments greatly accelerated the rate of respiration, and the 

 author concludes that the elimination or abbreviation of the rest period is 

 correlated with increased oxygen absorption. The rest period, it is claimed, is 

 not firmly fixed and hereditary, nor is it due to autogenic metabolic changes, 

 as it can be eliminated, as shown above. In nature the oxygen supply to 

 internal tissues is said to be regulated by skin characters which are greatly 

 influenced by moisture relations. 



A bibliography is given. 



Enzymatic peptolysis in germinating seeds, Dorothy Couet {Proc. Roy. 

 8oc. Edinb., 3^ {1913-14), No. 2, pp. 113-127) .—Besnlts given of experiments 

 described are said to indicate the presence in germinating barley of two different 

 peptolytic euzyms, one of which can be readily extracted with water while the 

 other is apparently of the nature of an endo-enzym and can be obtained only by 

 destroying the cells of the seed tissues. The temperature curves of the two, 

 as noted in connection with the tests made, are also said to differ materially. 



This view of the nonidentity of these enzyms is said to have been confirmed 

 by further experiments carried out with fruit of the pineapple {Ananassa 

 sativa), also with several fungi named. 



Blooming of rice and associated phenomena, M. Akemine (Ztschr. Pflanzen- 

 zilclit., 2 (1914), No. 3, pp. 339-375, figs. 6). — Numerically and graphically rep- 

 resented results are given, with detailed conclusions of studies carried out by 

 the author regarding the development of the rice flower; alterations in the sizes 

 and relations of the flower parts during the flowering period and the influence 

 thereon of external conditions ; the relations between time or succession of 

 blooming and grain weight; and grain formation as influenced by weather. 



A bibliography is appended. 



Studies on the lactiferous tubes and cells of some native plants, R. 

 KoKETSU (Jour. Col. Set., Imp. Univ. Tokyo, 35 (1913), Art. G, pp. 57, pis. 3, 

 fig. 12). — This work deals with the structure, functions, and contents of lac- 

 tiferous tubes and cells in a number of plants studied, the results of which 

 are given in some detail. It is held that the primary significance of lactescence 

 is ecological rather than physiological. 



Genetic studies on seeds of Phaseolus vulgaris, B. Kajanus (Ztschr. Pflan- 

 zen^ilcht., 2 (1914), No. 3, pp. 377-388) .—The author gives detailed results of a 

 study with about 20 different strains of bush beans in regard to some apparent 

 divergences and spontaneous hybridization and the more or less continuous 

 hereditary coloration of violet marbled types of seeds. The indicated results 

 were only in partial agreement with those of some of the other authors 

 mentioned. 



Studies in selection and crossing in mottled horse beans, L. Kiessling 

 {Ztschr. Pflanzenzucht., 2 {1914), No. 3, pp. 313-338). — Horse beans bred selec- 

 tively for three years still manifested impurity of stock as regards coloration 

 in some lines, which showed a white and yellow mottling of the leaves. Later 

 the hereditary abnormality became more noticeable, some plants which showed 

 a more pronounced degree of abnormality dying before or after emergence from 

 the soil, and others recovering. 



Inoculation studies including spraying and injection with sap of abnormal 

 plants showed no results, but further breeding seemed to show that the tendency 



