ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 687 



Cyanogenesis in Plants.* —Wyndham Dunstan, T. A. Henry, and 

 S. J. M. Auld have investigated the occurrence of the glucoside phaseo- 

 lunatin in common flax. Results obtained by estimating the amounts 

 of hydrocyanic acid in the seed and at various stages in the growth of 

 the plant show that the seed contains a small amount of the glucoside, 

 which increases on germination, reaches a maximum at a very early stage 

 in the growth of the plant (when it is from 2-3 inches high), and then 

 diminishes steadily and disappears. These results contrast with those 

 previously obtained with Lotus arabicus and Sorghum vulgare, where 

 none of the glucoside is present in the seed. The glucoside when isolated 

 proved to be identical with that obtained from the seeds of Phaseolus 

 lunatus, and the same enzyme, capable of hydrolysing the glucoside, 

 probably exists in the seeds of both plants. The same authors find that 

 the same glucoside is present in the cassava-plant (Manihot utilissima), 

 together with an enzyme capable of decomposing it. 



Fat-splitting Ferment of the Higher Fungi.f— J. Zellner found 

 that the fat of the higher fungi contained a large amount of fatty acids, 

 which tended to increase with age. The ferment splits up to 80 p.c. 

 of the fat, though the complete destruction of the fat has never been 

 observed. Slight heating aided the process. A temperature of 110° C, 

 or the addition of sublimate, stopped the action. It has not been 

 possible to isolate the ferment. 



General. 



Julianiaceae, a New Family of Seed- plants.:}: — W. B. Hemsley 

 founds a new natural order of Seed-plants on two peculiar genera, Juliaiiia 

 and Orthopterygium, natives respectively of Mexico and Peru. Both 

 genera have been previously known only from very incomplete material. 

 The plants are resin -containing, deciduous, dioecious shrubs or small 

 trees with alternate, exstipulate, imparipinnate leaves. The flowers 

 are small, green or yellow-green, and the males are very different 

 from the females. The former are in structure and appearance almost 

 exactly like those of the common oak ; the female inflorescence is 

 similar in structure to that of the sweet-chestnut, consisting of an 

 involucre containing three or four collateral flowers, the two outside ones 

 of which are abortive. The female flowers are naked, and consist of a 

 flattened one-celled ovary, with a trifid style, and containing a solitary 

 ovule, which has a peculiar structure, having a remarkably developed 

 funicle ; it has one integument. The fruits are samaroid, the wing 

 being formed from the upper part of the pedicel. The nuts are orbi- 

 cular, with a very hard endocarp, and contain a solitary exalbuminous 

 seed. The embryo has thin, obscurely lobed epigeal cotyledons. The 

 author compares the proposed new order with the Anacardiacese and 

 CupuKferae, and suggests that the latter is the more nearly allied. The 

 position of the order is apparently between the Juglandacege and the 

 Cupuliferse. 



* Proc. Roy. Soc, Series B, lxxviii. (1906) pp. 145-58. 



t SB. k. Akad. Wiss. Wien. Math.-Nat. KL, cxv. (1906) pp. 119-28. See also 

 Bot. Centralbl., cii. (1906) p. 120. 



% Proc. Roy. Soc, Series B, lxxviii. (1906) pp. 231-6. 



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