62 SOME RECENT RESEARCHES IN PLANT PHYSIOLOGY 



That the behaviour of the starch-free moss Thuidium 

 tamariscinum is similar to Polytrichum as regards the 

 diminution in sucrose consequent upon storage in the dark 

 is also shown by Mason's results. 



The distribution of sugars in Sphagnum cymbifolium is 

 illustrated by the following table, from which it appears 

 that in it, too, the assimilating portions are richest in 

 sucrose. To avoid enzymic changes during transit from 

 the bog to the laboratory, jars of alcohol were carried up, 

 and the material was placed in them directly. All these 

 analyses of mosses were performed on material gathered 

 during the months of July and August. In addition to 

 the hexoses there are perhaps traces of maltose, so the term 

 reducing sugars is employed. 



TABLE XXIII. 



SUGARS OF SPHAGNUM. 



8. cymbifolium from Dublin Mountains, Reducing 



collected at II a.m. Sugars. 



Sucrose. 



Upper green portion 

 Lower colourless portion 



1-00 

 1-00 



2-16 

 0-91 



It is desirable that further work should be done upon 

 the carbohydrates of this group, and the completion of 

 Mason's researches may be expected to throw some light 

 upon the vexed question of the first sugar to arise in photo- 

 synthesis. 



