1908] CURRENT LITERATURE 301 
question whether the reserve material contained in the endosperm of amyliferous 
seeds is exclusively digested by enzymes secreted during germination, or whether 
the endosperm cells renew their vital activity and themselves dissolve their own 
food material.”’ 
The endosperms of maize, wheat, rye, and barley were tested. The 
seeds were allowed to soak 48 hours before removal of the embryo and scutellum 
in some instances, and in the other tests no statement is made on this point. 
No controls are mentioned; in fact the experimental data are so meager that the 
reader is compelled to reject the results simply because the author leaves him 
too ignorant to judge. In the digestion tests no controls are mentioned. The 
simple statement that aseptic conditions were maintained is altogether insuffi- 
cient. We read that chloroform water was used, but whether it was saturated 
or half saturated or something else the reader cannot know. ‘The general trend 
of the conclusions is that all of the endosperms mentioned are more or less capable 
of self-digestion, and that such activity is independent of vitality. The endo- 
Sperm of rye is pronounced dead, but in maize, barley, and wheat there is more 
or less vitality in some of the amyliferous cells. 
Stowarp® has found that the pure endosperms of Hordeum and Zea 
under appropriat diti ifest a gaseous exchange of respiratory character. 
He also regards similar behavior on the part of the aleurone layer as strengthening 
the evidence that the cells of that tissue possess vitality. The paper is presum- 
ably an initial effort, because (a) the introduction as such is unnecessarily tedious, 
and as a digest of the literature is deficient in so far as a judicial analysis is con- 
* cerned, and is not as comprehensive as others already published; (0) after about 
ten pages of tabulated data a new subject is at once begun with no discussion or con- 
sideration of the significance of the experimental results recorded. This pot-pourrt 
style of composition is more or less reflected in the impression one receives of 
the author’s tendency to think of several matters without analysis and correla- 
tion. On the other hand, all the experimental procedure is very carefully 
described and the reader can analyze the results. In spite of the fact that the 
Tespiration tubes were “tarred” instead of tared, one is inclined to accept the 
Tesults as reliable and the conclusions as sound.—Raymonp H. Ponp. 
Plant diseases.—The last annual report (21st) of the Agricultural Experiment 
Station of the University of Nebraska, issued January 29, 1908, contains the 
following papers of interest in reference to plant diseases. : 
Poor? discusses several diseases of tomatoes. Black rot, due to Alfernaria 
Sasciculata (C. & E.) Jones & Grout, occurs on the ripe fruit at the blossom end. 
cavities within the diseased tissue are lined with the fluffy mycelium of the 
Sus. It was isolated and inoculations were made upon both ripe and green 
eaicgergne ee 
°STowarp, FREDERICK, On endospermic respiration in certain seeds. Annals 
of Botany 22:415-448, 1908. 
7 Poot, V. W., Some tomato fruit rots during 1907. 
