1906] CURRENT LITERATURE 233 
Azotobacter.—Stoxiasa and his assistants have been cultivating <Azoto- 
bacter chroococcum and Radiobacter sp. to determine the fixation of nitrogen and 
the fermentative respiratory activity.2°° They do not confirm BrtyERINcK’s 
assertion that Radiobacter fixes free N, nor that Azotobacter in company there- 
with fixes more N than in pure culture. They conceive the fermentation of the 
mannits and of glucose by Azotobacter to be wrought by glycolytic enzymes 
which split them into lactic, acetic, and formic acids and alcohol. By the decom- 
position of these, CO, and Hz are produced, the former at greater rate than in 
any organisms previously known. Thus 18™ of Azotobacter, dry weight, pro- 
duces on an average 1.38™ CO, in 24 hours. The H, is believed to have an 
important réle in the fixation of N—C. R. B 
Subalpine scrub in New Zealand.—CocKAYNE”’ has named the distinct zone of 
plants on many New Zealand mountains between the limit of the forest and the 
subalpine meadow the “subalpine scrub.” On Mount Fyffe this formation 
differs from the typical one in the paucity of species and in the great domination 
of Cassinia albida, a species peculiar to that locality, in places being almost a 
pure formation. Ranunculus lobulatus, another local species, is the principal 
plant beneath the scrub. _ Some of the shrubs are strongly xerophytic; and the 
author thinks that the amount of xerophylly observed in many New Zealand 
plants is by no means a measure of their adaptation to present environment, 
but rather a survival from previous more xerophytic conditions.—J. M 
Monoecism of Funaria hygrometrica.—BoopLE*® has Seishin to settle 
the contradictory statements in reference to the distribution of the male and 
female organs of this species. It seems that bryological works describe it as 
Monoecious; and that certain general textbooks speak of it as dioecious. It 
turns out that the bryologists are right, as might have been expected. ‘The 
male axis bears a terminal male flower, and produces a lateral branch (inno- 
vation) which forms a terminal female flower. The female branch may be 
inserted at different levels, sometimes high up, sometimes basally; it usually 
as a tuberous base bearing a tuft of rhizoids, and if torn away appears like an 
independent plant.”—J. M. C. 
Color of algae.—GatpuKov exposed the blue-green plates of. Phormidium 
and the red Porphyra to the spectrum of a strong electric light.2? In ten hours 
under all the green to violet rays the color had become yellow to brown-yellow, 
TOKLASA, J., et al., Ueber die chemischen Vorginge bei der Assimilation des 
Ste Stickstoffes durch Azotobacter und Radiobacter. Ber. Deutsch. Bot. 
Gesells. 24:22-32. 1906. 
*7 CockaynE, L., Notes on the subalpine scrub of Mount Fyffe. Trans. N. Z. 
Inst. 38: 361-374. 1906. 
38 Boopieg, L. A., The monoecism of Funaria hygrometrica Sibth. Annals of 
Botany 20: 293-299. 1906. 
*? GatDuKov, N., Die komplementiire chromatische Adaptation bei Porphyra 
und Phormidium. Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Gesells. 24:1-5. 1906. 
