72 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Inosite.* — Herr E. Fick finds inosite very widely distributed in the 

 vegetable kingdom, in a largo number of plants belonging to a great 

 variety of natural orders, — in the seed, seed-vessel, stem, leaves, and 

 roots, though by no means universally. It is present in larger 

 quantities in climbing than in erect plants. The mode of its separation 

 from the living plant in clusters of needles is described in detail. 



Tannin in Acanthus spinosus-f— M. J. B. Schnetzler finds tannin 

 present in the leaves of this plant, along the vascular bundles, in the 

 parenchyma of the stem, the peduncles, the walls of tho ovary, the 

 ovules, the style, the stigma, and the filaments. He believes it not to bo 

 a mere product of excretion, but to play an important part in the life of 

 the plant. 



Chemical substances contained in the Box.J — Besides the three 

 well-known alkaloids of the box, buxine, parabuxine, and buxinidine, 

 Sig. G. A. Barbaglia finds in the leaves two others, to which he gives 

 the names parabuxinidine and buxinamine. The chemical properties of 

 these five alkaloids are given in detail. He finds also, besides Walz's 

 buxoflavina, three distinct pigments, a green, a yellow, and a red, 

 buxoviridinura, buxorubinum, and buxocrocinum. The wax on the upper 

 surface of the leaves he finds to differ from the vegetable waxes 

 previously known, and establishes for it by experiment the composition 

 C 30 H G2 O. 



Aleurone-grains in the Seed of Myristica surinamensis.§ — Herr A. 

 Tschirch finds that these seeds are peculiar in the extraordinary deve- 

 lopment of the albumen crystalloids of the aleurone-grains. Each cell 

 is almost filled with a large crystalloid of the hexagonal system, either 

 a rhombohedron (R) or a combination of the same with the basal plane 

 (R*OR). Twin forms are rare. These crystalloids form the matrix of 

 very large aleurone-grains. As a rule, to each crystalloid is attached 

 a greater or less number of globoids, each including a needle-shaped 

 crystal of calcium oxalate. Besides the globoids, the oxalate crystals, 

 and the protein-crystalloids, the aleurone-grains also contain a residue 

 of amorphous substance. To separate these constituents, a section is 

 freed from oil by means of ether, then very dilute aqueous potash dis- 

 solves the albumen crystalloids after washing, acetic acid dissolves the 

 globoids, and then the calcium oxalate is dissolved in dilute hydrochloric 

 acid. 



f3) Structure of Tissues. 



Laticiferous System of Manihot and Hevea.|| — In addition to the 

 two systems of laticiferous vessels in Manihot Glaziovii already described 

 by Dr. D. H. Scott, Miss Agnes Calvert and Mr. L. A. Boodle find a 

 third, in the peripheral portion of the pith, usually in the neighbour- 

 hood of a primary xylem-bundle. These laticiferous tubes have reticu- 

 late anastomoses similar to those described by Dr. Scott in the cortex. 



* Fick, R., ' Untera. iib. d. Darstellung u. d. Eigenschaften des Inosit,' 38 pp , 

 St. Petersburg, 1887. See Bot. Centralbl., xxxii. (1887) p. 133. 



t Arcb. Sci. Phys. et Nat., xviii. (1887) pp. 300-2. 



% Atti Soc. Tobc. Sci. Nat., viii. (1887) pp. 255-70. 



§ Arch. Pbarm., xxv. (1887) pp. 619-23. See Journ. Cheni. Soc. Lond. — Abstr., 

 1887, p. 1061. 



11 Aim. of But., i. (1887) pp. 55-62, 75-7 (1 pi.). Cf. this Journal, 1884, p. 409. 



