Febbuart 3, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



J 91 



bending, the time of bending would be delayed. 

 Still greater delay in bending would follow an 

 earlier covering. 



If, now, a subterranean bud which has started 

 to unfold be covered and caused to grow without 

 ever being in the light, the period of erect growth 

 will be greatly prolonged, the horizontal bend 

 will never be complete, but, instead, there will be 

 nutations up and down through an arc of usually 

 20° to 50°, these nutations lasting indefinitely. 



This behavior may fall under one of two hy- 

 potheses: (1) etiolation disarranges the normal 

 processes; (2) there is a weak inheritance of 

 diageotropism which needs the supporting influ- 

 ence of light induction to give the usual form to 

 the plant. 



The Relation of Transpiration to the Water-con- 

 tent of Leaves in the Ocotillo: Fkancis E. 



Llotd, Alabama Polytechnic Institute. 



During the summer of 1910 at the Desert Bo- 

 tanical Laboratory comparative volumetric and 

 gravimetric data were obtained for transpiration 

 in the ocotillo {Fouquieria splendens) during a 

 period of twenty-four hours. The moisture-oon- 

 Jent of the leaves of this plant was also deter- 

 mined for a similar period on two occasions. Ths 

 behavior of the stomata was determined by the 

 measurement of 300 for each of six hours during 

 the twenty-four. The following conclusions are 

 drawn. 



Comparative volumetric and gravimetric data 

 show that, in the ocotillo, the ratio between the 

 intake and outgo of water is not a constant, but 

 that, aside from changes of secondary nature, the 

 outgo is greater during the day than the intake. 

 The reverse relation obtains during the night. 



The amount of water relative to the dry weight 

 of the leaves decreases till some time in the 

 earlier part of the afternoon. After this time it 

 increases till about four a.m. 



This change in water content of the leaf ex- 

 plains at least in part the discrepancy between 

 the income and outgo of water. 



The decrease of water in the leaf occurs during 

 the period of opening of the stomata. These 

 organs are therefore not closely regulatory of the 

 rate of transpiration. 

 Relation of Certain Fungi to Nitrogen Fixation: 



B. M. DuGGAE and Lewis Knudsojt, Cornell 



University. 



As a result of comparatively recent investiga- 

 tions in Europe and America it has been reported 

 that many fungi growing in solution cultures 

 have a power of " fixing " atmospheric nitrogen. 



It has seemed necessary to determine by more 

 extensive experiments the amount of this fixation 

 by fungi from diverse habitats grown under a 

 variety of conditions. The following fungi were 

 employed in two series of experiments involving 

 about 400 flask cultures: Coprinus comatus, 

 Dwdalia Queroina, Polyponis sulphureus, Trioho- 

 derma lignicola and Aspergillus niger. 



The culture media employed consisted of ( 1 ) a 

 nutrient salt solution, such as used by other in- 

 A'estigators, to which was added, in some cases, 

 known amounts of combined nitrogen, and vari- 

 able quantities of sugar; (2) filter paper moist- 

 ened with preceding solutions; (3) quartz or 

 graphite moistened with nutrient solutions; de- 

 coctions of mangel-wurzels; (5) dead leaves 

 which were dried, powdered and moistened; (6) 

 dried leaves, as in the preceding, with varying 

 quantities of sugar; (7) decayed leaves or leaf 

 mould; (8) leaf mould with varying quantities 

 of sugar, and (9) leaf mould well aerated by 

 including with it balls of filter paper. The nitro- 

 g-en determinations indicate that there is no fixa- 

 tion of atmospheric nitrogen except possibly in 

 certain cultures of Aspergillus niger. In many 

 cases there is a nitrogen loss which is to be 

 accounted for, usually, by the production of N,. 



In a third series of experiments additional 

 fungi have been tested, and the experiments of 

 other investigators duplicated. In the light of 

 the results reported general indications were 

 given respecting the possibility of nitrogen fixa- 

 tion by this group of organisms. 



Gryptomerio Inheritance in Onagra: C. Stuabt 

 Gageb, The Brooklyn Botanic Garden. 

 Reference was made to an abnormal plant of 

 Onagra Hennis that appeared in a pedigreed cul- 

 ture following exposure to radium rays of the 

 ovule employed in producing the plant. The 

 plant possessed two primary shoot-systems (ro- 

 settes and subsequent cauline stems) of equiva- 

 lent value, but manifesting entirely unlike mor- 

 phological characters. Photographs were shown, 

 and various possibilities were suggested as to the 

 cause or causes of the anomaly. That the efl'ect 

 was due to the exposure to radium rays was held 

 to be possible, though not conclusively shown. The 

 antecedent history of the plant, and the fact that 

 hybrids between the two unlike halves manifested, 

 in the Fj and F2 generations, the characters of 

 only one of the parent shoots, was interpreted to 

 emphasize the fact, already recognized, that the 

 inheritance of a character and its expression are 

 two quite difi'erent phenomena. 



