﻿iqi6] CURRENT LITERATURE 173 



species in Chamaesyce. Several new combinations are made— A. H. Moore 

 and S. Moore (Jour. Bot. 52:263-265. 1914) have published three new 

 species of Compositae from Peru.— S. Moore (ibid. 89-98. pi. 530) has pub- 

 lished several new species of the Vernoniae from Africa and includes a new 

 genus (Muschleria). The same author {ibid. 146-1 51. pi. 530B) has described 

 a number of new flowering plants from South Africa and includes a new 

 genus (Rhamphogyne) of the Compositae from Rodriguez Island; and (ibid. 

 333-337) under the title " Alabastra diversa " has published several new species 

 of flowering plants including a new Aailyplhi (A. Forhcsii) from Peru.— J. M. 

 Greenman. 



Chemistry of diseased beets— The composition of sound and of diseased 

 sugar beets has been investigated by Bodnars for the purpose of determining 

 if any differences were discoverable which might account for a predisposition 

 to bacterial root-rot on the part of the diseased plants, and thus throw some 

 light on Sorauer's view that this disease is induced by abnormal metabolism 

 by which the way is paved for inroads by bacteria. In the preparation of a 

 mash from the diseased beets Bodnar apparently used the whole of each beet 

 without a separation of the sound and the diseased portions, except in a few- 

 instances when sound and diseased tissues of the same beet were compared. 

 He found that the diseased beets contained less water and less cane sugar, but 

 more acid and more invert sugar than the sound beets. The invert sugar 

 content of the sound portion of diseased beets was higher than that of normal 

 beets, but not as high as that of the diseased portion of the same beet. In- 

 vertase was shown to be present in both the sound and the diseased portions 

 of diseased beets, but absent in sound beets. The ash content of both the 

 sound and the diseased tissue of diseased beets was higher than that of sound 

 beets, and the ash was unusually rich in aluminium. That the conditions found 

 in the diseased beets can be regarded as determining factors predisposing the 

 plants to disease is unlikely, since the conditions were found after the plants 

 had been invaded. The high acidity of the diseased beets, as well as the loss 

 in cane sugar and increase in invert sugar, can be attributed directly to the 

 metabolic activity of the bacteria. Even the increased ash content may indi- 

 cate merely a proportionate loss of organic matter. It is interesting, however, 

 and worthy of further investigation that in partly diseased beets invertase is 

 present in both the sound and the diseased tissues, and that both are char- 

 acterized by a higher ash content than normal beets. These conditions seem 

 to indicate an effect of the disease beyond the tissues actually invaded— H. 



Alcohol oxidation in seed plants— Two views have been proposed to 

 explain why alcohol which is produced in plant tissues under conditions of 



