1917] CURRENT LITERATURE 527 
colloids hold for all hydrophilous colloids with which they have to deal, 
protein as well as carbohydrate. This work seems to make evident the error 
of such a general assumption. 
A quotation from the last paper gives the author’s view of the physio- 
logical significance of these results. ‘‘The general identity of constitution 
of these colloidal mixtures and of cell-masses, and the obvious similarity of 
their behavior, together with newly determined features of carbohydrate 
metabolism not described in this paper, make it possible to correlate more 
closely the processes of imbibition, metabolism, and growth, and on the bases 
of these interrelations, to pherpret ares enlargement and incidental varia- 
tions in volume and size of organs.””’ No doubt many will differ from a state- 
ment in another part of the paper that amorphous carbohydrates form a very 
important part of the plant protoplast. There seems little evidence that 
carbohydrates are constituents of the protoplast they generally appear as 
discrete particles of micronic size and not in intimate mixtures with proteins 
and distributed in particles of submicronic or amicronic size, as must have 
been the case in the agar gelatine 2 i with which the authors worked. 
late we are coming to know that amorphous carbohydrates of the walls 
and intercellular spaces have sudiahe physiological controlling action. 
is is especially true in s. is work is very suggestive in this connection 
so. 
This work may have a very important bearing on the daily transpiring 
power of certain of the cacti as found by various workers in the Desert Labora- 
tory. In these there is apparently no stomatal regulation, and the lowest 
transpiring power is during the day. This corresponds to the daily change 
in acidity. The time of low transpiring power is the time of low acidity, when, 
according to the findings of MacDovucat and Spornr, the gels of the tissues 
will have the greatest power to take up and hold water. With this no doubt 
there will be a rise in viscosity. These physical conditions will all tend to lower 
the rate of movement of water toward the intercellular spaces and to lower the 
vapor pressure within those spaces. This in turn will lower the rate of outward 
diffusion. This suggested relation needs careful investigation. On the basis 
of the behavior of protein gels the daily variation in the transpiring power of the 
cacti was not intelligible. This work should be a great stimulus to much work 
along similar lines —Wa. Croc 
Taxonomic notes.—BritTon,” in continuing his studies of West Indian 
plants, has described new species in Cleome, Chamaecrista (3), Leucocroton (3), 
Passiflora (3), Rondeletia (10), Eriocaulon (3), Dupatya, Pilea, Ichthyomethia, 
% Britton, N. L., Studies of West Indian plants. IX. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 
44:1-37. 1917. 
