174 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [FEBRUARY 
with solutions of nitrate of potassium, in one series, which gave seeds, from 
which plants were grown “in which the stem and leaves were marked by very 
shaggy hairs, the leaves were definitely stalked, not sessile, distinctly stem- 
clasping, in shape ovate, with large sharp teeth.”” The new form, which 
not conform to any known type, was carried “successfully” to the second 
generation but not beyond. These experiments were repeated in 1909-1910 
but gave negative results. 
Injection of salts into the ovary before fertilization, in dilutions of 1: 1000, 
showed many failures by killing the “unfertilized ovules.” Sodium chloride, 
nitrate of potassium, carbonate of ammonium, sulphate of sodium, and sulphate 
of iron were used. One series in which sodium chloride and carbonate of 
ammonium were injected into the ovaries of E. rosewm showed “a number of 
aberrant forms of quite unknown type.” ‘Three of the new forms were 
brought to bloom and maturity, and in one case to a second generation.” 
O. Lamarckiana when injected did not show any increased array of new 
types, but O. odorata, after the injection of carbonate of ammonia, produced a 
“bloom” “which reminded one strongly of O. gigas.” It was sterile. In E. 
hirsutum only injections of nitrate of potassium gave results, and in one 
series there resulted a form that had many of the “features of another genus, 
namely Circaea,” which reverted to the type of the parents in subsequent 
generations. 
Apparently the paper is a setitaitnaiy announcement, and one regrets 
that it is not accompanied by illustrations and more data of the experiments 
and less of the general discussion of the problems. The chief interest in the 
paper lies in the fact that FrrtH apparently did not know of MacDoveal’s 
investigations along the same line, nor of the experiments of HUMBERT upon 
Si noctiflora. FrrtH used the same methods that have been used by 
MacDovceat, but somewhat stronger solutions, and his results are an impor- 
tant confirmation of the general results obtained and methods employed by 
MacDoucat.—W. L. Tower 
Effect of neutral salts upon plants and animals.—Oscar Lorw™ has 
investigated the effects of neutral salts upon the lower animals and plants. 
He finds that a 0.2 per cent solution of di-potassium oxalate more poisonous 
to infusoria than a 1 per cent solution of di-potassium tartrate. Infusoria, 
copepods, and rotatoria, which are able to live 24 hours (and some 3 days) in 4 
©.5 per cent di-potassium tartrate, die in 30-40 minutes in a 0.5 per cent 
solution of di-potassium oxalate. Seedlings of radish, clover, and barley, with 
root length of 1-3 cm., exposed to o. 5 per cent of the oxalate at a temperature 
of 12°-15° C., show loss of turgor in the root cells within 24 hours, and decay 
immediately follows, while in an equimolecular solution of the tartrate or 4 
* Loew, Oscar, Uber die Giftwirkung von Oxalsaurensalzen und die physiolo- 
gische Funktion des Calcium. Biochem. Zeitschrift 38: 226-243. 1912. 
