78 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [JANUARY 
ordinary soil and surrounded by an oxyhydrogen atmosphere containing some 
of Hydrogenomonas, vit d flava. ough the mutual activity of those 
two species of bacteria constituting the film, the carbonic acid is reduced and 
hydrogen is f those organisms is capable of heterotropic 
ventures the opinion that in the presence of carbonic acid the hydrogen is used 
to form compounds with the carbonic acid which are in turn oxidized.— 
YMOND H. Ponp. 
Reduction.—ZaLEskr3 makes a study of the reduction processes in plants. 
A brief review of the literature on the subject is followed by a number of experi- 
ments. Methylene blue was used as the agent to be reduced. He finds a 
parallel between the reduction activity and alcoholic fermentation. The main 
evidence of such a parallel is shown by the fact that various acids, bases, and 
salts affect similarly the two processes, and plant organs in general show the 
two processes in a like degree. He points out the fact that we do not know 
the agent that causes such reductions. It may be an enzyme, reductase or 
hydrogenase, or it may be a chemical compound capable of absorbing oxygen. 
One quickly sees the need of a master mind in this field, a person who can use 
exact chemical methods rather than haphazard ones. 
Korsakow’ finds that sodium selenate stops the action of zymase in killed 
yeast-“zymin”’; while it greatly increases its activity in living yeast. This 
agrees with the effect PaALLADIN* found that ether and other poisons had on CO: 
(respiratory) production in higher plants. While the selenate stopped the 
fermentative activity of the dead yeast, it did not modify its reductive power, 
as shown by the deposit of selenium. Hence it is argued that the two processes 
are wisp: in contrast to ZALESKI’s contention.—WILLIAM CROCKER. 
Evaporation in marsh vegetation.—Investigating the atmospheric factors 
in herbaceous marsh vegetation by means of thermometers and a modification 
of the porous cup atmometer, Yapp"® demonstrated a marked stratification in 
*3 ZALESKI, W., Ueber die Rolle der a bei der Atmung der 
nzen. Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Gesell. 28:319- 
% Korsakow, Marte, Ueber die Wir on n ag Natriumselents auf die Aus- 
scheidung der Kohlensiure lebender und abgetoteter Hefe. Ber. Deutsch. Bot. 
Gesell. 28: 334-338. 19 
1S PALLADIN, W., Zur Physiologie der Lipoide. Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Gesell. 
28:120-125. IgI0. 
6 Yapp, R. H., On stratification in the vegetation of a marsh and its relation to 
evaporation and temperat ure. Annals of Botany 23:275-320. 19009. 
