488 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [DECEMBER 
with the origin of amphivasal bundles. To some it may appear an unneces- 
sarily round-about plan to derive a circle of collateral bundles from a proto- 
stele via the root, when direct routes have been proposed which do not violate 
the doctrine of recapitulation. Moreover, it would be interesting to see how 
the stele of Osmunda could be derived according to the new method, inasmuch 
as in ferns the evolution is said (p. 271) not to proceed further than the third 
or alternate disposition 
The memoir is divided into doe parts, in the first of which a fairly com- 
plete historical résumé is given. This is rendered more valuable by the group- 
ing of the papers under six headings. It is to be regretted that a number of 
errors have crept into the citations. The second part is devoted to a sum- 
mary of the author’s earlier researches in this field; while the third part con- 
tains an account of his new observations, extending over a wide range of 
vascular plants, including a large number of dicotyledons, though the criti- 
cally important cases found in his group ‘‘vascular cryptogams”’ are repre- 
sented only by Pieris cretica—-M. A. CHRYSLER. 
Fermentation.—Experiments of HarpEN and Norris*® confirm the 
work of other investigators according to whom many yeasts which ordinarily 
do not ferment galactose acquire the property of fermenting that sugar by 
being cultivated for a time on a medium containing it. The authors further 
show that the juice from such a yeast is also capable of fermenting galactose, 
and that the addition of phosphates to the fermentation-mixture causes an 
acceleration of fermentation similar to that observed in mixtures of glucose, 
ructose, or mannose and yeast juice on the addition of phosphates. As in 
the case of these hexoses, the phosphate is in the form of an organic compound 
from which it is not precipitated by magnesium citrate mixture. Small 
quantities of sodium arsenite also accelerated fermentation. 
Regarding the constitution of the compound formed when a phosphate 
is added to a fermenting mixture of yeast juice and a hexose, three views have 
been proposed. According to HARDEN and Younc it is a hexose-phosphate 
containing two phosphoric acid residues. LEBEDEW holds that the compound 
contains only one phosphoric acid residue, basing his view on the fact that the 
ozazone obtained from it has only a single phosphoric acid residue. The 
third view is that of IwaNorr, who considers the compound a triose phosphate. 
In a recent paper, purely chemical in its content, but of great biological inter- 
est in so far as it clears up part of the mechanism of fermentation of sugars by 
yeast juice, Younc* presents further evidence to show that the compound is 
* EN, A., and Norris, R. V., The fermentation of galactose by yeast and 
yeast juice (Preliminary communication). Proc. Roy. Soc. London B 82:645-649- 
Igto. 
7 YounG, W. J., Ueber die Zusammensetzung der durch Hefepresssaft gebildeten 
Hexosephosphorsiure. II. Biochem. Zeitschr. 32:177-188. 1911. 
