1910] CURRENT LITERATURE 47! 
center of the colony. It would seem, therefore, that the pigment formation is the 
result of catabolic processes in the older parts of the mycelium. A general survey 
of the paper shows that substances which are favorable to growth, as carbo- 
hydrates, also favor the production of pigment; while substances like polyatomic 
alcohols, which are poor nutrients, result in little color production. It does not 
seem that the absence or presence of color in these cases can be attributed to any 
specific action of the compounds, but is rather associated with the general growth 
of the fungus. The same may be said of the experiments in which pigment 
production was depressed by withholding necessary mineral nutrients or by high 
osmotic pressure. A more interesting relation is shown when nitrogen is offered 
in the form of inorganic salts or as asparagin and peptone. All these substances 
in the presence of sugar and mineral nutrients favored the production of pigment, 
but if magnesium sulfate and monopotassium phosphate were withdrawn, color 
was produced only in the presence of the organic nitrogen compounds. More- 
over, in this case abundant pigments were produced in asparagin cultures which 
gave poor growth. A striking effect on the permeability of the protoplasm was 
noted when phosphates were absent from the nutrient solutions: In all such 
cultures the pigment diffused into the culture medium, while in all other cases it 
remained in the cells—H. HassELBRING. 
Agricultural experiment station in Palestine.—What is called an American 
institute of research has been established in Palestine, supported by American 
capital furnished by several philanthropic Jews. Details of the organization and 
purpose of this experiment station have been published by FarrcHiLp.?3 It is to 
be located at the foot of Mt. Carmel, seven miles from Haifa, and will be under 
the directorship of Mr. AARON AARONSOHN. The director is well known among 
botanists through his discovery of the long-sought wild prototype of wheat, his 
personal acquaintanceship having been extended by a recent visit to this country, 
when he was impressed by the remarkably close agricultural resemblance between 
California and Palestine. His discoveries of drought-resistant plants, and espe- 
cially the possibility of using his wild wheat in the more arid regions of the 
United States, have led to an invitation to prepare a bulletin for the U.S. Bureau 
of Plant Industry. 
_The special purpose of the station is to develop rational agriculture in Pales- 
tine, but the director has in mind also a wider application of his results, and will 
issue annual reports in English of the work of the station. It seems that the 
study of plant pathology is unknown in Palestine, and as a nucleus for such work 
the collection of the late Proressor W. A. KeLLeRMAN has been purchased, 
which the Department of Agriculture has materially supplemented. 
The whole movement is one of great interest and promise, not only to Palestine, 
but to our own country as well.—J. M. C. 
23 FAIRCHILD, Davip, An American research institution in Palestine; the Jewish 
agricultural experiment station at Haifa. Science N.S. 31:376, 377- 1910. 
