NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



905 



with sauces of various kinds, and is sometimes pickled. It has a pleasant 

 taste, and contains a large quantity of easily assimilable substances. 



w. c w. 



Stapelia Pillansii. By N. E. Brown {Gard. Chron. No. 903, p. 242, 

 fig. 100, April 16, 1904).— This fine and distinct species was collected in 

 South Africa by Mr. N. S. Pillans. A full description of the plant and a 

 good figure are given. — G. S. S. 



Starch-formation of Leaves in various Solutions {Beih. BoU 

 Cent, xviii. Abt. i. pp. 133-146). — Reinhard and Suschkoff (Charkow) 

 find that when leaves are placed in saccharose solution the amount of 

 starch formed depends on temperature. A temperature of about 25° C. 

 seems to be the optimum in most cases. An acceleration at first, but 

 eventually less starch is formed with -01 per cent, chinin and natrium 

 chloride. Caffein, antipyrin, morphium, are favourable, and iron chloride 

 and zinc sulphate are at first of advantage. The effect of ether is not very 

 clearly brought out. Asparagin and " Harnstoff " at first assist in the 

 starch-production, but eventually inhibit the formation of starch. 



G. F. S.-E. 



Starch-grain Theory of the Action of Gravity. By H. Schroder 

 (Beih. Bot. Cent. yvi. pp. 269 2->8 ; with 1 plate). — Gives further evidence 

 towards the theory that starch-grains assist in the perception of the gravity 

 stimulus much as the statoliths of the ear assist in hearing. He found 

 cells with movable starch-grains in all the Angiosperms studied generally 

 as a sheath ; similar cells occur in Gymnosperms, Equisetiun, Ferns, and 

 Marsilia. They also are found in ge;>tropically sensitive flowers. The 

 peculiar bodies in the tip of the root-hairs of Char a probably act as 

 statoliths. The time required by the statolith to change its position is 

 always shorter than the time required by the ro )t-hair to change its 

 direction. No such bodies were discovered in the shoot of Chara. It is 

 doubtful if the oil-drops in Phycomyces act as statoliths. Many papers 

 dealing with this subject are cited in the text.— G. F. S.-E. 



Starches, West Indian. By W. R. Buttenshaw, M.A. (Join-, hup. 

 Agr. Dep. W.I. vol. v. pt, 1, 1904, pp. 1-40; with 16 woodcuts).— This 

 exhaustive paper treats of the various kinds of starches which are yielded 

 by the starch-producing plants of the West Indies. In addition to the 

 ordinary food-plants, the list contains a number of plants that serve for 

 feeding purposes in times of scarcity. These starch-plants are arranged 

 according to their natural orders. This is followed by an account of the 

 preparation of starch from the foregoing plants, and a dissertation on the 

 microscopic characters of starch-grains. The latter includes the three 

 systems of classification of starch-grains, viz. (1) Vogel's table of the 

 starches and arrowroots of commerce, (2) Muter's table for the detection 

 of starches, and (3) Blyth's classification. After describing a number of 

 fruit-grain and tuber starches, the starch-grains of many of which are 

 figured, a table is furnished of the measurements of thirty-three varieties 

 of starches. The only cereal grains included are Maize and Sorghum 

 vulgare. The commercial starches are cassava, tous-les-mois, the 



