ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
219 
Alleged Alcoholic! Enzyme in Yeast.— From a series of experiments 
made on a variety of English yeasts, Prof. J. R. Green * has been unable 
to obtain any evidence of the presence in them of a substance capable of 
setting up alcoholic fermentation in a solution of cane-sugar, as alleged 
by Buchner. 
Herr A. Stavenhagen f has come very much to the same conclusion. 
Unorganised Ferments inlvMilk.i — Messrs. S. M. Babcock and 
H. L. Russell have found that milk, kept in contact with an excess of 
chemical substances that destroy the metabolic activity of micro-organisms 
but do not suspend entirely the action of unorganised ferments, will 
undergo a series of chemical changes, similar to those that occur in the 
normal ripening of cheese, and the authors conclude from the experi- 
ments they have made that the enzymes present in milk — i.e. used in the 
manufacture of cheese, and undoubtedly inherent in the milk itself — are 
very important factors in the breaking down of the casein in the normal 
ripening of cheese. In any case, it must be admitted that the trans- 
formation of the casein in this process is not entirely due to the action of 
micro-organisms, but is shared in a large degree by the action of these 
ferments whose presence and effect have heretofore not been recognised. 
y. General. 
Phylogeny and Taxonomy of Angiosperms.§ — Prof. C. E. Bessey 
discusses at length the probable genetic connection of the main divisions 
of Angiosperms. He believes that the angiospermous phylum parted 
very early into two sub-classes, the Monocotyledons and the Dicotyledons ; 
this separation taking place while the flower-strobilus (pistil) was still 
apocarpous, and before any of the carpellary leaves had undergone much, 
if any, modification. These modifications have been chiefly in two 
directions, viz. a fusion and a suppression of parts, which the author 
terms respectively symphysis and aphanisis. That the Dicotyledons 
represent a higher type of structure than the Monocotyledons is indicated 
by the difference in the constitution of the vascular bundles, and by the 
structure of the stem and root. The author then explains in detail his 
views respecting the descent and genetic connection of the various groups 
of Monocotyledons and Dicotyledons. 
Resistance of Plants to Desiccation.|| — As the results of a further 
eeries^of experiments on this subject, Dr. A. J. Ewart states that the 
assertion often made, that seeds, spores, and mosses can withstand com- 
plete desiccation without their vitality being destroyed, is incorrect. In 
no case can anything of a vital nature be deprived of all water without 
its vitality being destroyed. The minimum percentage of water which 
is sufficient to maintain vitality was found to be from two to three per 
cent, of the dried weight of the object. Dry protoplasm (i.e. protoplasm 
with the minimum amount of water necessary to maintain vitality) is 
perfectly dormant ; it can neither respire nor assimilate ; can neither add 
to its substance nor diminish it. 
* Ann. of Bot., xi. (1897) pp. 555-62. Cf. this Journal, 1897, p. 414. 
t Ber. Deutsch. Cliem. Gesell., xsx. (1897) pp. 2422-33. See Journ. Chem. 
Soc., 1898, Abstr., p. 88. J Centralbl. Bakt. u. Par., 2 te Abt., iii. (1897) pp. 615-20. 
§ Bot. Gazette, xxiv. (1897) pp. 145-78 (3 figs.). 
, || Trans. Liverpool Biol. Soc., xi. (1897) pp. 151-9. Cf. this Journal, 1897, p. 219. 
