218 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
tlie latter gives rise to sugar, and the former to a form of vegetable 
acid which is soluble in water and in ether, is crystalline, and has the 
power of dialysis. 
Germination of Seeds of Papilionacese.* * * § — According to Sigg. O. 
Mattirolo and L. Buscalioni, when the seeds of Papilionaceae ( Phaseolus 
multiflorus , Vida Faba , Pisum sativum , Lupinus albus ) germinate, or are 
brought into contact with water, the process can be divided into three 
periods, viz. : — (1) The seed increases in size, causing a wrinkling of the 
integument, the absorption of water by which is the cause of the increase ; 
cavities are formed between the integument and the cotyledons, and in 
the intercellular spaces of the integument itself, in which the air 
necessarily becomes rarefied. (2) A period of decrease in size due to 
the absorption of the air in the intercellular spaces. (3) This is followed 
by a second period of increase in size due in part to decomposition. 
The micropyle, which can open or close according to the hygrometric 
conditions, is the natural channel through which air enters the seed ; and 
the integument of the seed plays a most important part in the respiration 
which is essential to its germination. 
Germination of the Sugar-cane.} — Dr. Fressanges describes and 
figures an instance of germination of the grain of the sugar-cane while 
still within the panicle. The mode of germination has never been 
accurately described. 
Temperature of Tubercles during Germination.} — M. H. Devaux 
gives the results of some observations on the temperature of a mass of 
germinating potatoes. At the height of 30 cm. from the bottom of the 
heap the temperature was little in excess of that of the surrounding air ; 
at 60 cm. the temperature was 23° C., the air being 20° C. At 130 cm. 
it was 29° C., while at the top of the mass, at about 2 metres, it was 39° C. 
(2) Nutrition and Growth (including- Movements of Fluids). 
Absorption of Nitrogen.§ — From experiments made in cultivating 
poppies and wheat in sterilized sand, M. Pagnoul concludes that ammo- 
niacal nitrogen can be assimilated by plants when the nitric fermenta- 
tion is deficient ; but that it is notably inferior in this form to nitric 
nitrogen from the point of view of the nutrition of the plant. 
Assimilation of Nitrogen by F«obinia.|| — By causing seeds of 
Bobinia Pseudacada to germinate in a soil and a nutrient fluid entirely 
destitute of nitrogen-compounds, Herr B. Frank convinced himself that 
this leguminous tree possesses the same property as the herbaceous 
plants belonging to the order, of extracting nitrogen directly from the 
atmosphere. Tubercles were abundantly formed on the root, and, during 
the first summer, the seedling had obtained an amount of nitrogen 38- 
fold greater than that contained in the seed, nearly the whole of which 
must have been derived from the nitrogen of the atmosphere. 
* Malpighia, iv. (1890) pp. 313-30 (6 pis.). Cf. this Journal, 1890, p. 625. 
t Rev. Hist, et Litt. de l’lle Maurice, April 23, 1890 (1 pi.). See Journ. of 
Bot., xxviii. (1890) p. 303. 
+ Bull. Soc. Bot. France, xxxvii. (1890) pp. 168-70. 
§ Comptes Rendus, cxi. (1890) pp. 507-9. 
|| Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Gesell., viii. (1890) pp. 292-4. 
