362 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
inclosed in protoplasm until the starch-grains are fully formed, and the 
separate grains then show no lamination ; or they escape from it at an 
earlier period, and then become differentiated into concentric layers. In 
the latter case differentiation also takes place into either concentric or 
excentric layers ; and these grains can no longer increase in size after 
they lie free in the cell-cavity. 
When the proteinaceous bodies lie separately around the nucleus 
the protoplasm-pellicle also becomes detached, and a portion of it com- 
pletely incloses each separate body. It is this protoplasm which brings 
about the transformation of the body into starch. When the newly- 
formed starch- grain has broken through the pellicle, the protoplasmic 
portion of the latter still remains attached in the form of a cap. Starch- 
grains which have been formed in this way always exhibit excentric 
lamination after they have broken through the pellicle. They can no 
longer increase in size after the loss of the cap. 
It is therefore only to this pellicle or cap of protoplasm that the 
name starch-generator can properly be applied. Under the influence of 
light the portion of protoplasm which remains attached to the starch- 
grain, but not the ground-substance of the starch, may, in certain cases, 
become green. 
M. E. Belzung * criticizes these remarks, pointing out that Eberdt 
does not agree with Schimper’s view that the starch-grains found in the 
centre of the chlorophyll-corpuscles have a concentric structure, while 
those near the surface are excentric, and there is a decided divergence 
of views as to the function of the leucites. According to Schimper 
they are, briefly, the generators of starch, while Eberdt considers that 
there are two stages in the development of the starch- grain, — first, the 
transformation of the leucite into starch, and then the growth of the 
nucleus thus formed, and the differentiation of the concentric layers. 
M. Belzung points out that the authors in question have conducted 
their researches on plants where there is a certain amount of complexity, 
owing to the presence of crystalloids, and that the true origin of starch 
ought to be sought for in the very young embryo. 
Protein-crystalloids in the Cell-Nucleus of Flowering Plants, t — 
Herr A. Zimmermann finds protein-crystalloids to be much more 
common in the nucleus of the cells of flowering plants than has 
hitherto been supposed. They occur in plants belonging to many 
different natural orders, though in other nearly related species he was 
unable to detect them. They are not confined to any particular organs 
or tissue-systems ; they were found most frequently in the tissue of the 
leaf and in the pericarp. The method employed for detecting the 
crystalloids was a double-staining of microtome-sections by haBmatoxylin 
and acid-fuchsin, by which the crystalloids were stained an intense red, 
the nucleole and framework of the nucleus blue-violet. 
Localization of the Active Principles of the Crucifer ae.; — M. L. 
Guignard finds that the composition of the various active principles of 
* Journ. de B^t. (Mor.it), v. (1891) pp. 5-13. Cf. this Journal, 1888, p. 70. 
t Ber. Deutsch. Bor. Gesell., viii. (1890) Gen.-Yersamml. Heft, pp. 47-8. 
* Journ. de But. (Morot), iv. (1890) pp. 385-94, 412-30, 435-55 (20 figs); and 
Comptes Rendus. cxi. (1890) pp. 920-3. 
