414 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
the production of cellulose in plants and that of fat in animals. The 
cellulose and the carbohydrates consumed by respiration, combined with 
amides, produce new proteids. 
Transformation of Carbohydrates.* — Herr F. Schuller classifies 
semi-fruticose and perennial herbaceous plants under five types, according 
to the variations in the amount of starch and reducing sugars which they 
contain at different periods of the year. Some of them, e.g. most of the 
Ericaceae, display the same phenomenon in this respect as “ oil-trees,” 
while many others behave in quite a different way. 
Influence of Carbohydrates on the Formation of Proteids.f— From 
experiments carried on by Herr E. Schulze, it would appear that seed- 
lings which had been grown for two weeks or more in the dark showed 
that the loss of proteids was least the greater the amount of non-nitro- 
genous matter present. In the changes which these substances undergo 
in the seedlings, soluble carbohydrates are formed from insoluble sub- 
stances, a portion being converted into glucose. The glucose promotes 
the regeneration of proteids from asparagin, glutamin, and perhaps other 
products of the decomposition of protein. Regeneration of protein is 
greatest in the case of seeds which contain the largest quantity of non- 
nitrogenous reserve-substances, but the decomposition of proteids is not 
checked by the presence of non-nitrogenous compounds. 
y. General. 
Protection of Plants against Fungi, if — Hr. Th. Bokorny enumerates 
the various organic substances which serve to protect plants against the 
attacks of Fungi and Schizomycetes. The mo»t widely distributed of 
these are tannins ; but more than 1 per cent, of tannin is necessary to 
give the parts of living plants immunity against the attacks of Fungi 
or bacteria (spring oak-bark contains 4-20, tea-leaves 12-15 per cent, 
of tannin). Bacteria offer less resistance to tannin than mould -fungi. 
Salts of oxalic acid are not poisonous to the lower fungi, while any 
free acid is injurious to the growth of all fungi ; oxalic not more so 
than malic or tartaric acid. Essential oils afford an effective protection 
against the attacks of all parasitic organisms. 
Effect of Parasitic Fungi on Plants.§ — Prof. B. D. Halsted notes 
the fact that one species of parasitic fungi frequently developes in the 
host-plant immunity from another species. In the autumn colouring of 
the sugar-maple he has observed that the green or yellow blotches are 
invariably accompanied by the maple-mildew, Uncinaria circinata. 
B. CRYPTO GAMIA. 
Cryptogamia Vascularia. 
Folded Tissue in Isoetes. |) — M. 0. Lignier describes a case of 
“ folded tissue ” in the ligule of Isoetes , on the basal face of the foot. It 
* ‘ Ueb. d. Umwandlung d. Kohlt hydrate in d. Halbstratchcrn u. perennirenden 
Krautern,’ Leipzig, 18y8. See Bot. Ztg., lvii. (1899) 2 te Abth.. p. 68. 
t Lundwirth. Jahrb., xxvii. pp. 516-20. See Journ. Lhem. Soc., 1899, Abstr. ii. 
p. 322. X Biol. Centralbl., xix. (1899) pp. 177-85. 
§ Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, xxvii. (1899) pp. 12-20 (2 tigs.). 
|| Bull. Soc. Linn. Normandie, ix. (1895) p. 42. See Bonnier’s Rev. Cen. de Bot., 
xi. (1899) p. 31. 
