412 
Notes. 
an equivalent quantity of diluted leaf-extract which was boiled at the 
beginning of the experiment contained only about -o8 °/ Q sugar. Since 
the unboiled leaf-extract, whether diluted with water or with starch- 
solution, contained more sugar than the boiled leaf-extract, it is clear 
that some amount of starch must have become converted into sugar ; 
and it is also clear that, since this increase of sugar is most marked in 
the leaf-extract to which no starch- solution had been added, it must be 
due to the conversion of starch already present in the cells of the leaf. 
The presence of added starch appears to interfere with the action of 
the ferment upon the leaf-starch. 
I have assured myself that the substance which reduces the Feh- 
ling’s solution is really a sugar; but it does not appear to be maltose, 
as might be expected, for it is not dextrorotatory though it seems to be 
fermentable. Further details are given in the paper which I am 
preparing to be read at the meeting of the British Association at 
Cardiff. 
S. H. VINES, Oxford. 
