132 TlMEHRI. 
The flowers analysed had a slight sme 1 of fermented saccharine 
matter and a distinct arid reaction. But is not at all probable 
that they could have contained any large proportion of cane- 
sugar even when quit. fresh, and that is/i6ths of that 
sugar had been inverted during the pre cess of desiccation. We 
cannot argue from analogy in this case. F?t while the nectar of many 
flowers contains no sugar except sucrose, i lvert-sugar occurs in some 
blossoms, as well as in many other parts of plants. Even the unripe 
and growing stems of the sugai-cane and of many grasses contain 
much invert-sugar. It must, however, on the other hand, be remem- 
bered that cut sugar-canes imported into this country contain a 
large amount of invert-sugar, and that if they be kept a 
week only after the harvest, the invert-sugar naturally present 
in the juice shows a marked increase and the cane-sugar 
a corresponding diminution. On the whole, then, so far as 
the materials at my disposal enable me to judge, I believe 
that the saccharine matter of fresh Mahvva flowers will be found to 
consist mainly of dextrose and levulose, and that consequently they 
will not be available as a material for the economic production of 
sucrose. 
I have to thank Mr. W. T. Thiselton Dyer, C.M.G., Director of the 
Royal Gardens, Kew, for drawing my attention to this subject, and 
for a supply of the material on which I have worked.— A. H. Church. 
E. F. iT. 
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&£2 
