272 
Notes  and  News. 
Am.  Jour.Pharm. 
May,  1898. 
plasm,  and  that  their  function  is  that  of  a  water  tissue.  The  same  author  has 
also1  studied  certain  crystal  and  mucilage  cells  which  are  found  in  the  branches 
and  fruit  of  Platopuntias,  though  absent  from  the  Cylindropuntias.  —  The 
American  Naturalist,  March,  1898. 
In  a  paper  on  "  The  Spruces  of  the  Adirondacks"  read  before  the  Albany 
Institute  in  November,  1897,  Professor  Peck  states  that,  though  until  recently 
only  two  species  of  Picea  were  credited  to  the  Adirondack  region,  there  is  now 
good  evidence  of  the  presence  there  of  four  species  :  P.  canadensis,  the  white 
spruce,  P.  Mariana,  the  black  spruce,  P.  rubra,  the  red  spruce,  with  a  dwarf 
variety,  P.  rubra  pusilla,  and  what  is  held  to  be  a  new  species,  the  swamp 
spruce,  P.  brevifolia,  with  a  dwarf  variety,  P.  brevifolia  semiprostrata. — The 
American  Naturalist,  March,  1898. 
Digestion  in  Pitcher  Plants. — It  has  been  variously  claimed  that  the  digestion 
of  proteids  in  the  pitchers  of  Nepenthes  is  due  to  a  digestive  ferment  secreted 
by  them  and  to  the  action  of  bacteria  growing  in  their  secretion,  Professor 
Vines,  in  the  Annals  of  Botany,  for  December,  1897,  gives  additional  corrobo- 
ration of  the  former  claim, since  he  shows  that  the  secretion  digests  fibrin  in  the 
presence  of  1  per  cent,  hydrocyanic  acid,  and  that  its  enzyme  retains  digestive 
activity  when  kept  for  several  weeks  in  pure  glycerin.  His  studies  do  not  reach 
to  the  secretion  of  the  necessary  acid,  which,  in  one  species  at  least,  is  present  in 
the  liquid  of  unopened  pitchers,and  therefore  is  not  the  result  of  stimulation  by 
the  presence  of  foreign  bodies. — The  American  Naturalist,  March,  1898. 
The  Rice  Crop  of  India  is  reported  as  the  largest  crop  grown,  and  furnishes 
the  principal  food  of  nearly  300,000,000  people  in  that  country,  while  entering 
largely  into  the  food  of  the  people  of  Egypt  and  Asia,  besides  the  quantities 
consumed  in  other  countries. 
The  total  average  yield  of  the  crop  for  the  past  ten  years  has  been  about 
20,500,000  tons,  and  the  value  of  that  exported,  after  supplying  the  home  con- 
sumption, has  been  about  $35,000,000  annually. 
The  crop  of  1895  was  much  below  the  average,  being  especially  deficient  in 
Bengal,  which  produces  about  three-fourths  of  the  crop  of  India  (including 
Burma) ;  and  the  following  extract  from  the  final  forecast  on  the  crop  of  that 
year,  issued  from  the  Statistical  Bureau  in  February,  1896,  states  the  particu- 
lars in  regard  to  the  crop  in  the  three  great  rice-producing  provinces — Bengal, 
Burma  and  Madras  : 
The  yield  of  the  crop  (1895)  is  estimated  at  20,277,050  tons,  more  than  three- 
fourths  of  the  quantity  representing  the  production  in  Bengal,  which  is  esti- 
mated at  a  fraction  less  than  15,400,000  tons.  The  return  in  both  Madras 
(1,950,000  tons)  and  Burma  (2,400,000  tons)  is  materially  larger  than  last  year  ; 
but  the  yield  in  Bengal  is  nearly  24  per  cent,  less,  and  the  total  yield  of  these 
three  provinces  is  expected  to  be  i8>^'  per  cent,  smaller  than  last  year  and  21 
per  cent,  below  the  average. 
During  the  past  five  years  the  following  countries  have  taken  the  rice 
exported  in  the  order  named  :  Egypt,  Asia,  the  United  Kingdom,  Ceylon, 
Straits  Settlements  and  Arabia,  while  much  smaller  quantities  have  gone  to 
Germany  and  other  countries,  the  United  States  being  among  the  lowest  on 
the  list,  in  1895  taking  3,500  tons,  but  none  last  or  this  year,  owing,  perhaps, 
to  the  high  price  in  India  and  to  the  increased  production  in  this  country. — 
Consular  Reports ,  Vol.I/VI,  p.  409. 
^Loc.  cit.,  pp.  79-83,  pi.  8. 
