STEREOCHEMISTRY APPLIED TO BIOLOGY. No. 116. REICHERT, EDWARD T., and AMOS P. BROWN. The Differentiation and Specificity of Corresponding Proteins and other Vital Substances in Relation to Biological Classification and Organic Evolution: The Crystallography of Hemoglobins. Quarto, xIx+338 pages, 100 plates, 411 text figures. In cloth binding. Published 1909. Price $9.00. This work is designed to show that corresponding proteins and other organic vital substances differ in chemical constitution, and that these differences are definitely related to genera, species, etc., and thus establish a principle which may prove of great importance in the explanation of heredity, mutations, the influences of food and environment, the differentiation of sex, and in other problems of biology, normal and abnormal. Differences in corresponding substances are shown to offer a new and important method in the study of the relationships of genera and species and in general to indicate extremely important applications of stereochemistry to protoplasmic processes and products. The volume embodies the results of the detailed crystallographic studies of the hemoglobins of 107 species mostly mammals, including representatives of Pisces, Batrachia, Aves, Marsupiala, Edentata, Sirenia, Ungulata, Rodentia, Otariidæ, Phocida, Mustelidæ, Procyonidæ, Urside, Canidæ, Felidæ, Viveridæ, Insectivora, Chiroptera, and Primates; also a considerable amount of incidental matter, embracing a consideration of the alliance between chlorophyll and hemoglobin; the distribution of hemoglobin, hemocyanin, and other respiratory substances among the animal kingdom; the general chemical and physical characters and specificities of the hemoglobins of different species; the specificity of the blood, as regards its various constituents, in relation to zoological classification; method for preparing, examining, measuring, and differentiating the hemoglobin crystals from different species, etc. Exceptional crystallographic interest and value are attached to the results of this research because chiefly of the hemoglobins constituting an extraordinary isomorphous series; of the description not only of almost every known kind of twin, but also of forms of twinning entirely new and of unusual interest; and of the profuseness and accuracy with which the various crystalline forms have been illustrated by line drawings and photomicrographs. No. 173. REICHERT, EDWARD T. The Differentiation and Specificity of Starches in relation to Genera, Species, etc.: Stereochemistry applied to Protoplasmic Processes and Products, and as a strictly Scientific Basis for the Classification of Plants and Animals. Quarto, in two parts. Published 1913. In cloth binding. Price $16.00. Part I. The Starch-Substance and Starch-Grain. Pages I-XVII+1-342, 102 plates Part II. The Differentiation and Specificity of Starches. Pages I-XVII+343-900 This research is in the nature of a preliminary investigation and is supplementary and complementary to Publication No. 116. Previous investigators found that starch-grains exist in a considerable variety of forms, and that while the histological peculiarities of a given starch may sometimes be characteristic of the species or genus it would be hazardous to depend upon them generally as indicating the plantIn this research it has been demonstrated that starches from different plants vary in their physical and physico-chemical properties, and that the differences are distinctive of the plant and can be plotted out in the form of reaction-curves which give pictures, as it were, by means of which varieties, species, and genera can be distinguished and classified. source. In Part I, the first chapter gives, among various topics presented, a brief statement of the crystalline nature and of the conditions which influence the form of the starch-grain, with the object of showing that histological differences do not necessarily imply any inherent differences in the constitution of the starch per se. Especial attention is given to the recent developments of stereochemistry, many instances being cited to show that not only may complex organic substances exist in a number of stereoisomeric forms, but also that (in accordance with the modifications in the arrangements of the elements, groups, or masses of the molecules of corresponding substances) there are associated related dependent differences in physiological, toxicological, or other properties. Evidence is given which leads to the deduction that starch may exist in countless stereoisomeric forms, each having distinctive properties. Subsequent chapters contain descriptions of the starchsubstance and the structure, form, and mechanism of formation of the starchgrain; of peculiar kinds of starch and starch-like bodies; of the primary and reverted decomposition products of starches, including references to the processes involved in giving rise to them, and to the various forms of dextrins and sugars and unusual products; and of assumed processes in the synthesis of starch. Then are given the methods heretofore used to differentiate starches and a consideration of the digestibility of raw and boiled starches, with especial reference to certain popular misconceptions regarding the latter. A chapter is devoted to quotations of histological descriptions of over 1,200 starches obtained from an exceedingly large variety of plants and plant-parts. The final chapters embrace statements of the methods employed in the investigation and the demonstration of the differentiation and specificity of starches in relation to genera, species, etc. Part II comprises the laboratory records of the histological, physical, and physico-chemical properties of over 300 starches, representing 105 genera and 34 families, which serve as the basis of the research, including 10 text charts of reaction intensities and an index of the starches. The general conclusion reached from the results of these two researches is that corresponding complex organic metabolites (such as proteins, starches, glycogen, fats, chloesterins, etc.) are modified specifically in relation to genera, species, etc., and that, as a corollary, differences in the properties of such corresponding stereoisomers constitute a strictly scientific basis for the classification of plants and animals and also offer a logical basis for the study of those structural, chemical, and physiological properties of protoplasm which have their expression in heredity, mutations, variations, sex, and a host of problems of normal and abnormal biology, general and special. No. 270. REICHERT, E. T. A Biochemic Basis for the Study of Problems of Taxonomy, Heredity, Evolution, etc., with especial reference to the Starches and the Tissues of Parent and Hybrid Stocks, and to the Starches and the Hemoglobins of Varieties, Species, and Genera. Quarto, 834 pages. Published 1919. Price $18.00. Part I. Summaries and Comparisons of the Properties of the Starches and of the Part II. Special, General, and Comparative Laboratory Data of the Properties of This research is complementary and supplementary to Publications 116 and 173, and is like them in the nature of a preliminary investigation. Facts have been accumulating along various and diverse lines of inquiry that are in support of the following propositions: that vital properties may be reduced to a physicochemic basis; that corresponding complex organic metabolites exist in stereoisomeric forms that are modified specifically in relation to and therefore diagnostic of the protoplasmic source; that the study of the genesis of protoplasm, individuals, sex, varieties, species, and genera is a study of the genesis of chemical interactions and compounds and of applications of the laws of physical chemistry. The methods of study pursued include examinations of the histologic, polariscopic, physicochemic and chemic properties of starches, chiefly of the property of gelatinizability, which property, as has been found, is a physico-chemic unit-character that may be expressed in as many physico-chemic unit-character-phases as there are agents to elicit them. The values of these phases and other reactions can be stated in figures, reduced to charts, and shown in their sum-totals to be as distinctive of the kind of starch and the plant source as are botanic characters of the plant. The starches from 50 sets of parent and hybrid stocks of a variety of genera and families have been studied, and it has been found that any individuality of the starch of either parent and also any property common to the starches of both parents may or may not be transmitted to starch of the offspring, and that if transmitted it may appear in the same or in modified form; moreover, that properties may appear in the starch of the hybrid that are not observed in the starch of either parent. These studies have been supplemented by macroscopic and microscopic investigations of the tissues of 8 sets of parent and hybrid stocks, the results of which, as should logically be expected, are fundamentally in harmony with those of the starch research, and all are in accord with the records of heredity in general and with universally recognized principles of the plant and animal breeder. The first chapter treats particularly of criteria of hybrids and mutants; the intermediateness and lessened vitality of hybrids; the intermediateness of the starches of hybrids; the intermediateness of macroscopic properties of hybrids; instability and Mendelian inheritance of hybrids and mutants; genetic purity in relation to the intermediateness of hybrids; theoretic requirements in the properties of starches to conditions in the hybrid corresponding to those of anatomic characters; and unit-characters and unit-character-phases. The second chapter is devoted to statements of the methods employed, constancy of the results, comparative valuations, etc. The third chapter gives brief comparative summaries of the more important data of the histologic properties and the polariscopic, iodine, aniline, temperature, and various reagent reactions of the starches of each set of parent and hybrid stocks. Chapter 4 includes general and special considerations of the reaction-intensities of the starches of parent and hybrid stocks. Chapter 5 summarizes the histologic characters and qualitative and quantitative reactions of the starches of hybrids in relation to the starches of the parent stocks, and of the macroscopic and microscopic characters of the tissues of hybrids in relation to those of the parent stocks. The next chapter is devoted to applications of the results of the researches to the explanation of the developmental changes in the germplasm, and of sports, mutations, and the genesis of species. The final chapter is given over to notes and conclusions. The author believes that the specificities of stereoisomerides in relation to tissues, organs, and organisms are among the most extraordinary and fundamental phenomena of living matter, and, therefore, that the principles and methods set forth in these investigations will serve as starting-points for studies that will prove of epochal importance in the unraveling of numberless problems of biology. No. 8. FARLOW, W. G. Bibliographic Index of North American Fungi. Octavo, Vol. 1, part 1, xxxv+312 pages. Published 1905. Price $2.00. A compilation of the references to species of fungi in North America southward to the Isthmus of Panama and including the West Indies. The above is only about one-fourth of the projected work which can not be carried farther. Octavo, VIII+187 pages, 75 text (Out of print.) No. 15. MOTTIER D. M. Fecundation in Plants. figures. Published 1904. Price $1.50. The subject of fecundation in plants is presented by a discussion of the more thoroughly investigated concrete cases. No. 6. COVILLE, F. V., and D. T. MACDOUGAL. Desert Botanical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution. Octavo, vi+58 pages, 29 plates. Published 1903. Price $0.50. A discussion of the general features of deserts with respect to the climate and soil formations, together with a presentation of the principal problems presented by the specified forms of plants which characterize arid areas. Detailed descriptive sketches are given of the arid regions in western Texas, the sand dunes of Chihuahua, the Tularosa desert, Nogales, Torres, Guaymas, the Colorado and Mohave deserts, the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, and the Tucson region. No. 99. MACDOUGAL, D. T. Botanical Features of North American Deserts. Octavo, 115 pages, 62 plates, 6 figures. Published 1908. Price $1.75. The more important features of deserts in North America from the, Great Basin in Nevada to southern Mexico are described and amply illustrated. The initial investigations by the members of the staff of the Desert Laboratory in the Salton Basin are given, as well as various other physiological and geographical researches. Especial attention is given to the Tucson region, the geology of which was contributed by Prof. W. P. Blake. Some consideration is also given to soils, temperatures, conditions contributory to deserts, and environmental relations to desert plants. No. 24. MACDOUGAL, D. T., A. M. Vail, G. H. SHULL, and J. K. SMALL. Mutants and Hybrids of the Oenotheras. (Paper No. 2, Station for Experimental Evolution.) Octavo, 57 pages, 22 plates. Published 1905. Price $1.00. (Out of print.) An account of cultural investigations of the evening primroses for the purpose of testing the recurrence and stability of mutants, and an estimation of their fluctuating variability compared with the parental type. No. 81. MACDOUGAL, D. T., A. M. VAIL, and G. H. SHULL. Mutations, Variations, and Relationships of the Oenotheras. (Paper No. 9, Station for Experimental Evolution.) Octavo, 92 pages, 22 plates, 73 text figures. Published 1907. Price $1.00. Includes a continuance of the investigations described in No. 24. The identity, distribution, and coefficient of mutability of Lamarck's evening primrose are discussed. No. 141. MACDOUGAL, D. T., and E. S. SPALDING. The Water-balance of Succulent Plants. Octavo, Iv+77 pages, 8 plates, 16 text figures. Published 1910. Price $1.00. This book contains the results of several years' measurement of various cacti by which their form-alterations and growth were apprehended. The massive bodies of Carnegiea, Opuntia, and Echinocactus undergo alterations in volume and form with the increase or decrease of the soil-moisture and evaporation, these changes being modified to some extent by insolation and air-temperatures. The external folds of Carnegiea (the tree cactus) and Echinocactus (melon cactus) allow rapid expansion and contraction of their great trunks, and observations upon these movements for several years are given. The results of variations in the amount and composition of the water-balance carried by desert plants are also shown. The depletion of the water-balance is accompanied by reversible changes of form; its |