1. The digestibility of the carbohydrates in barley, wheat and maize has been determined, using both conventional methods and individual methods for sugar, starch, pentosan, cellulose and lignin.

2. Sugar and starch were completely digested; cellulose and lignin were indigestible and the pentosan was about one-third digested.

3. Digestible pentosan accounted for about 3% of the total digestible carbohydrate.

4. The ratios of the available carbohydrate, i.e. the total of sugar plus starch expressed as starch, was almost exactly the same as that of the digestible carbohydrate and could be used as a measure of the relative amounts of digestible carbohydrate in the foods.

1. In general the juvenile growth of interspecific Triticum and intergeneric Tritioum-Aegilops amphidiploids, was normal and did not deviate from the parental behaviour. However, in the case of the interspecific hexaploids derived from T. monococcum and T. aegilopoides there was an early check in growth, and all the amphidiploids derived from A. caudata developed more or less severe chlorosis.

2. Most amphidiploids were intermediate between their parents in mature plant characters. However, in the hexaploid Triticum interspecific amphidiploids there was a transgressive increase in plant height, and whilst the derivatives of Triticum x Aegilops crosses fell within the range of their parents, they were closer to one or other parent depending upon the Aegilops species involved.

3. The ear morphology of the Triticum interspecific amphidiploid was generally a composite of that of the parents, the influence of each parent being detectable. In the Triticum-Aegilops amphidiploids, however, ear morphology was so strongly influenced by the Aegilops species, that there was frequently no obvious difference between the ears of amphidiploids with a common Aegilops parent but different wheat parents.

4. The fertility of the amphidiploids was low and there was no significant correlation between the fertility of amphidiploids and parents. There was a significant correlation between both the grain weight, and number of spikelets per ear, in parents and amphidiploids, but whilst the mean grain weight was about that of the parent with the heavier grain, the mean of spikelets per ear was about that of the parent with the fewer spikelets.

In continuation of a series of studies on the habits of Zebu cattle, records for the quantities of water consumed every hour by ten cattle during twenty periods of 24 hr. observations have been analysed.

A large variation in day-to-day consumption was evident, but water was taken on an average during 8 hr. of the day with only a small amount of water consumed during darkness. The mean consumption per animal per 24 hr. period was 9·04 kg. (1·9 gal.). The range was 5·1–12·7 kg. (1·1–2·8 gal.).

The water consumption records were subdivided into those days on which water was drunk during a small number of hours and those days when water was drunk during many hours. Although the hourly consumption differed markedly the end result showed a similar intake.

A significant negative relationship was found between water consumed and grazing counts, and for one group a significant positive correlation was found between water consumption and dry air temperature.

1. Observations have been made of the seedling reactions of species of Triticum and Aegilops and of amphidiploids between them to races of Puccinia glumarum, P. triticina, P. graminis and Erysiphe graminis. These observations have been compared with field observations on mature plants. The work on P. graminis and much of that on P. triticina was carried out by Dr R. C. McGinnis of the Dominion Rust Research Laboratories, Winnipeg, Canada.

2. Seedling and mature plant resistance to P. glumarum has been found in Triticum monococcum, Aegilops caudata and A. ovata. Resistance was not shown by amphidiploids of T. monococcum and A. caudata with susceptible species of Triticum, but was shown by some amphidiploids involving A. ovata; T. timopheevi and A. speltoides were susceptible to certain races as seedlings but resistant as mature plants in the field.

3. Seedling resistance to all the races of P. triticina used in these investigations was shown by A. caudata and resistance to certain races by certain other species. Amphidiploids involving A. caudata were resistant to all races, but other amphidiploids were resistant to some races and susceptible to others.

4. Seedling and mature plant resistance to P. graminis was shown by A. caudata. A. ovata and A. speltoides were resistant as mature plants, and only slightly infected as seedlings. None of the amphidiploids tested was completely resistant at the seedling stage; certain amphidiploids involving these three species were, however, only slightly infected as mature plants, and may be useful as sources of resistance to race 15B.

5. Resistance to E. graminis was shown by T. carthlicum, T. dicoccum, T. timopheevi and by numerous species of Aegilops. Amphidiploids of T. carthlicum, T. dicoccum, T. timopheevi and A. caudata with diploid wheat species were resistant to E. graminis, but those with susceptible tetraploid wheats were susceptible. Other intergeneric amphidiploids (with two exceptions) were resistant.

1. The chemical nature of the nitrogen in humic acid preparations isolated from 0·5M-sodium hydroxide and 0·1M-sodium pyrophosphate (pH 7·0) extracts of nine different soils has been studied by determining the amounts of acid-soluble-N, ammonia-N, amino-sugar-N and α-amino-N liberated by acid hydrolysis of the preparations and by paper chromatographic analysis of their acid hydrolysates.

2. Humic acid preparations isolated from alkali and pyrophosphate extracts of the same soil differ markedly in total nitrogen content and in nitrogen distribution after acid hydrolysis. The alkali-extracted preparations have a higher nitrogen content and a higher proportion of acid-soluble-N and α-amino-N.

3. A considerable fraction (20–60%) of the nitrogen in the preparations examined was not dissolved by acid hydrolysis. The major fraction of the nitrogen dissolved was in the form of amino-acids.

4. At least 31–48% of the nitrogen in the alkaliextracted preparations and 20–35% of the nitrogen in the pyrophosphate-extracted preparations was in the form of protein. From 3 to 10% of the nitrogen in the preparations was in the form of amino-sugars.

5. The results obtained by paper chromatographic analysis of acid hydrolysates of the preparations indicated that the protein materials in humic acids isolated from different soils by alkali or pyrophosphate are similar in their amino-acid composition. The following nineteen amino-acids were detected in every hydrolysate examined: phenylalanine, leucine, isoleucine, valine, alanine, glycine, threonine, serine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, lysine, arginine, histidine, proline, hydroxyproline, α-amino-n-butyric acid, β-alanine, γ-aminobutyric acid and tyrosine. Two unidentified ninhydrin-reacting substances, oxidation products of cystine and methionine, and amino-sugars were also detected in every hydrolysate examined. A third unidentified ninhydrin-reacting substance and a substance provisionally identified as α,ε-diaminopimelic acid were found in some of the hydrolysates.

An account is given of experimental work carried out at Jealott's Hill on bloat.

Bloat was produced in dairy cows and sheep by dosing with lucerne juice. Sheep proved convenient test animals and were used in most of the tests described.

Parenteral and intravenous administration of the flavone quercetin, which inhibits the activity of smooth muscle, did not cause bloat even in the presence of cyanide. It is unlikely that flavones are concerned in bloat.

Fractionation of bloat-provoking lucerne juice showed that activity was retained after (a) precipitation of chloroplastic material, and (b) passage of clear juice through an anion or cation exchange resin. This suggests that the bloat-provoking factor is non-ionic and not adsorbed on resins—properties shown by saponinis.

Dosing sheep with lucerne saponins, four other saponins, egg albumin and a synthetic foaming compound failed to produce bloat.

Two household detergents and a number of surface-active agents did not relieve bloat, but foam-breaking compounds were very effective.

A synthetic inorganic saliva and cow's saliva did not prevent bloat in sheep and from the single test made with cow's saliva it is not possible to say if it increased the severity of bloat.

It is concluded that the formation of a stable foam is a major factor in lucerne bloat and that food constituents, other than saponins, and the physical condition of the rumen ingesta probably influence the stability of the foam.