. 
ACCOMPANYING THE SECRETION OF DIASTASE 427 
tured and the nucleolus, vacuole and all, is ejected. The 
absorption of water by the diastase-secreting cells has, without . 
doubt, caused their swollen condition. This condition, however, 
is very transitory, for at the end of the first day of germination we 
find these cells only slightly larger than they were before it 
occurred. After 24 hours the cells have not only regained their 
original size, but, in most instances, have also lost their granules. 
Certain cells are to be found here and there in which the granules 
are massed together at their ends nearest the endosperm, but 
otherwise the cytoplasm and nuclei are entirely destitute of them- 
At the end of the first day, too, the endosperm shows evidence of 
the action of an enzyme. The solvent action, at this stage, is con. 
fined to the cell walls just outside the’ diastase-secreting epithelium 
and to the proteid matter between the starch granules. The 
coincidence of the disappearance of the dark staining granules 
from the cells that secreted them, and the dissolution of a part of 
the endosperm, is a strong proof of the diastatic character of the 
former. By this time the radicle has broken through the coleorhiza 
and projects for about 1.5 to 2 mm. from the seed. 
At the beginning of the second day of germination the diastase- 
secreting cells are in a resting condition. There is no increase in 
size and the nuclei and cytoplasm are clear. The solvent effect of 
the diastase secreted during the first day is now more apparent. 
Not only are the cell walls in the neighborhood of the epithelium 
broken down, but the starch grains themselves are pitted. The 
method of attack of the diastatic enzyme on starch grains has been 
frequently described and nothing was observed which calls for 
Special mention. 
At the end of the second day the epithelial cells again begin 
to show signs of activity, and the second period of secretion is 
inaugurated. Dark staining granules have appeared once more in 
Some of the nuclei. These granules steadily increase in quantity 
until, as before, they completely fill the nuclei. The cytoplasm, 
however, remains clear of them, and there is no increase in size of 
the cells themselves until some time during the third day. After 
about 72 hours of germination, groups of the diastase-secreting 
cells increase once more threefold in size and the cytoplasmic 
reticulum is filled with granules precisely as during the first day 
