402 



DAVID E. FINK. 



that there is no trace of evidence to prove that catalase is directly 

 concerned with oxidation, since catalase, he states, "only liberates 

 inactive molecular oxygen when decomposing hydrogen perox- 

 ide." Burge (7) found a quantitative relation between the 

 amount of catalase and oxidation; an increase of oxidation in 

 young and a decrease in old animals. Similarly Bodine (5) with 

 certain insects obtained a decreased catalase content with 

 increasing age and with animals subjected to starvation. 



The author made determinations of the activity and total 

 content of catalase in hibernating, starving, young and old 

 potato beetles, using for this purpose the same methods described 

 by Burge. The results of these experiments are graphically 

 represented in Figs. 12-13. With hibernating animals the total 

 catalase content per gram body weight is lower than with either 



700 

 o 



o 600 



c 



500 



400 



FIG. 12. The average total catalase content per gram body weight of different 

 groups of beetles as measured by the oxygen evolved. Ordinates show the oxygen 

 evolved in cubic centimeters. 



young or old beetles; starving animals indicate the lowest 

 catalase content. In Fig. 13, the catalase activity per gram 

 body weight per minute is recorded and strikingly indicates a 

 seeming parallelism in catalase activity between hibernating and 

 starving animals. Moreover, the extremely reduced catalase 

 activity indicates a correlation with a diminished respiratory 

 metabolism in hibernating and starving animals. 



Experiments to determine the oxidase activity were made by 

 using guaiac, P-diamino benzene with peroxide upon tissues, 

 organs and body fluids. Upon hibernating animals the reaction 



