VI PREFATORY NOTES. 



acter. Occasionally, in a given reaction of a given starch, phenomena wiU be noted 

 which were not found in others of the same genus, or they may be variations from 

 the generic type, but such records are so sporadic and the observations generally 

 so superficial that it was not deemed advisable to attempt the presentation of the 

 qualitative peculiarities in tabular form, as was done with the quantitative records. 

 A few, however, have systematically been included in the quantitative tables. 

 The qualitative observations, notwithstanding their superficial and generally very 

 inadequate character, will nevertheless be found to be very valuable in a number 

 of directions: for instance, in showing differences in the characters of the starch 

 of the capsular and intracapsular parts of a given grain, a given starch, and different 

 starches; general relationships between the type of grain and the tj'^pe of qualita- 

 tive reaction with each chemical reagent; the lack of uniformity of composition of 

 different lamellae, and of primary and secondary lamellae and other deposits at 

 different periods; and the existence of more or less pronounced generic types of 

 reaction. 



