120 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



some leguminous seeds becomes mucilaginous on the addition 

 of water. Since then it has been repeatedly observed by 

 Sempolowski, Harz, and Tschirch; and quite recently Nadel- 

 mann (185) and Marliere (164) have made a special study of 

 the mucilaginous endosperm. The former studied quite a 

 number of species; the latter, Ceratonia siliqua. Nadelmann 

 finds it in all of the tribes except Geoffrieae and Swartzieae, 

 but not in all genera. 



Mucilage* and gums are of wide distribution in the vege- 

 table kingdom, occurring in Malvaceae (265, 193. — 64, 93), 

 Acacia (265, 213-412), Symphytum (265, 203), JEupJior- 

 hiaceae (416, has a bibliography; 339. 99, 2: ^?>\),N'ym- 

 phaeaceae (467), Linaceae (319. 335), Cruciferae (322. 

 345. — 417), Orchidaceae (265, 194), Cucurbitaceae (99, 2: 

 778-793. 332. 379), Labiatae (99, 2:416. 446), Acan- 

 thaceae (Bibl. in 416), Plantaginaceae (453. 335), Lyihra- 

 ceae (317. 353. 390. 426), Loranthaceae (314. 85. 154. 

 370. 400. 385. 393), Marsiliaceae (363. 364. 398. 310), 

 Polemoniaceae (426. Bibl. in 416. 85), Algae (294a. 331, and 

 many others). Fungi (307. 308. 301, and many others), 

 Schizomycetes (301. 409, and numerous works on the sub- 

 ject). 



Its presence in some seeds was long ago observed by Grew 

 (345), and mentioned by De Candolle (322). A glance at 

 Table F shows that the mucilages are not of the same 

 origin nor of the same character. Historically the mucilages 

 and the reserve celluloses are of interest. Schleiden and 

 Vogel (235. 234. 236) applied the term amyloid to the 

 thickened cell-walls found in Scholia latifolia^ Mucuna urens, 

 Tamarindus iiidicus, and some others which color blue 

 with iodine. Payen (198, 211-249. pi. 1) stated that all 

 cell membranes consisted of cellulose, and that they were 

 isomeric with dextrin, starch, and inulin. He gives the com- 

 position as C24H18O9H2O, and states that it colors blue with 

 sulphuric acid and iodine. Schleiden (232) however thought 

 there were various modifications, and made three divisions, as 

 follows: (1) a form which does not color blue with sulphuric 



* The references given here indicate where the literature may be obtained. 

 From these other references may easily be had. 



