I9I2] Anton Richard Rose 43 



tically unchanged. Bernardini found that the phytin decreased also 

 in the germination of wheat, but the lecithins increased. 



In the early stages of plant development subsequent to germina- 

 tion, inorganic exceeds organic phosphorus. Staniszkis could find 

 no trace of inosite-phosphoric acid in millet during this period. The 

 phosphorus is now drawn f rom the soil and its increase in the plant 

 is proportional to the increase in dry matter. The organic forms of 

 phosphorus are synthesized from this supply, according to Stan- 

 iszkis, very slowly until the heads are formed. Hart and Totting- 

 ham found no phytin phosphorus in the dried forage plants. 

 Balicka-Iwanowska, working with barley, found the phosphorus 

 Compounds at the end of the fourth week present in the same pro- 

 portion as that in the seed ; thereafter there was a constant decrease 

 in the inorganic phosphorus. In the seventh week the protein phos- 

 phorus had doubled and the inosite-phosphoric acid had increased to 

 seven times the amount present in the fourth week. As the barley 

 seeds began to form, in the ninth week, the increase of organic 

 phosphorus occurred mostly through the synthesis of nucleoproteins. 

 The small increase which Staniszkis reports was more in the form of 

 lecithins and protein phosphorus Compounds than of inosite-phos- 

 phoric acid. At the period of flowering, the lecithins reach their 

 maximum, which may be, according to Stoklasa, 71.6 per cent. of 

 the total phosphorus. During the formation of millet seed, the syn- 

 thesis of phytin goes on energetically at the expense of both inor- 

 ganic and protein phosphorus. In the barley, Balika-Iwanowska 

 found an increase of inosite-phosphoric acid and also one of nucleo- 

 protein which was even greater than that of the phytophosphate. In 

 the ripening of the seeds of millet the formation of inosite phos- 

 phates and nucleoprotein ran parallel, but in barley the inosite phos- 

 phate increased at the expense of some of the protein phosphorus. 

 As the panicle grew and matured in both of these plants, there was 

 a transportation of both the phosphorus and the protein to this part 

 of the plant. 



The mobilisation of phosphorus and changes in its form in 

 Vicia faha and other plants were also studied by Iwanow. The 

 most interesting part of his contribution is the relation between 

 sunlight and changes in the form of phosphorus. The plants which 

 remained in a dark room contained more inorganic phosphorus than 



