72 



THE SYNTHESIS OF FATS 



WALNUT. 



ALMOND. 



Date of Gathering. 



9 June 



4 J ul Y 

 1 August 

 1 September 

 4 October . 



Per Cent. 

 Fat. 



2 

 IO 



37 

 44 

 46 



Per Cent. 

 Glucose. 



6 



4-2 



o 



o 



o 



Per Cent. 

 Sucrose. 



6-7 

 4-9 

 2-8 

 2-6 

 2-5 



Per Cent. 

 Starch and 

 Dextrins. 



21-6 



141 



6-2 



5"4 



53 



The carbohydrates which serve as raw material for the 

 elaboration of fats vary with the plant ; glucose, sucrose and 

 starch would appear to be most commonly employed in this 

 connection, the last two being initially hydrolysed. 



It is a well-known fact that during the germination of fat- 

 containing seeds, carbohydrates appear and fats disappear. 

 Thus Maze * found that the isolated cotyledons of arachis 

 seeds increased in their dry weight from 2-2613 to 2 '6i53 

 grams, an increase due to the fixation of oxygen, whilst their 

 sugar content increased from -3416 to -4684 gram. 



The disappearance of the fats is due, in the main, to their 

 translocation to the meristematic and growing regions of the 

 developing embryo. This conveyance may be effected by the 

 movement of fats as such in addition to the transport of the 

 products of their hydrolysis, which change takes place in the 

 storage organ. 



Schmidt f studied the movement of oils in the intercellular 

 space system of the axis of pea seedlings and found that the 

 rate of movement depended on the amount of fatty acid present ; 



* Maze : " Compt. rend.," 1900, 130, 424. 

 f Schmidt : " Flora," 1891, 74, 300. 



