1919] 



woo— A MA RA N TH US 



337 



of the total phosphorus is in the organic combination in the seed, 

 existing (perhaps) as phosphoprotein and nucleoprotein phos- 

 phorus. Both of these forms are insoluble in water, alcohol, ether, 

 and alcohol-water solvents. The inorganic phosphorus is relatively 

 low, and the writer believes that the figures given for inorganic 

 phosphorus in table V are even too high, because the greater part of 

 the inorganic phosphorus was obtained from the insoluble fraction 

 F3 (4). Moreover, there is no proof that the reagents used did 

 not break down some of the organic phosphorus. The lipin phos- 

 phorus is very low, varying from 0.014 per cent in A. hlitoides to 

 0.019 in A. retroflexus, calculated on dry weight basis. It is in- 

 teresting to know that in all cases the different forms of phos- 

 phorus are relatively higher in A . retroflexus than the corresponding 



forms in A. hlitoides. 



TABLE VII 



Different nitrogen compounds in seeds (percentage dry weight) 



Material 



Total N 



Nitrates NO^ 



Amino N 



Lipin N 



Soluble proteins . . 

 Insoluble proteins . 

 Total proteins 



2.370 

 0.205 



0.090 



0.033 



2.890 



12 . 250 

 14. 140 



TABLE VIII 

 Ratio of different N to total N (percentage dry weight) 



Material 



Total insoluble N 



Total soluble N 



Total 



Nitrate N 



Lipin N 



Amino N 



Other soluble organic N 



77.00 

 23.23 



100.23 



1.97 



1. 41 



3.84 



19.37 



Nitrogen compounds. — The distribution of nitrogen in the 

 different fractions of the seeds is about the same as that of phos- 

 phorus. The insoluble nitrogen comprised 80-83 per cent of 

 the total nitrogen (tables VII and VIII). The soluble fractions 



