NOV 13 1895 



M E M ( ) I II 8 



EEAD EEFOIIE THE BOSTON SOCTErV OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



1. On the liE.sEiiVE Cellulose of the Seeds of Liliaceae and of so.me Related 



Orders. 



By Grace E. Cooley. 



Kuad March I'd, 1H!)r,. 

 iNTRODUCTrON. 



J_N tills study of tlie seeils of Liliaceae, I eniiiloy tlie term re.serce cellulose in the 

 iiatui'al logical sense, for the material laid down on the walls of the endosperm of 

 many seeds, which is known to disappear as food for the seedliny during germina- 

 tion. The term has been used by Reiss^ in a chemical sense, for the substance 

 of the phmt cell wall which, by hydrolysis, yields seminose (mannosc). He has 

 distinguished two reserve substances, which are to be found on the walls of the 

 cells in the endosperm of seeds. One of these, reserve cellulose, yields seminose, 

 later found to be identical with mannose ; the other, whicdi he calls amyloid, does 

 not yield mannosc, by hydrolysis, and is colored blue by iodine without the action 

 of other agents. Schnlze" has included in a more general term, hemiccllulose, those 

 constituents of the cell mendjrane of plants, whicli are easily soluble in weak, hot, 

 mineral acids, and which yield glucose. 



He has further shown, in the same article, that some plant membranes yield 

 mannose too-ether with some other suii'ar, as in the coffee bean and seeds ol the 

 date. Winterstein' has found amyloid associated with hemicellulose in certain 

 plant membranes. 



' Reiss, UeberdienatuiMli'rrusiTvwcllulo.sc. Laiidw. jiilir sctxuii,',' dcr ]illaii/,liclicii zi'lliiiciidiraiii'ii. lici-. di-r (l<'Mt . 



bucher, 18, s. 7U. chein. gcsellscluift, 24, s, •J2H(i. 



2E. Schulze, Zur keimtni.s.s der cliciiiiscUeu zusainiiicn- ^E. Wiiitersteiu, Ueberdaspttanzlii-lif aiiiyli.id, s. iM. l.SH'. 



