[Vor. 1 
420 ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 
the proteins (aside from agar agar and related compounds) and 
other organie substances are scarcely known. 
In view of the very considerable data on the carbohydrate 
metabolism in higher plants, it seems particularly desirable to 
investigate further this relation in the brown alge. Moreover, 
no general study having been made, as far as we could learn, of 
the enzymes of the Ғисасев, it seemed possible that a determi- 
nation of the more characteristic enzymes, and of their distri- 
bution in Fucus, might lead to a better comprehension of the 
nature of the metabolism of these plants. Accordingly, during 
the summers of 1913-14 we have made an examination of 
F'ucus vesiculosus with respect to its enzyme content. 
In preparing the Fucus material for study we have followed 
several of the customary methods which have been found 
satisfactory in yielding enzymes of a high degree of efficiency. 
білсе our results with Ғисив have been so generally negative 
with respect to the presence of the commoner enzymes of plant 
metabolism, it may be well to indicate briefly how the material 
was handled. Тһе Fucus plants were obtained in quantity, 
apparently in a condition of active growth, and the material 
was carefully pieked over to avoid the contamination of attached 
animals and smaller alge, then washed, and finally treated by 
one of several methods. Some of it was hung in a shaded, warm 
room until quite dry and brittle, then ground in a mill to an 
extremely fine powder, the latter being preserved in dry bottles 
for extraction, as subsequently indicated. For other phases of 
the work the plants fresh from the water were ground almost to 
a pulp in a meat grinder, sometimes passing the material twice 
or oftener through the machine. In some cases this fresh pulp, 
further comminuted in a mortar, or an extract from it, was used 
directly, while in other cases an alcohol-acetone dry preparation 
was made from it—the latter by treating alternately with 95 per 
cent alcohol (15 minutes) and acetone (5-10 minutes) until 
practically dehydrated, with a final brief treatment with absolute 
alcohol or ether, when the material was spread out on filter 
paper to dry. The alcohol-acetone material was thoroughly 
pulverized in a mortar for further use. 
In the preparation of extracts the dry material was treated 
with distilled water (usually 10 parts of water to 1 part of 
