[Vol. 2 



774 ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 



Atkins ( '14) investigated the oxidases and peroxidases of 

 twenty-nine diverse algae. Using guaiacum as a reagent, 

 oxidases were demonstrated in but one — Furcellaria fasti- 

 giata — while peroxidases were shown present in seven. Alpha 

 naphthol gave negative reactions for all the forms studied, 

 while with it peroxidases could be determined in but two — 

 Delesseria sanguinea and Furcellaria fastigiata. He calls at- 

 tention to the reducing power of the tissues of certain algae 

 and suggests that such agents may be responsible for the 

 failure to obtain positive tests in the other forms. Reed 

 ('15, '15"), on the other hand, holds that many of these 

 algae may show a specific oxidative ability. Like Atkins, he 

 found that the ordinary reagents, such as gum guaiac, alpha 

 naphthol, and aloin, gave negative results in all but one or two 

 instances. When, however, alpha naphthol and para-pheny- 

 lenediamine, para-phenylenediamine alone, or the hydro- 

 chlorides of these two were used in the presence of peroxide, 

 positive tests were very generally obtained. 



As earlier indicated, the results obtained by Duggar and 

 Davis ('14) for Fucus vesiculosus were very generally nega- 

 tive. This was true even though a great variety of substrates 

 were used under varying conditions, and only vigorously 

 growing plants, fresh crushed, or dried and powdered, were 

 employed for enzyme action. The results are exceedingly 

 difficult to explain. It might well be that the enzymes were 

 present but in such small amounts as to escape detection by 

 the ordinary methods. Methods of enzyme isolation are still 

 crude and they undoubtedly involve some loss of the ferments. 

 Another factor suggested in the preliminary paper, was that 

 the death of the cell might liberate certain substances which 

 would then be free to unite with the enzyme complex, throw- 

 ing it out of the sphere of action. 



SOME STORAGE PRODUCTS OF THE ALGAE 



It is often assumed that the presence of storage products 

 in the plant is generally linked with the presence of specific 

 enzymes — starch with diastase, inulin with inulase, fats with 

 lipase, hemicelluloses with cytase, etc. These enzymes may 

 be present at all times, as the diastase of the potato tuber and 



