124 BOTANICAL GAZETTE. [June, 
the part of reserve material, and those which are involved in 
the vital processes of the germinating or growing plant, or, 
passive and active forms. The work of the past few years 
has pointed out the existence of these classes and indicated 
their different values in the vegetable economy. 
The reserve nitrogenous bodies occur chiefly in the form 
of albumin, or according to Ritthausen! conglutin and legu- 
min, terms commonly applied to vegetable albumin or casein. 
These compose almost exclusively the nitrogenous constitu- 
ents of seeds, but in roots and tubers are often accompamle 
by other bodies of a secondary and derivative nature, which 
may be regarded as surplus untransformed materials lett 
by the cessation of the vegetative processes. The albumins, 
legumin and conglutin, which may be regarded as the me 
reserve forms ot nitrogen, are colloids, are insoluble in aci 
fluids and, usually existing in a solid condition, are not 
directly available for the processes of transmutation or assim- 
ilation 
the form of albumin, unaccompanied by asparagin, while - : 
germs are unusually rich in asparagin and other non-albumi) — 
ous nitrogenous bodies 
Pfeffer® made this the subject of especial study, and found 
a a a 
' Die Eiweiss Kérper der Getreidearten, p. 188, wma 
Poa N203. Discovered by Vauquelin and Robiquet in asparagus ree veil : 
or a list of plants in which it had Dig ee 
Berlia, 1871, A, eT Husemann. ee ee ‘ 
4 dwirthschaft. Versuchs-Stationen, vol. 9 (1867), p. 168. 
* Pringsheim’s Jahrbuch fiir Botanik, vol, 8 (1872), p. 429. 
