1887. | BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 129 
the effect of withholding CO,. Farther Schulze has shown® 
that those seeds containing proportionally large amounts of 
albumin and small quantities of carbohydrates, produce amide 
compounds most abundantly in germination. The ratios of 
albumin to nitrogen-free substances in seeds of lupine and 
Cucurbita were respectively 1:0.35 and 1: 1.56. After fif- 
teen days’ germination, the lupine produced 19.43 per cent. 
of the dry weight of the seeds in asparagin and glutamin, and 
Cucurbita only 5.78 per cent. 
The office of the vegetable amides is, therefore, as at 
present understood, to serve as a transferable form of nitrogen 
from reserve supplies to the place of growth, and farther, 
probably, as an indirect source of non-nitrogenous materials. 
Schulze has shown that they may also act as reserve material,. 
In certain cases, in roots and tubers.” They occur univer- 
sally in the germinating and vegetating stages of the plant, 
but fail almost as invariably in seeds. By their formation, 
through the breaking up of the albumin molecule, C and H 
are liberated, which may assist in the formation of new tis- 
sues, especially when assimilation has been artificially. pre- 
", Landwirthschatt-Jahrbicher, vol. 9 (1880), p. 783. ASR eg >) 
utsch. Chem. Gesellschaft, vol. 16 (1883), p. 312; vol. 18 (1854), p. 390.. 
* Handbuch der Pflanzenphysiologie, p. 299. 
