334 BOTANICAL GAZETTE caare 
carbohydrates decrease in seeds the fatincreases. For instance, whee 
almond seeds first begin to ripen, they are rich in carbohydrates 
and poor in fats; when fully matured, however, they are poor in 
carbohydrates and rich in fat. The seeds of Ricinus and Paeonta 
are also typical cases. It seems as though the oil in the mature 
Ricinus seed comes from glucose, while that of the Paeonia is formed 
from starch. As it is possible for the plant to translocate fat as 
such, provided it be an emulsion sufficiently fine, or in the form of 
fatty acids and glycerine, it might appear to some that the fats in 
seeds have not been formed in situ, but have been conveyed there 
by the sap. It cannot be denied that translocation of fat may 
occur to a certain extent; but it is a fact that fats will appear as 
the carbohydrates disappear in immature seeds even when removed 
from the parent plant. This fact, when considered with the facts 
known regarding the formation of fats in vegetative organs under 
the influence of cold, leads to the inevitable conclusion that fats 
are formed at the expense of carbohydrates and that this trans- 
formation may occur 7 situ. 
Scumipt (11) and LECLERc pu SaBLon (4) have shown con- 
clusively that during the germination of oily seeds a reversal of 
this process takes place, carbohydrates being formed apparently 
from fat. 
The processes by which carbohydrates are changed to fat 
are still unknown. As the carbohydrates do not contain such 
complicated carbon chains as the fats, the formation of fat from 
carbohydrates must consist of a synthesis, in which the CHOH 
group is converted into CH.; hence a reduction must occur. 
The formation of fat from ‘carbohydrates in the plant has its 
parallel in the animal. The great influence of carbohydrates on 
fat formation in the animal was observed and proved by LAWES and © 
GILBERT (5), Voir (14), Lummert (7), and many others by means 
of a series of nutrition experiments with different animals, with 
foods especially rich in carbohydrates, who have apparently proved 
that a direct formation of fat from carbohydrates does actually 
occur. 
The fat of the poison oak fruit is not a reserve food supply for 
use of the cotyledon; this is shown by morphology and sprouting. 
