390 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [may 
the view that the diastatic content of wheat increased in the resting 
seed, coming to its full possibilities at the time of germination. 
This after-ripening could be hastened by warming and air-drying 
of the seeds. DETMER (19) showed that oxygen entry is necessary 
for the formation of diastase. LEHMANN and OTTENWALDER (49) 
would explain the forcing of germination by various factors as due 
to hydrolysis of the proteins. These views are based on experi- 
ments in which temperature variations were employed, nutrient 
solutions were used, and also splitting products of the proteins as 
asparagin. ABDERHALDEN and DAMMHAHN (1) believe that ger- 
minated and ungerminated seeds vary in the presence or absence 
of peptolytic ferments, while APPLEMAN (2) for the potato and 
Miss EcKERSON (22) for Crataegus trace enzymatic alterations in 
after-ripening. In the latter case there are also found alterations 
in the acidity and water-holding power of the embryo. Recently, 
PuGLIESE (55) has investigated the autolysis of oat seeds which 
had not germinated, and concludes that ungerminated ones may 
be distinguished from the germinated ones by the presence OF 
absence of amidases or enzymes caring for the end products of the 
proteolytic digestion. If such enzymatic differences exist between 
seeds which have been germinated and those which have not, there 
is quite possibly a very worthy field for investigation in the enzy- 
matic differences between the freshly harvested and the after- 
ripened seeds, although these differences may not be associated 
with the problem of dormancy. 
It is evident that the conflicts of opinion and the apparent 
conflicts of fact must be harmonized, if at all, only in the light 0 
careful quantitative determinations of the various factors involved, 
under standard conditions, and with uniformity of experimen 
material. - 
: Il]. Experimental 
The work described in this paper has been carried on with seeds 
of Avena fatua received from the Dominion Experimental Farm at 
Indian Head, Saskatchewan, of the crops of 1910, 1911, and 1912. 
Parallel tests have been made with seed from Grand Forks, North 
Dakota, from Brandon, Manitoba, and with seed raised in Chicago 
