tg2t] SHERMAN—DORMANT SEEDS a ae § 
D OXYGEN CC. LIBERATED AFTER 
erraciooe Location 
rminute | 3 minutes | 5 minutes | 10 minutes 
PGI ee Oe, Pullman, Wash. 8.7 18.1 22.7 26.8 
COOA peer. East Lansing, Mich. 5.7 18.1 22.7 26.8 
In the seeds studied in the present investigation, the greatest 
degree of activity was manifested by the rosaceous seeds (seeds 
having dormant embryos). 
Many plant and animal physiologists have me, inclined to 
postulate a parallelism between catalase activity and respiratory 
intensity (2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 13). In Acer saccharum (27) and 
Juniperus virginiana (38) both catalase activity and respiratory 
intensity increase as dormancy ends and germination begins. 
In Crataegus catalase activity increased continuously up to the 
twelfth day in the germinator (the time of the last determina- 
tion), but the increase was not uniform. Respiratory intensity 
increased up to the sixth day. From that time to the seventy- 
seventh day it tended to decrease, but at an irregular rate 
and with considerable fluctuation. In Amaranthus the respi- 
ration, like the catalase activity, is maintained at a relatively 
uniform rate for some time (176 days), but fluctuations in the one 
are not coincident with fluctuations in the other, and at times may 
be in an opposite direction. These facts are in harmony with the 
decision to which their own studies led CROCKER and HaRRINGTON, 
that “in Amaranthus seeds there is no evidence of a correlation 
between catalase activity and respiratory intensity.” 
That high catalase activity does not necessarily accompany a 
high respiratory quotient or respiratory intensity (as indicated by 
milligrams of carbon dioxide eliminated) is evident when the seeds 
studied are arranged in descending order of these values, as given 
in table VI 
Although there are relatively few determinations of respiratory 
values for resting seeds, the literature is rich in findings for other 
plant parts. A comparison of these values, however, is often difficult 
because of their variable form and the frequent absence of data 
necessary for the determination of measured and calculated values. 
