216 TKANSACTIONS LIVEEPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



sooner than seeds kept in unchanged water. The reason 

 for this is that in the former case the seeds receive daily 

 a slight supply of free oxygen and this stimulates them to 

 activity without being sufficient to supply their require- 

 ments. The seeds are therefore first stimulated and then 

 checked and this alternation exercises a more injurious 

 influence than the prolonged but steady action of un- 

 changed stagnant water. 



The table shows that seeds containing much proteid 

 food material are the most easily killed by the prolonged 

 action of water, more starchy seeds such as Wheat and 

 Barley survive longer, whilst oily seeds such as Hemp and 

 Linseed are the most resistant of all. The protective 

 effect of the contained oil is especially noticeable in the 

 case of Hemp seeds, for these actually commence to 

 germinate when placed in a watery solution of HgCl 2 . 

 The wall of the fruit splits and the radicle protrudes 

 ensheathed by the inner transparent membranous seed 

 coat. Soon the radicle is seen to shrink away from the 

 ensheathing seed coat which now forms a loose covering 

 around it. This is a sign that the radicle is killed. In 

 an alcoholic solution of HgCl 2 no such attempt at ger- 

 mination takes place. 



The young radicles of Hemp seeds germinating in water 

 entirely fill the pocket formed in the sheathing transparent 

 seed coat, which protects them for a short time until its 

 elastic limit being reached, the membranous covering is 

 broken and the radicle escapes. In a limited amount of 

 water, kept in a closed bottle (as in the experiments from 

 which the table was constructed), the seeds soon exhaust 

 all the oxygen present so that although the majority of 

 the seeds split open, the radicles are still ensheathed by 

 the inner coat. Owing to this fact and also owing to the 

 oily nature of the contained food material the young 



