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774 ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 
Atkins (’14) investigated the oxidases and peroxidases of 
twenty-nine diverse algae. Using guaiacum as a reagent, 
oxidases were demonstrated in but one—Furcellaria fasti- 
giata—while peroxidases were shown present in seven. Alpha 
naphthol gave negative reactions for all the forms studied, 
while with it peroxidases could be determined in but two— 
Delesseria sanguinea and Furcellaria fastigiata. He calls at- 
tention to the reducing power of the tissues of certain algae 
and suggests that such agents may be responsible for the 
failure to obtain positive tests in the other forms. Reed 
(715, 715°), on the other hand, holds that many of these 
algae may show a specific oxidative ability. Like Atkins, he 
found that the ordinary reagents, such as gum guaiac, alpha 
naphthol, and aloin, gave negative results in all but one or two 
instances. When, however, alpha naphthol and para-pheny- 
lenediamine, para-phenylenediamine alone, or the hydro- 
chlorides of these two were used in the presence of peroxide, 
positive tests were very generally obtained. 
As earlier indicated, the results obtained by Duggar and 
Davis (714) for Fucus vesiculosus were very generally nega- 
tive. This was true even though a great variety of substrates 
were used under varying conditions, and only vigorously 
growing plants, fresh crushed, or dried and powdered, were 
employed for enzyme action. The results are exceedingly 
difficult to explain. It might well be that the enzymes were 
present but in such small amounts as to escape detection by 
the ordinary methods. Methods of enzyme isolation are still 
crude and they undoubtedly involve some loss of the ferments. 
Another factor suggested in the preliminary paper, was that 
the death of the cell might liberate certain substances which 
would then be free to unite with the enzyme complex, throw- 
ing it out of the sphere of action. 
SOME STORAGE PRODUCTS OF THE ALGAE 
It is often assumed that the presence of storage products 
in the plant is generally linked with the presence of specific 
enzymes—stareh with diastase, inulin with inulase, fats with 
lipase, hemicelluloses with cytase, ete. These enzymes may 
be present at all times, as the diastase of the potato tuber and 
