1905.] On the Germination of Seeds of the Castor Oil Plant. 79 



Table B. 



Time of 

 germination 

 in hours. 



Condition of seeds when 

 ground up. 



Invert 



DLlgcIiX 111 



milligrammes. 



Cane 



Gil (TCI "P1T1 



OUHOiX ILL 



milligrammes. 









1 -1 



10 -7 



45 



Caruncle swollen 



2-7 



5-17 



69 



Little further external change... 



2-3 







117 



Root about "75 inch long 



6-7 



19 -4 



168 



Root 1 - 5 inch long 



5-2 



10 -5 



216 





19 -5 



35 -7 



240 





29 -01 



35 -8 



312 



G-ood root system 



40 -8 



52 -6 



A comparison of this Table with Table A suggests that the course of 

 events iu which the sugars are involved proceeds upon much the same lines 

 as that connected with the lecithin. The cane-sugar is present in greater 

 quantity in the resting seeds, it gives place to invert sugar under the 

 influence of the invertase during the early period of germination, and 

 subsequently increases in amount and remains slightly in excess of the invert 

 sugar during the later stages when absorption is more active. This suggests 

 that cane-sugar is the actual reserve, and that the invert sugar represents 

 the form which has the greater nutritive value. 



In accounting for the increase in the quantity of cane-sugar which marks 

 the progress of germination, it is necessary to call attention to a fact noticed 

 for the first time a few years ago by Mr. Biffen in the Cambridge Botanical 

 Laboratory. Emphasis has already been laid upon the fact that a very 

 vigorous metabolism in the endosperm cells is an accompaniment of germina- 

 tion. This was commented on by Van Tieghem* in 1877, when he found 

 that endosperms deprived of their embryos were capable of swelling and 

 apparently starting a kind of development. In the former paper on this 

 subject one of us described experiments - }" confirmatory of Van Tieghem's 

 views. Biffen has found that a considerable increase of the protoplasm 

 of these endosperm cells is a marked feature of the early stages of germina- 

 tion. The exact time at which it occurs varies somewhat, but it corresponds 

 fairly closely with the recommencing formation of cane-sugar. The 

 coincident occurrence of these two events points to a growth of the 

 protoplasm of the endosperm cells at the expense of the initial reserves, 

 which we have seen are undergoing conversion changes at and before this 

 time, and a subsequent construction of further carbohydrate reserves by 



* Van Tieghem, " Sur la Digestion d' Albumen," ' Coroptes Eendus,' vol. 84, p. 578. 

 t Green, loc. cit., p. 389. 



