402 
L. KNUDSON AND E. W. LINDSTROM 
heterozygous green plants used in the experiment were remarkably uni- 
form in nature. 
In addition to determining the growth of albino corn when supplied with 
carbohydrates, it was believed that the results obtained might be significant 
with respect to the question whether or not chloroplasts arise de novo or 
arise only from preexisting plastids. 
Methods. The plants were grown either in large culture tubes on agar 
or in water cultures. In the former type of culture the entire plant was 
maintained in the absence of all microorganisms, while in the water cul- 
tures the tops of the plants were exposed to the atmosphere. The seeds 
were first weighed and then sterilized by the use of calcium hypochlorite 
(4). For this purpose 10 grams of calcium hypochlorite was added to 140 
cc. of tap water, and this solution was shaken for a few minutes and then 
filtered. The filtrate alone was used for sterilizing the seed. From the 
sterilizing solution the seeds were transferred directly to the small culture 
tubes for germination. When the seeds were germinated and it became 
apparent which seedlings were albino, they were transferred to the large 
culture tubes or flasks. For the culture tube experiments the procedure was 
the same as that employed by the senior writer (i), and for the water cul- 
tures the method was the same as that used by Knudson and Smith (2). 
The nutrient solution used was that of Pfeffer, with the substitution of 
dibasic phosphate for monobasic phosphate. The solution under the 
conditions of the experiment caused some inversion of the sucrose, due 
probably to the interaction between Ca(N03)2 and K2HPO4 with the pro- 
duction of a small amount of HNO3. 
Experiment i. In this experiment tjie influence of sucrose and glucose 
was to be determined. The plants were grown in large culture tubes 50 cm. 
X 6 cm., and 200 cc. of the culture solution was used to which was added 
I percent of agar. The concentration of the sugar was o.io gram mole- 
cular (weight normal), and, for controls, plants were grown in Pfeffer's 
solution alone. For comparative purposes chlorophyll-bearing plants were 
also grown, these being grown from seed derived from the same ear that 
produced the seed yielding albino plants. 
The seedlings were transferred to the culture tubes on March 3 and the 
tubes were then placed in the greenhouse. On April 18 the leaves of one 
of the albino plants growing in the absence of sugar were dead, but on the 
remaining albino plants, death of leaves occurred between May i and May 
4. The duration of the experiment was then approximately 58 days. The 
results follow in table i. 
Examination of the data reveals the fact that neither glucose nor sucrose 
permits an increase in dry weight over the original weight of the seed. In 
fact, there is a decrease in weight, but the decrease is less with sugar than 
without. The green plants, however, all show a marked increase in weight. 
Experiment 2. In this experiment the conditions were essentially the 
