41 8 S toward. — On Endospermic Respiration in Certain Seeds. 
possess any residual vitality, it nevertheless appeared to be a matter of 
interest to ascertain whether this amyliferous tissue, when placed under 
favourable conditions, was capable of manifesting any activity which, 
outwardly at any rate, could be regarded as of a respiratory nature or 
allied to it. 
The major part of the results here recorded have been obtained during 
June, July, August, and December, 1905, in the University Experiment 
House of the Edgbaston Botanical Gardens. The author is especially 
indebted to Dr. (now Professor) A. J. Ewart, to whom the initiation of the 
investigation is due, for much valuable advice and preliminary guidance up 
to his leaving England in January, 1906. He also desires to thank 
Professor Hillhouse for affording him facilities in carrying out the work, 
and for many suggestions and criticisms during its progress. 
2. Material and Methods of Experiment. 
As material for investigation the seeds of Hordeum , Zea ) and Riciims 
were employed, the latter more especially, on account of the fact that the 
endosperm of this seed is regarded on every hand as possessing vitality. 
As the seeds of the Gramineae are almost invariably infested with 
micro-organisms it was deemed advisable at the outset to adopt the most 
efficient precautionary means of rendering the material for experiment 
sterile. To meet this difficulty the duration of some of the experiments 
was somewhat curtailed, and, in certain instances, as later experience 
showed, unnecessarily so. Further, recourse was had to the use of solutions 
of various antiseptic reagents, these being used either as preliminary 
steeping solutions or as rinsing reagents. In certain cases they also served 
as the steeping medium throughout the whole period covered by that 
operation. They are comprised in the following list : 3 % and 6 % copper sul- 
phate ; o-i % and 0-5 % mercuric chloride ; 4 %, 0-4 %, 0-2 %, and o-i % aqueous 
formaldehyde ; saturated aqueous solutions of chloroform and toluene. 
Wherever the different reagents in aqueous solution were employed, 
either for steeping or rinsing purposes, the material, prior to steeping in 
water or the establishment of the respiration experiment, was thoroughly 
washed with sterilized water to wash out as far as possible all removable 
traces of them. 
The operation of steeping in reagent solutions and in sterilized water 
was undertaken either in small cylindrical glass boxes with loosely fitting 
covers, or in ordinary securely stoppered weighing-bottles. In those 
experiments where a saturated aqueous solution of chloroform or toluene, 
or a 4 % formaldehyde solution, constituted the steeping medium, stoppered 
weighing-bottles were used, a fairly large bulk of liquid in relation to the 
bulk of material under experiment being employed. In the steepings in 
water, however, the volume of liquid employed was as small as possible. 
