Proteolytic Enzymes in Plants (II). 
BY 
S. H. VINES, 
Sherardian Professor of Botany in the University of Oxford. 
I N the January number of the present volume ( 1 ) I pub- 
lished some observations tending to show that proteolytic 
enzymes are of very general occurrence in plants. Whilst 
it had previously been implicitly assumed by physiologists 
that this was probably the case, the first experimental 
demonstration of the fact was, I believed, that contained in 
my paper. It turns out, however, that I was mistaken. My 
attention has since been directed to a paper by Buscalioni 
and Fermi ( 2 ), published in 1898, which somewhat anticipates 
my results: but though our conclusions are concordant on 
the whole, our methods were widely different. The method 
of Buscalioni and Fermi is an adaptation of the gelatine- 
culture of Bacteria. A layer of gelatine, with carbolic acid 
(•5-1 °/ o ) as the antiseptic, covers the floor of a Petri-dish, 
and upon this are placed the objects (seeds, portions of 
leaves, &c.) whose proteolytic action is to be determined ; 
the test being, of course, the liquefaction of the gelatine. By 
this simple method the authors were able to detect more 
or less marked proteolytic activity in many Fungi, but by 
no means in all those tried ; in some Algae ( Codium tomen - 
tosum , P-adina Pavonia, Char a sp., Dictyota dichotoma , Cera- 
mium sp.) ; and in some Lichens : but the experiments with 
a Moss ( Funaria hygrometricc :), a Liverwort ( Lunularia vul- 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. XVII. No. LXVII. June, 1903.] 
S S 2 
