Germination of Helianthus annuus. II. 893 
titrated with sodium hydroxide, using phenolphthalein as an indicator. 
10 
From the amount of sodium hydroxide necessary to titrate the filtrate was 
deducted the amount accounted for by the quantity of free acid present 
in the acetylated oil used in the determination. The number of centimetres 
N 
of — sodium hydroxide after this correction was multiplied by 5-61 and the 
io 
product divided by the weight in grammes of the oil used to determine the 
acetyl value. A further correction was made for the amount of soluble 
glycerides present in the ether extract of the cotyledons in Stage V of the 
seedling. 
Discussion of Analytical Results. 
The results obtained in this investigation are shown in the following 
tables. Table I gives the values of the constants obtained for the ether 
extract and neutral oil of the seed and the cotyledons at the various stages 
examined. Table II gives the results of the work upon the ether extract 
of the hypocotyls and roots at the five different stages of the seedling. The 
values obtained at the different stages of the seedling for any given con- 
stant of the oily material are discussed under separate headings. For the 
convenience of the botanical reader a brief discussion is given of the 
physiological significance of each of the various constants that were 
determined. 
Ether Extract. The oily material of the seed of the sunflower com- 
poses 54*1 per cent, of its dry weight. At Stage I, when the hypocotyls 
have reached a length of 3-5 to 5 cm., over one-third of this reserve has 
disappeared from the cotyledons. In the germination of the sunflower seed, 
then, it appears that the oily reserve begins to disappear at a very early 
stage. As shown in the previous paper, three days after the planting of 
the seed, when the hypocotyls and roots had a length of only 2*5 to 3-5 cm., 
over one-fifth of the original oil had disappeared. Seven days after planting 
the seed, when the cotyledons have reached the surface of the ground and 
spread out perpendicular to the hypocotyl, two-thirds of the original oil has 
disappeared from the cotyledons. An examination of the seedling fourteen 
days after planting of the seed shows that 87 per cent, of the dry weight of 
the cotyledons consists of ether extract, and that 5*3 per cent, of the original 
amount of oil is present in them. 
In the roots and hypocotyls the percentage of ether extract decreases 
from 9-9 per cent, of the dry weight in Stage I to i-8 per cent, in Stage V, 
but the quantity of oil per 100 hypocotyls and roots remains practically 
constant. The fact that the actual amount of ether extract present in the 
roots and hypocotyls remains almost constant during different stages of the 
seedling was shown by the results in the former paper, and has been noted 
