Germination of Helianthus annnus. 7 25 
The protein reserve during the progress of germination is broken up 
apparently into the ordinary cleavage-products, which are transported into 
the regions of the roots and hypocotyls, where they are used in the forma¬ 
tion of new cell contents. 
The oil during the advance of the seedling is, in part at least, broken 
down into free fatty acid and glycerine. The quantity of free acid in the oil 
of the cotyledons is comparatively low until the seedling is well developed, 
while the content of acid in the oil of the hypocotyls and roots rises rapidly 
at the very beginning of germination and remains high during the different 
stages examined. Both the neutral oil and the free acid probably take up 
a quantity of oxygen into their structure, as the decrease in the iodine 
number indicates. 
The marked increase in the amount of sugar during the progress of 
development of the seedling makes it certain that it has its origin in the 
oily reserve. The cotyledons at no time contain any appreciable amount 
of sugar, but it is present in abundance in the hypocotyls at all stages. The 
amount of cellulose in the cotyledons remains the same, since no new cells 
are formed there. The sugar produced from the oil is the material used 
by the plant for the formation of new cell-walls in the growing parts. 
Whether the oil as such is transported from the cotyledons to the 
growing parts and then transformed, or whether the transformation takes 
place in the cotyledons previous to transportation, cannot be determined 
from our present knowledge of the subject. 
In conclusion, I wish to express my sincere thanks to Professor A. W. 
Evans and Assistant-Professor A. L. Dean, for their able assistance in all 
parts of this work. 
Sheffield Scientific School, 
Yale University. 
Literature cited. 
1 . De Saussure, T. : Ueber das Keimen der Oelsamereien. Froriep’s Notizen, xxiv, 1842, p. 24. 
2 . Letellier : Jour, fiir prakt. Chemie, lxiv, 1855, P- 94 * 
3 . IIellriegel, H. : Beitrag zur Keimungsgeschickte der olgebenden Samen. Jour, fiir prakt. 
Chemie, lxiv, 1855, p. 94. 
4 . Sachs, J.: Ueber das Auftreten der Starke bei der Keimung olhaltiger Samen. Bot. Ztg., 
1859, PP- 1 77- 8 3 and 185-8. 
: Ueber die Keimung des Samens von Allium Cepa. Bot. Ztg., 1863, pp. 57 and 65. 
3 D 
5. 
