Seeds of the Virginia botanical type (9) of peanut are dormant for a variable period after harvest. That is, they fail to germinate under conditions normally favorable for germination. Although dormancy is an inherent property of Virginia type peanut seeds (11, 24) comparatively little is known about the nature of the dormancy.Hull (10) \When seeds were to be shelled the day after digging, pods were superficially dried overnight by spreading them in a thin layer on the laboratory floor in front of a fan to facilitate shelling.Immediately after shelling, seedls were graded. placed in folds of moistened cheese cloth to prevent drying, and then planted as quickly as possible. Seeds were gracled according to maturity largely on basis of texture and color of seed coat. Numbers were assigned to degrees of maturity (table I). As the peanut seed matures the fleshy outer layer of the coat graclually loses turgidity and becomes thinner. At full maturity the seed coat is papery thin.Well-developed pods of the 1955 and 1956 crops were selected and seeds of maturities 1 to 3, inclusive, were used from a random sampling. With one exception, only 2-seeded pods of 1957-59 crops were usedl. Seeds in the apical (distal) and basal (proximal) positions within pods were kept separate. Except where noted, seeds were of maturities 2 to 3. Maturity 1 was frequently excluded in tests involving early diggings because too few were available.Except as noted, seeds were germinated at 250 in large plastic boxes (fig 1). These boxes were placed in a germination chamber, or for the gas studies in a growth room, 1 meter from ten F72T8/ CW fluorescent tubes. Seeds were placed with the radicle end down between grooves (2 cm high) of wet corrugated paper toweling. The