Malo wan (12, 13), in an investigation of the chemical and physical changes that take place in cottonseed during storage, observed that when the moisture content of prime cottonseed was artificially raised, its rate of respiration was also increased. When moist seeds which had a high rate of respiration were put in thermally insulated containers, a rise in the temperature of the seeds was noted. The highest temperature observed under Malowan's experimental conditions was 157? F., although he had noted temperatures up to 175? in carloads of seeds received at oil mills. Bailey and co workers (3, 4, 5) have extensively studied the respiration and storage behavior of cereal grains. Ramstad and Geddes (15) investigated the behavior of soybeans in this respect. Larmour et al. (10) investigated the respiration of sunflower seed and flaxseed. These and other investigations revealed several generalizations which may be recapitulated as follows : 1. Under carefully controlled experimental conditions, the respiration intensity of seeds, as measured by their rate of carbon dioxide production, is a regular function of their moisture content. The curves obtained by plotting respiration intensity against the moisture content of the seeds are logarithmic in character. This relationship between moisture content and respiration intensity holds, however, only when all the experiments are made on samples of the same lot of seeds and when each respiration measurement is made exactly the same length of time after the seeds are conditioned. 2. Broken and shriveled seeds, kernels, and flakes have higher respiration intensities than clean, intact seeds of the same type and moisture content. 3. The rate of respiration of seeds varies with respect to a number of factors, such as length of exposure to moisture, age, variety, conditions of growth, and other indeterminate properties. It is not possible, then, on the basis of moisture content alone, to predict respiration intensity. Similarly, it has been previously shown (8) that it is impossible to predict the rate of free fatty acid production in cottonseed on the basis of moisture content alone.