The germination of two peanut seed lats, deriving from two localities of São Paulo State, was evaluated when planted in rolled paper towels moistened with volumes of water equivalent to 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0 times the weight of the substrate. It was observed that, for the lot deriving from the Lucélia locality, of lower germination, there was, statistically, no influence of the different amounts of water in the substrate. As for the lot from the Marília locality, which presentd better germination values, the estimated optimum amount of water for germination corresponded to 2.17 tirnes the weight of paper, since it showed more favorable for obtained normal seedlings. The lowest germination values were those obtained when the amount of water used 3.0 times the weight of substrate, probably due to the oxygen deficiency under water excess.