TWENTY MONTHS OF STARVATION IN AMIA CALVA. 457 



starved blood was noted. The corpuscles in the blood of the 

 normal fish tended to vary slightly more than those from the 

 starved animal. 



MUSCLES. 



The muscles of a normal Amia are compact coarse fibers sepa- 

 rated by strong connective tissue into myomeres. This muscle 

 layer is from a half to three quarters of an inch in thickness in 

 the dorsal region. When the skin of the starved Amia was 

 removed all of the firmness and compactness of the normal 

 muscle was lacking; this was especially true in the apparent 

 disappearance of the myomeres. The muscles in the region of 

 the gills and operculum were similar to the muscles in a normal 

 animal. 



When the blade of a scalpel was lightly scraped over the 

 broken down muscles, a murky, structureless substance was 

 secured that flowed from the scalpel in drops when the scalpel 

 was held suspended. A considerable quantity of this semi-fluid 

 muscle tissue was fixed in osmium-bichromate, zenkers, formalin, 

 and chrome-sublimate. One chance preparation was made just 

 as one makes a cover glass preparation of blood and stained with 

 Wright's blood stain. This was fortunate as it \vas the only one 

 of the preparations to yield satisfactory results for microscopic 

 study. 



In preparing for the chemical analysis of this muscle, it was 

 necessary to take all of this semi-fluid muscle tissue in the entire 

 animal in order to secure 3 grams of dry substance. 



The following data enables one to compare the composition 

 of the muscle of the normal and starved animals. No fat was 

 found in the starved muscles. For the significance of the follow- 

 ing analysis, the reader should consult the numerous papers of 

 Folin 1 and Dennis, and Van Slyke. 



1 Folin and Denis, "Protein Metabolism from the Standpoint of Blood and 

 Tissue Analysis," Seven papers in the Jour. Biochemistry as follows: Vol. XL, no. 

 i, 1912, no. 2, 1912, Vol. XII., no. i, 1912, no. 2, 1912, no. 2, 1912, Vol. XIV., no. i, 

 1913, Vol. XVII, No. 4, 1914. "Metabolism Studies on Cold Blooded Animals," 

 Vol. XIII., no. 2, 1912. "Note on the Tolerance Shown by Elasmobranch Fish 

 Toward Certain Nephrotoxic Agents," Vol. XVL, no. 3, 1913. J. Bio. Chem. Vol. 

 X. P. 15. 



