INTESTINAL PROTOZOA OF TERMITES. 2O5 



unable, for some reason, to utilize it perhaps digest it, since 

 humus, which is decomposed or digested wood, will keep them 

 alive indefinitely. 



When the protozoa are treated with a hydrocholric acid and 

 phloro-lucinol nilution a distinct pink color appears inside the 

 bodies I the wood investing protozoa. Imms (1919) used this 

 reaction to prove th.it the particles which he saw inside the bodie- 

 of ihe protozoa were wood particles "ligneous particles." 

 < )-l lima ' I'd') pi .i' i <! phloroglucinol and hydrochloric acid on the 

 termite inte-iiu.il contents and interpreted the macroscopic pink 

 color rea< lion, which appeared immediately after the solution 

 was pi." < d "ii the intestinal contents, as a positive test for li-nin 

 and, from tin- experiment, he drew the conclusion that li^nin 



ermite's (Coptotermes formosanus} alimentary 

 c.m.il mi." i<d upon. Buscalioni and Comes (1910) interpreted 

 the phloro-Jucinol reaction as indicative of the presence of wood 

 ITS in the bodie- of the protozoa, which sugars, the-e investi- 

 gators < l.iimed, the protozoa had by enzymatic action elaborated 

 from the in^eMed lignocellulose particles. According to Sherrard 



[922 no \\ood sugars can be obtained from wood except by 

 extr.n i in^ the cellulose. Mannan, for instance, very probably 

 exists in the form of manno-cellulose. In even' case the quantity 

 ol' i ( llnlosf removed corresponds to the quantity of Mi-ar pro- 

 diiir.l. In other words, the amount of sugar obtained is pn 'por- 

 tion. ( 1 to the cellulose extracted. Hitter and Fleck (1922 . in 

 making .m anlyasis of some American woods, obtained a yield 

 (a mean of four samples) of 6.82 per cent, of pento-an content 

 I P. m western yellow pine (Finns ponderosa) extracted cellulose 

 and a \icld of 22.82 per cent, from tanbark oak (Quercus ilfiisi- 

 Jlorn\ extracted cellulose. 



Aldoju litres, such as /-xylose and /-arabinose, when wanned 

 \\ith phloroglucinol and hydrochloric acid, give a cherrv'-red 

 color to the solution. But this color reaction does not take place 

 in the cold. Crocker (1921) states: "No case^is known where 

 materials conceivably present in wood, other than aldehydes, 

 c.\\\ react with the phloroglucinol reagent, in the cold, to produce 

 a red color." Crocker reaches this conclusion after having tested 

 a large number of chemically pure compounds. Klason l thinks 

 1 Svensk Pappers-Tid; 23 (1920). p. 70. 



