CAROTINOIDS IN THE PHANEROGAMS 77 



old, because of slight differences in the relative intensity of the first 

 two absorption bands as compared with the same bands of lycopin, 

 and because of a greater case of solubility in absolute alcohol and 

 glacial acetic acid. Tn the case of the fruit of Arum orientate, the 

 chief pigments were carotin and xanthophylls, true lycopin making up 

 only a small part of the pigment. Various Aglaonema fruits, such as 

 .1(7. nit'nlum Kunth, Ag. oblongifolium Kunth, Ag. oblong, variety 

 C'lirtixii, and Ag. sini/ili x Bl. were found to contain variable amounts 

 of yellow pigments besides lycopin. The following fruits appeared to 

 contain chiefly lycopin: Actinophlocus angustifolius Becc., Actino- 

 /j///or//.x' n/acurtJ/urii Becc., Archonthophocnix Alcxandrae H. Wendl., 

 Calyptrocalix spicatus Blume, Erythroxylum nova-granadense, Ncnga 

 Schcffcriana Bece., Nertera depressa Banks and Soland, Pandanus 

 polycephalus Lam., Ptychandra glauca Scheff., Ptychospcrma elegans 

 Blume, Sinaspadix Petrichiana Hort., Solanum decasepalum, Tanerno- 

 montana pentastycha Scheff. Especially interesting were the fruits of 

 Gonocarium obovatum Hocr. and Gon. pyriforme Scheff., the bands of 

 whose pigment in carbon disulfide solution were intermediate between 

 the characteristic bands of carotin and lycopin. Lubimenko regarded 

 the lycopin of the fruit of the palm Areca Alicae W. Hill as a lyco- 

 pinoid because its first two spectroscopic absorption bands in carbon 

 disulfide were of equal intensity while the second band in the case of 

 lycopin is more intense than the first. 



Van Wisselingh (1915) obtained a positive carotinoid reaction on 

 the fruits of Viburnum Opulus (European cranberry bush), using the 

 Molisch microchemical crystallization method, but made no further 

 study of the crystals. 



Gill (1918) has found carotinoids in palm oil, the commercial prod- 

 uct which is obtained from the fruits of certain Palmacece, particu- 

 larly Eloeis guineesis L. (Jacq.), which form vast forests along the 

 West Coast of Africa, and Eloeis melanococca, Garb. (Aljonsia olei- 

 fera, Humb.) which is cultivated in the West Indies and in South 

 America. Gill's observations are of interest in the light of Lubi- 

 menko's study of the pigments of the palm fruits, mentioned above. 



Asparagus berries. Thudichum (1869) classified the pigment with 

 the luteins. Hart-sen (1873b) described the red granules of pigment 

 in the berries and stated that red-colored crystalline tablets of the 

 pigment were insoluble in water, soluble in alcohol and ether and 

 especially so in petroleum ether. The pigment thus appears to be 



