CAROTINOIDS IN THE CRYPTOGAM* 100 



this on such meager data. The writer is of the opinion that exami- 

 nation will disclose the fact that fucoxanthin or a similar pigment is 

 the predominating carotinoid in the l'< rnlinitac. 



The Fl(i(i< Unto. The flagellates arc simple unicellular, aquatic or- 

 iiani-ms intermediate between the algae and protozoa. They inhabit 

 ponds and streams. Only a few species have been examined for pig- . 

 mcnts. A survey of the somewhat scanty evidence does, however, 

 point with certainty to the presence of carotinoids in those species 

 which have been examined. The exact character of the carotinoids 

 remains to be determined. 



AVille (1887) regarded the pigment in the brown palmella-like cells 

 of Chromulina (Chromophyton) Hosanoffii as diatomin because the 

 cells turned green when treated with HC1. Klebs (1893) expressed 

 the same idea for Chrysomonidina Stein, but called the pigment 

 chrysochrome. Gaidukov (1900), however, emphatically denied the 

 existence of either carotin of fucoxanthin in Chromulinn, claiming to 

 have found only two pigments present, a chlorophyll-like pigment 

 (chrysochlorophyll) and a xanthophyll-like pigment (chrysoxantho- 

 phyll). The latter pigment as described by Gaidukov shows true 

 xanthophyll properties, except that only one spectroscopic absorption 

 band was observed, namely, at 495-485|i[ji, which corresponds fairly 

 well with the first xanthophyll band. Spectroscopic studies of alco- 

 holic and petroleum ether extracts of Hy drums penicillatus were 

 made by Nebelung (1878), but his results give very little hint as to 

 the true character of the carotinoids present. 



Two species of Flagellata whose pigment has long been of interest 

 arc Euglena sanguined and Euglena viridis. In these organisms the 

 pigment occurs in a red ring around the nucleus, giving the appear- 

 ance of an eye, from which the popular name, eye-spots, of Euglena, 

 is derived. When these organisms turn green the chlorophyll develops 

 first at the periphery of the red ring and gradually spreads inward. 

 The red pigment does not always occur in Euglena sanguined, how- 

 ever, and its absence seems to exert little if any effect on the normal 

 development of the organisms. The eye-spots occur chiefly in spring 

 and autumn, or when the organisms are in a dry state or exposed to 

 bright sunlight. Cohn (1850) and Klebs (1883) regarded the red 

 coloring matter as identical with that of the Chlorophyceae, Haema- 

 tococcus pluvialis, the so-called haematochrome of Cohn. If this be 

 the case the eye-spot pigment is a mixture of carotinoids, inasmuch as 

 Zopf (1892a) has shown that haematochrome consists of carotin and 



