278 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



that of the four bodies just mentioned* 9. The total quantity 

 of the nitrogen and of the urea diminishes. 10. The acidity 

 of the urine diminishes, and, in fact, may be replaced by alka- 

 linity. 11. The uric acid always increases. 12. When the 

 blood globule is greatly modified, and especially when the 

 crystals of haemoglobin appear, the urine contains the abnor- 

 mal substances which are most frequently the coloring mat- 

 ters of the bile, albumen, and sometimes of the haemoglobin. 

 13. These compounds increase the formation and deposit of 

 fat, but only when administered in certain doses. 4 B, April, 

 1872,363. 



OCCURRENCE OF HAEMOGLOBIN IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



Mr. E. Ray Lancaster discusses the presence of haemoglobin 

 in the muscles of mollusca and its distribution in the living 

 organism, and remarks that the only mollusca in which this 

 substance occurs &ve Planorbis and the allied species, in which 

 the blood is of a brilliant red color. He thinks that possibly 

 in other gasteropods this substance may be present in quan- 

 tities too small to be detected. 



The localities in which the haemoglobin has been detected 

 by means of the spectroscope are, first, the red granules of 

 the blood of the vertebrata, except in Amphioxus, where it 

 occurs in the plasma only; second, in most of the striped 

 muscles of mammalia and birds, but only in the cardiac mus- 

 cles and in certain very active muscles of other vertebrata ; 

 third, in the unstriped muscle in the human rectum ; fourth, 

 in certain annelidas ; fifth, in fluid from the perivisceral cavity 

 of the leech ; sixth, in the plasma of the so-called blood of the 

 larva of Chironomas (a dipterous insect), but it has been 

 sought for in vain in other insects, myriapods, and arachnids ; 

 seventh, in the blood plasma of some crustaceans, but not in 

 others ; eighth, as a rule, it is absent from the blood of the 

 mollusks, excepting in that of Planorbis. 21 A, March, 1872, 

 255. 



TRANSVERSELY STRIATED MUSCULAR FIBRE IN ACARI. 



Mr. Dall some time ago announced the discovery of trans- 

 versely striated muscular fibre in the mollusca ; and we are 

 informed by Flogel that the same attribute applies to the 

 muscle of a species of Trombidium, one of the Acari. These 



