4 DISTRIBUTION OF HEMOGLOBIN AND ALLIED SUBSTANCES 



Mosely (quoted by MacMunn) described polyperythrin, which Mac- 

 Munn regards as being identical with hematoporphyrin, in Ceratotrochus 

 diadema, Flabellum variable, Flabellum sp.?, Fungia symmetrica, Stephano- 

 phyllia farmosissima, Stephana phyllia sp.?, Actinia with a coriaceous test 

 and in Discosoma sp.?, and also in Cassiopea (a rhizostomean acaleph). 



ECHINOCHROME, HEMERYTHRIN, AND CHLOROCRUORIN, ETC. 



Echinochrome, hemerythrin, and chlorocruorin are very close to hemo- 

 globin. Delle Chiaje (Memoria sulla storia e notomia degli animali senza 

 vertebre del regno di Napoli, i, 33, 127; MacMunn, Quar. Jour. Microscop. 

 Science, 1885, xxv, 476) noted in Sipunculus balanorphus and Echino- 

 rhynchus that the arterial blood is red and the venous blood brown. 

 Schwalbe (Archiv f. mikros. Anat., 1869, v, 248) describes the body fluid of 

 Phascolosoma elongatum as being a bright rose or grayish-red color which 

 became darker and darker until it was of an intense Burgundy-red. A 

 similar or identical coloring matter was found by Krukenberg (loc. cit.} 

 in the blood of Sipunculus mtdus, who found that the change of color was 

 due to oxidation and that C0 2 restored the original color. The coloring 

 matter, which he termed hemerythrin, he found was decomposed by H 2 S, 

 and that the O seemed to be more firmly combined than in oxyhemoglobin. 

 Geddes (Gamgee's Physiological Chemistry, 1880, 134; Proc. Roy. Soc., 

 1880) also observed the color changes in the body fluid of echinoderms 

 upon exposure to the air. 



The most important investigations of this coloring matter, or of what 

 are closely identical substances, were made by MacMunn (Proc. Birming- 

 ham Philosoph. Soc., 1883, in, 380; Quar. Jour. Microscop. Science, 1885, 

 xxv, 482), who found in various parts of the body, and in the peri visceral 

 fluid, of Echinus (esculentus?) and Sphcera a brown coloring matter which 

 deepened in color upon exposure to the air and which reacted to reducing 

 agents. In the later article he reports studies of the coloring matter of the 

 perivisceral fluid of Strongylocentrotus lividus, which he found is capable of 

 existing in two states of oxidation, and which therefore was regarded by 

 him as being respiratory. To it he gave the name echinochrome. He 

 states that it differs from the blood pigments of most invertebrates, and 

 that it can be obtained in solution by two methods : 



(a) The fresh blood clot can be extracted by water or by alcohol in 

 which it is partially soluble, or by glycerin, ether, chloroform, benzine, 

 bisulphide of carbon, or petroleum ether, in which it is more soluble, the 

 extract upon evaporation yielding an amorphous precipitate. 



(b) The clot can be separated from the serum by filtering, the clot 

 dried at room temperature, and then extracted with one of the solvents in 

 a test-tube in the dark. 



The latter method gives the better results. 



MacMunn in other articles (Philosoph. Trans. Royal Soc. London, 

 1886, i, 267; Journal of Physiology, 1886, vn, 240) records the presence of 

 various pigments in the tissues of echinoderms, certain of which he identified 

 as hematoporphyrin, hemochromogen, or other bodies very close to hemo- 

 globin. 



