12 



DISTRIBUTION OF HEMOGLOBIN AND ALLIED SUBSTANCES 



Heira (Compt. rend. soc. biolog., 1892, cxiv, 772) found in decapods 

 that hemocyanin is not the only albuminous substance of the blood, and 

 that dialysis does not yield a pure hemocyanin. He states that the blood 

 of Crustacea does not contain a higher percentage of than pure water, 

 except that of Palinurus vulgaris, which contains about one-third more. 

 He does not look upon the copper as existing in the form of an albuminate. 



Cuenot (Compt. rend. soc. biolog., 1891, ex, 724) found in Aplysia 

 punctata a colorless hemocyanin (?) that is not colored blue upon exposure 

 to the air, which he regards as being without respiratory function. He 

 likewise found (Compt. rend. soc. biolog., 1892, cxv, 127), as had Jolyet 

 and Regnard (loc. cit.) and others, a low oxygen capacity of hemocyanin. 

 Fredericq (Centralb. f. Physiologie, 1899, xm, 147) in experiments with the 

 blood of crabs showed that hemocyanin is the only protein of the blood 

 that contains copper, that it is coagulated between 65 and 70, that it is 

 present in the proportion of 4.4 to 3.78 per cent and that the percentage 

 is decreased during fasting. In a previous article (loc. cit.) he gives the 

 coagulation point as 68 to 69. That the blue coloring matter is a copper 

 compound was reaffirmed by Couvreur (Compt. rend. soc. biolog., 1900, 

 LII, 395), who found that after precipitation of the hemocyanin by mag- 

 nesium sulphate, alcohol, or heat, the filtrate does not contain any copper. 

 The spontaneous decolorization of hemocyanin upon keeping seems, accord- 

 ing to Phisalix (Compt. rend. soc. biolog., 1900, LII, 729), to be due to 

 bacterial action, for he found that this color change may be hindered by 

 chloroform, ether, 10 per cent formaldehyde, or fluoride of sodium, and that 

 the blood of Helix pomatia, if kept antiseptically, retained its blue color 

 for a year. 



TABLE 3. Quantities of copper in the blood of certain invertebrates, according to Dheri. 



* Hibernating. 



In studies of the distribution of copper in invertebrates and fish, 

 Dubois (Compt. rend. soc. biolog., 1900, LII, 392; 1903, LV, 1161) found 

 that the proportions are very variable, not only in different species and 

 individuals, but also in different organs. Ascidians are very poor in copper, 

 and fish contain less than invertebrates. In the blood of Palinurus vulgaris 

 he found 22.97 mg. of copper per 100 grams, and in muscle 4.47 mg. The 

 egg was copper-free. In the blood of Helix pomatia there were 24.39 mg. 



