44 



SPECIFICITY OF THE BLOOD OF VERTEBRATES 



uals, as to imply that in omnivora, rodents, and carnivora the per cent of 

 albumins will be found to be in excess of the percentage of globulins, while 

 in herbivora the reverse is the case. 



As to the birds, the albumins are in excess of the globulins in the 

 pigeon, while in the chicken it is the reverse. 



Among the cold-blooded animals the percentage of albumins is invari- 

 ably lower than that of the globulins, although in the salamander these 

 percentages are practically the same. The comparatively small percentages 

 of albumins, absolutely and relatively, in cold-blooded animals is the chief 

 cause of the high quotients, the lowest being 1.293 in the toad, and the 

 highest being 7.699 in the newt. The mean quotient for all of the 

 cofd-blooded animals is 3.366, while that for the mammals is 0.913. The 

 quotients for the several individuals of the different classes are as a rule so 

 different as to be important in generic differentiation. 



Further evidence of zoological distinctions is found in the results of 

 the researches of Halliburton (Journal of Physiology, 1884, v, 152; Quar. 

 Jour. Microscop. Science, 1877-78, xxvni, 193) and Mellanby (Journal of 

 Physiology, 1907, xxxvi, 288), and Wallerstein (Inaug. Diss., Strassburg, 

 1902; Maly's Jahr. ii. d. Fort. d. Thierchemie, 1903, 256). Halliburton in 

 his studies of the kinds of serum albumins in the sera of mammals, birds, 

 and cold-blooded animals, reports that three kinds (a, (3, and y) are present 

 in the sera of man, monkey, pig, and rabbit, but that the a-albumin is 

 absent from the sera of the bullock, sheep, and horse (table 17). The 

 absence of a-albumin seems therefore to be a peculiarity of the herbivora. 



TABLE 17. The a, ft, and -[-albumins of Halliburton in relation to zoological distinction. 



P = present; A = absent. 



In the sera of birds he found all three albumins, but in the cold-blooded 

 animals, with the exception of the eel, there is only a single albumin. In 

 the frog, toad, newt, salamander, tortoise, lizard, and fish generally there 

 is only the a-albumin; in the dog-fish there is only the /3-albumin; and in 

 the eel there are both a and /3-albumins. 



The sera of birds containing all three albumins are more closely related 

 to the mammals than to cold-blooded animals, while the differences in the 



