1913] Alfred P. Lothrop 46$ 



79. The production of specific excretion products by In- 

 fusoria. Lorande Loss Woodruff. {Sheffield Biological Laho- 

 ratory, Yale University.) In a previous study^^ it has been shown 

 that the excretion products of Paramaecüim produce a retardation 

 of the rate of reproduction of Paramaecium, and therefore these 

 products may be considered as toxic to this species. The present 

 study shows that the excretion products of another infusorian, 

 Pleiirotricha, are toxic to Pleurotricha and produce a lowering of 

 the reproductive rate. A subjection of Paramaecium to the excre- 

 tion products of Pleurotricha, and, vice versa, the subjection of 

 Pleurotricha to the excretion products of Paramaecium, does not 

 produce any characteristic effect on the rate of reproduction of the 

 respective species. This result indicates that these two forms of 

 Infusoria, at least, develop excretion products which are specific in 

 their toxicity, in that the substances are inimical to the form which 

 produces them but not to a closely related fonn frequently associ- 

 ated with it in its natural environment. Details of the work will 

 appear in the Journal of Experimental Zoology (1913, xiv, p. 575). 



B. ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS FROM THE COLUMBIA BIOCHEMICAL 

 DEPARTMENT AND AFFILIATED LABORATORIES 



80. Toxicological studies on the mushrooms, Clitocybe 

 illudens and Inocybe infida.^*^ Ernest D. Clark and Clayton 

 S. Smith. When Inocybe infida and Clitocybe illudens were sub- 

 jected to processes of extraction and purification for the Separation 

 of muscarin from Amanita muscaria, we obtained material that 

 exerted a typical muscarin effect on exposed hearts of frogs and 

 turtles. Furthermore, this toxic action on the exposed hearts was 

 completely neutralized by the application of a Solution of atropin 

 Sulfate. When the toxic material from these fungi was injected 

 into the lymph-sacs of frogs the animals soon became paralyzed, and 

 usually the heart ceased to beat. 



It is interesting that experiments on both exposed hearts and 

 whole animals showed that analogous preparations from Amanita 

 muscaria did not seem as toxic nor as easily neutralized by atropin 



"Woodruff: The effect of excretion products of Paramaecium on its rate 

 of reproduction. Journal of Experimental Zoology, IQII, x, p. 557. 



^* Some of the work was done in the Physiological Laboratory of Columbia 

 University. 



