A (.KNETICO-PHYSIOLOGICAL STUDY ON THE FORMATION ETC. 17 



iiuiuIx-T of plants wliicli Woklwl a deep reJ colmir ou lioatiug ^^it]l Inclrn- 

 cliloric iifkl mill with oxidfise n bi-owu t<i nxklisli foloui'. The red coloiuiug; 

 luatter obtrtiued by heating \\ith the acid is chauged to l)hic by au alkali 

 like authocyauiu. The chromogenic substauce is solulile in alcohol aud iu 

 ether, and with ammonia jiclds a deep yellow eok>ur as ol)ser\ed with flavone 

 I Hit 1 )y reductiou jields uo colour. It is very seusitive to the action of oxidases 

 forming a brown substance of wliicli the colour is intensified by alkali aud 

 chauged to yellow or yellowish brown by acid. The plant extract which con- 

 tains both this sulistance aud certaiu kinds of flavoues shows a characteristic 

 i-ed colour by reduction as well as wheu heated with hydrochloric acid. Shi- 

 B.\TA considered that the substance might be regarded as a colourless autho- 

 cyauiu. MoiiEAix (1914)' considered it pTOp9r to rank aloug with red, viiilet 

 aud blue pigmeuts designed as authocj-auius, the colourless compouuds which 

 are inseparable from them aud which are ah\ays foimd in the celLs as earlier 

 or later products, l)eing closel}- related to them as regards chemical comj^wsi- 

 tif)U find as haviug iu common with them a mitochoudrial origin. 



We do not know as yet the chemical uature of the si:bstauce iu questiou 

 l)ut the similarity in ceiiain properties exhiljited by the extract fi'om a uumlier 

 of plants, suggests tliat a closely allied substauce maj- be present wideh' iu 

 the plant kingdom aud it may give rise to certaiu auth'jcyauins aud the 

 reddish bn)wn pigments. The Ijeariug of the fact on genetics is hardly to be 

 overlooked, for we are uow able to locate aud to approximate the chromogeu 

 iu the part of a plant by the test for flavoue aud the substauce under discus- 

 sion. Iu the following pages, the former will be uamed, for the sake of cou- 

 venience, chiümogeuic substauce F, aud the latter clu'omogeuic substauce P. 



A number of species of plants especially the cultivated plants, were ex- 

 amiued for these clu-omogenic substauce. The method employed ■\\as as 

 follows. To each gi'ara of the fresh material, ten cc of a weak alcohol were 

 added and exti'acted on the water bath. Usually three to five gi'ams of the 

 materials were taken. Five cc of the extracts were reduced with oue cc of 

 concentrated hydi'ocliloric acid aud magnesium powder for the chromogenic 

 sulistance F, and another five cc were simph' boiled with the acid which w.as 



1. JIoBEAüx, F., Ij' origine et les transf irmations des l)^o<^^üts anthoej-aTÜnues. ISiüI. d, I 

 oc. 15üt. France. Gl : 390, 1914. 



