352 



ronis) and perhaps of that of the corpuscles of the other two worms 

 also. Such a suggestion is devoid of justification. The presence of 

 Haemoglobin was determined by me in these cases by means of the 

 spectroscope and there is simply no possibility of doubting the fact of 

 its occurrence. 



I am induced to insist upon the accuracy of my previous state- 

 ments which Dr. Krukenberg so strangely calls in question, since 

 in the case of Thalassema Neptmii I have to bring forward a new and 

 very remarkable instance of the presence of Haemoglobin. 



The dark red or brown liquid from the perivisceral cavity of Tha- 

 lassema Neptuni is found on examination with the microscope to con- 

 tain an immense abundance of perfectly smooth spherical corpuscles, 

 each of which is deeply impregnated with Haemoglobin 

 and also contains one or more dark granular masses of 

 brown pigment. The granular brown pigment is so intense as to 

 appear quite black under the microscope, and may form a single mass 

 in t?lie centre of the corpuscle about one fifth of the diameter of the 

 corpuscle or may be scattered in it in the form of two or three masses. 

 The dark pigment has no relation to the nucleus which is not visible 

 in the living condition but is seen when dilute acids are added. 



The red element in the colour of the perivisceral liquid is due to 

 the Haemoglobin of the corpuscles, the more or less brown shade 

 which is observed and which varies in different specimens so that the 

 liquid is sometimes blood red and sometimes quite a deep Vandyke 

 brown, is due to the greater or less abundance of the dark brown 

 masses of pigment in the corpuscles. 



The two pigments are easily separated by the action of fresh- 

 water. This dissolves the Haemoglobin which is then filtered off from 

 the stroma of the corpuscles and brown granular pigment. In this way 

 I obtained the Haemoglobin in quantity in perfectly clear solution, and 

 determined its character with the spectroscope. I obtained it both in 

 the reduced and oxydized condition. The brown granular pigment is 

 not soluble in distilled water, nor in absolute alcohol, nor in chloroform. 



Besides the haemoglobinous corpuscles the perivisceral liquid of 

 Thalassema contains the usual amoeboid corpuscles which sometimes 

 contain a few orange-coloured granules and very readily aggregate and 

 form masses consisting of a hundred or more such cells. No corpuscles 

 corresponding to the »Töpfchens« of Sipunculus and Phascolosoma^ are 

 present. In March the genital products (ova and spermatozoa) of Tha- 

 lassema are not developed. I found no young ova in the perivisceral 

 liquid, but in some specimens I found a few mulberry-spheres which 

 were young sperm-polyplasts. 



