46 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



The presence of pentose in the ova of the herring and its complete 

 absence in those of the dog-fish is also worth noting. It should be 

 mentioned, however, that in the former case the material examined 

 was fertilized spawn, whilst in the latter it was ripe ova taken from 

 the ovary. 



The absence of glycogen in all but traces in the livers of the 

 fishes examined is in general agreement with the observations of Lang 

 and Macleod^, but does not support their suggestion that "the 

 glycogen content of fishes is very low in the summer months and high 

 in the winter," since the fishes whose examination is here recorded 

 were all caught during the winter months. It would seem that in 

 these animals glycogen is very largely replaced by oil as a reserve 

 material. 



In the case of the mollusks, pentose has been determined quanti- 

 tatively only in the digestive gland and gonad, though it has also 

 been found present in the siphon muscle. The complete separation 

 of the two organs was very difificult in the pelecypod Saxidomus 

 gigantea and the small gastropod Thais lamellosa. They were, there- 

 fore, analysed together in these cases. ' In the large gastropod Poly- 

 nices lewisii it was comparatively easy after the material had been 

 hardened in alcohol. It is to be noted that in this case there is no 

 great difference between the pentose content of the two organs though 

 the gonad contains much more nuclear material. 



The figures quoted are corrected for the error introduced into 

 the pentose determinations by the glycogen present, as already 

 explained. The amount of glycogen is much greater in Saxidomus 

 gigantea than in the gastropods. The writer has found this to hold 

 in comparing other pelecypod and gastropod mollusks in connection 

 with other work. 



In the light of the observations recorded by Starkenstein and 

 Henze ^ and others of the presence of pentosans in molluskan livers 

 it is worthy of note that no pentosan has been found in any of the 

 mollusks examined. It seems likely that j3. nucleoproteins have been 

 mistaken for pentosans in these instances. 



The occurrence of furfurol-yielding substances in the tubes of the 

 polychsete worms Eudistylia gigantea and Mesochœtopterus taylori was 

 quite unexpected and seems worth recording. The results have, 

 therefore, been included in the above table. The yield of furfurol 

 from the tube of Mesochœtopterus taylori is very much higher than has 

 been obtained from any other marine animal material. The furfurol- 



«Lang, R. S., and Macleod, J. J. R., Quart. J. Exp. Physiol, 1918-20, XII, 331. 

 "Starkenstein, E., and Henze, M., Zeits. Physiolog. Chem., 1912, LXXXII, 417. 



