610 SIDNEY I. KORNHAUSER 
able that the metabolic level also depends on genetic factors 
probably present in the chromatin. 
The excellent researches of Smith on sacculinized crabs indi- 
cated that the metabolic level of infected male crabs was lowered. 
Smith would ascribe the appearance of female secondary sexual 
characteristics in these crabs as being referable to the underlying 
causes of the changed metabolism. Lowered metabolism evinced 
itself in various ways. It was first detected by the presence of 
lipochromes characteristic of the blood of the female (Smith, ’11, 
713, and Robson, 711). Then it was shown that the percentage 
of fat in the blood of infected males increased, approaching that 
characteristic of females producing ova. Histological sections 
of the liver (Robson, ’11) showed a great increase of fat globules 
in the cells of parasitized males, bringing about a condition sim- 
ilar to that of normal females. Smith (13) made quantitative 
analyses of the livers of normal and infected individuals and 
showed that fat production was stimulated in parasitized male 
crabs and that glycogen production was depressed bringing 
about a metabolism characteristic of the female. Smith con- 
tended that the Sacculina roots act as does a normal ovary. 
They make a demand on the tissues of the host and in the male 
alter the substances carried by the blood and body fluid. This 
demand has two results, it brings about the increase of fat mole- 
cules and it stimulates the production of certain female second- 
ary sexual characteristics. In Smith’s theoretical considera- 
tions of the problem he explained the demand made by the 
Sacculina roots and the response of the tissues upon the Ehrlich 
theory of immunity reactions. The Sacculina roots in para- 
sitized males acting upon protein molecules in the crab’s blood 
stimulate the production of fat links, which travel through the 
blood to the host’s liver, where each receives a fat molecule 
which it transports back through the blood to the Sacculina fat 
chains. Here the fat molecule is given up and the fat link again 
travels toward the liver. The constant increase of fat links 
stimulates an increase of fat molecules in the liver of the host. 
Smith clearly states that not the increased fat itself in the blood 
stimulates the appearance of the female secondary sexual char- 
