278 LIONEL JAMES PIOTON. 



heart-bodies after boiliug in caustic alkali solution, and by his 

 direction bleached a portion by his chlorate of potash and 

 hydrochloric acid method. The acid was introduced by a 

 pipette at the bottom of a tube of alcohol, so that the proble- 

 matical bodies, which were suspended in the tube in a piece of 

 silk gauze, could be but little affected by it. Dr. Mayer 

 tested both bleached and unbleached material, the unpig- 

 mented portions of the latter being quite sufficient to indicate 

 any colour reaction. The substance was first washed in dis- 

 tilled water, and then a drop of the double salt, chloride and 

 iodide of zinc, was put upon it. Some of the bodies turned 

 deep indigo-blue, others took a bluish tinge, whilst others 

 again did not show the least stain. In a cluster of three, two 

 might be markedly coloured, and the third not at all. With 

 the double salt of calcium, in the case of unbleached material, 

 some of the bodies turned light violet, others yellow. These 

 reactions show that the nature of the substance is closely 

 similar to that of chitin, but in some of the bodies it is in 

 a different state from that in others, since the stain does not 

 occur uniformly. This fact helps to confirm the view that 

 these structures, which may now be referred to as " chitinous 

 bodies," are in process of formation in the heart-body. The 

 occurrence of the chitiu-cellulose reaction in Annelida is in- 

 teresting, since Ambronn, who used Spirographis, did not find 

 it in this group. 



Osmic acid darkens many of the granules, but in a pig- 

 mented structure such as the heart-body it shows nothing 

 conclusively. Rauvier gives as a reaction of fat a blue colora- 

 tion with quinoline blue, and its preservation in glycerine 

 [26], and Rosa confirms his statement [27]. When a piece of 

 a heart-body is teased, treated on the slide with alcohol, and 

 then with an alcoholic solution of quinoline blue diluted with 

 water as far as is possible without precipitation of the colouring 

 matter, the granules are stained greenish blue, and also a 

 number of globules are rendered intensely blue. After standing 

 in glycerine under a cover-slip for three weeks the blue of the 

 globules has not faded, but the colour of the granules has 



