/ 



NOTE ON A NEW BRITISH EOHIUHOID GKl'llYRliAN. 377 



" Report on Green Pigment of Tiialassema. 



"The pigmeut was received iu the form of a solution in formalin. The 

 solution was a dull green colour, and did not display any fluorescence, as do 

 solutions of bouellein or chlorophyll. 



"Actionof Hea t. — The solution underwent no change on boiling. When 

 evaporated to dryness in a water-bath a dull green pigment was left behind. 



"Action of Ether and Alcohol. — When shaken in a separation funnel 

 with ether, the ether did not remove any pigment from the solution. The 

 addition of alcohol to the solution i)roduced a green stringy precipitate, 

 soluble in water, slightly soluble in excess of alcohol. The pigment obtained 

 by the evaporation of the formalin extract is soluble in alcohol. 



"Action of Acids. — Acetic, hydrochloric, and nitric acids produced no 

 change. This is in marked contrast to the reactions given by bonellein to 

 acids. According to Krukenberg (' Vergleicb. Physiol. Studien,' ll'« Reihe, 

 ll'e Abtheil., pp. 70 — 80), that pigment in alcoholic solution turns violet with 

 strong acids, whether organic or inorganic ; and on the further addition of acid 

 turns blue, both solutions having definite spectroscopic characters. The 

 green colour was restored on the addition of alkali. 



"If the green Thalassema pigment be boiled with concentrated nitric 

 acid, the solution turns first yellow, and then evolves nitrous fumes and 

 becomes a clear green. 



"Action of Alkalies. — Alkaline solutions, such as caustic soda and am- 

 monia, in large part precipitated the green pigment as a green stringy mass. 

 The precipitate was insoluble in excess of alkali, and only slightly soluble in 

 water or methylated spirit. 



" When this methylated spirit solution was evaporated to dryness it left a 

 yellowish rather than a green residue. When this residue was treated with 

 strong nitric acid the acid became yellow, and then nitrous fumes were evolved 

 and the pigment became green. The residue obtained by evaporating the 

 formalin solution to dryness did not give this reaction so readily. 



" HoS seemed to have no effect on the pigment. 



" Conclusion. — If the absence of the red fluorescence, and of the reaction 

 with acids described by Krukenberg, are to be relied upon, then this green 

 pigment is not bouellein. Again, the absence of fluorescence, the absence of 

 an associated lipochrome, and the colour are evidence against the supposition 

 that it is chlorophyll. The only reaction given by the pigment which is at 

 all distinctive is the vivid green coloration with concentrated nitric acid. This 

 is a reaction given apparently by all of a little known series of pigments, 

 forming the hepatochromes of Krukenberg and the enterochlorophylls of 

 MacMunn, which occur in the livers and digestive glands of many Inverte- 

 brates, and are either of a green or a yellow colour. The green does not give 

 the reaction with nitric acid so well as the yellow, but seems to be readily 

 convertible into the yellow. According to Krukenberg, there is no evidence 



