468 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VoL. VI. 
phosphorus indicate very decidedly that the substance forming the outer 
portion of the granules belongs to the nuclein class of compounds. As 
this same substance has an affinity for hematoxylin and acetic-methy] 
green, it is difficult to resist the conclusion that it is true chromatin. 
If, however, trichomes containing these granules are submitted to 
digestion with artificial gastric juice, the granules in from eighteen to 
twenty-four hours disappear. The granules of the second type disappear 
during the first hour. The absence of granules of the first type is not 
apparent only, as Biitschli claims, who holds that they are still present, 
although they have lost their capacity to take up stains, but is due to 
actual solution and disappearance of their substance, for by no method 
of staining or impregnation can they be brought into view.  Biitschli’s 
contention, therefore, is incorrect. It is the recognized property of 
nucleins to resist gastric digestion and if this is universally true the sub- 
stance forming the granules cannot be regarded as true nuclein com- 
pounds or as a true nucleo-proteid. It must be noted, however, that 
some forms of nucleic acid are soluble in artificial gastric juice and it is 
possible that the substance forming the essential portion of the granules 
in question contains one of these soluble forms. It must be recognized, 
also, that the substance in question, while possessing many of the 
characters of chromatin as it is found in highly organized animal and 
vegetable cells, does not fully represent the latter, and the true repre- 
sentative of chromatin in the Cyanophycee is to be found in the sub- 
stance, holding “ masked ” iron and organic phosphorus, obtaining in the 
central body. 
What the chemical composition of the granules of the second type is 
it is not possible to say definitely. The substance forming them has by 
some been regarded as an isomer of starch, but its capacity for absorbing 
picrocarmine and staining blue-violet with slightly diluted Ehrlich’s 
hematoxylin in the fresh trichome indicates that it is rather related to 
the proteid class of compounds. This is confirmed to a certain extent 
by evidence of the presence of organic sulphur in the granules. When 
preparations of Osczllaria Froehlichit, hardened in alcohol, are carefully 
heated for about ten minutes in a mixture of glycerine and solutions of 
potash and lead acetate the granules in question exhibit a light brown 
tint due to the presence of lead sulphide. Except in one instance they 
have not given any indication of the presence of organic phosphorus 
and they cannot, therefore, be regarded as formed of a nucleo-proteid 
compound. They are extractable with boiling water and their substance 
is not coagulable with heat. On the whole, the facts suggest that they 
are constituted of a substance which has the characters uf one of the 
