CHLOROPHYLL-CORPUSCLES AND AMYLOID DEPOSITS. 289 



gas >vas absorbed, and it was accordingly inferred tbat one 

 third part by volume of the gas evolved from the Hydrse 

 was oxygen gas." 



Mr. Blonifield further observed that the green pigment 

 of the Hydrse was soluble in alcohol, and that the green 

 solution obtained in that medium was converted in the 

 course of half an hour's exposure to direct sunlight into a 

 faint yellow colour. Unfortunately nothing further was 

 observed with the spectroscope than the presence of one 

 intense absorption band in the red similar to that afforded 

 by solutions of leaf green. 



Morpliological evidence with regard to the occurrence of 

 chlorophyll in animals. 



A. Spongilla. 



CMorophyll-corpuscles. — I now come to the statement of 

 my own observations with reference to Xh^ form under which 

 the green pigment of Spongilla presents itself, and I am of 

 opinion that these observations lead to the conclusion that 

 the green pigment there present, whicli Sorby has demon- 

 strated to agree in spectroscopic characters of a detailed 

 kind with the green pigment of higher plants, is contained 

 in "chlorophyll-corpuscles " or "chlorophyll bodies " which 

 have the same nature as the bodies so designated in the 

 tissues of gi-een plants, and that these corpuscles are, as in 

 green plants, formed by the activity of the protoplasm of the 

 cells in which they occur. 



In figs. 1 and 2, and others on Plate XX, amoeboid cells 

 from green-coloured specimens of Spongilla fluviatUis are 

 represented, showing the green-coloured corpuscles embedded 

 in their substance, Avhich I consider as chlorophyll-corpuscles 

 proper to these cells. The corpuscles are concavo-convex 

 discs, averaging _-- i-^-th to t~,-u u-oth inch in diameter. They 

 are of a uniform green colour, and are often so abundant as 

 to occupy a large bulk of the cell. Some cells, however, 

 are observed in Avhich they are much less abundant. 



Earely I have observed in the amoeboid ceils containing 

 chlorophyll-corpuscles of normal size and shape one chloro- 

 phyll-corpuscle abnormally large and differing in shape 

 from those usually seen. In fig. 2 c c c such a corpuscle of 

 spherical form is drawn. In fig. 12 a similarly large chloro- 

 phyll-corpuscle from Spongilla is drawn. In this case the 

 green pigment is confined to a superficial layer or shell 

 investing a colourless substance and to a few grains within. 



The amoeboid ceils and the corpuscles containing them 

 may be well observed by simply teazing a piece of a living 



