Greene- — Absorption of Fats in Salmon 265 



on hand some two-year-old salmon; also some yearlings. 

 Specimens of both were secured, killed and prepared for 

 comparison with the adult fish in points with respect to the 

 general study being pursued. I also transported living 

 specimens of these salmon in fish cans to the Hopkins Sea- 

 side Laboratory at Pacific Grove, Cal. These young 

 live salmon were intended for use as a check on the general 

 fat content of adult salmon secured through the Monterey 

 fisheries. A microscopic examination of the tissues of one 

 of the largest of these specimens showed among other things 

 that the intestine and the pyloric coeca contained neutral 

 fat, but that the fat was located chiefly in the tunica propria. 

 The cells of the epithelial coat were almost entirely free of 

 fat in this specimen. A second specimen, put in preserva- 

 tive at the Brookdale station, showed a small amount of fat 

 in the epithelial coats of the intestine and the coeca. This 

 dearth of fat in the epithelial coats of the young salmon was 

 in sharp contrast to the relatively large amounts of fat 

 always found in the epithelium of the coeca of the adult 

 salmon. 



Experimental test of the fat-absorbing power of the py- 

 loric coeca. — It was determined to make a test of the fat- 

 absorbing properties of the pyloric coeca on the young king 

 salmon, for which purpose two of the larger salmon and 

 four of the smaller ones were still available. The two 

 larger salmon were 14 and 16 centimeters long respectively. 

 These young fish had not been fed since removal from the 

 Brookdale aquarium, so that the alimentary tracts were 

 assumed to be practically free from fat, an assumption 

 checked by the specimens previously examined. 



The salmon in the experiment were fed olive oil. The 

 attempt was made at first to give olive oil mixed with 

 enough coagulated milk to hold the oil in the semi-solid mass 

 of the milk curd. This mixture was injected through the 

 mouth into the stomach by means of a syringe with large 

 opening. But quantities of the milk coagulum were imme- 

 diately ejected bv the salmon when set free and one could 



