466 Chemical Difference in Echinoderm Eggs 



sodium hydrate and, after the addition of sodium sulphate and 

 some water, was shaken out with ether repeatedly. The ether 

 was washed several times with sodium carbonate solution and 

 evaporated to dryness. The residue was very small in amount, 

 not crystalline; it looked like oleic acid. It gave no positive tests 

 for cholesterol either by Salkowski's or the Liebermann-Burchard 

 method. I have repeatedly sought for cholesterol in these eggs 

 varying the procedure but I have never been able to find it. On 

 one occasion when the ovaries were not ripe the fatty residue of 

 the ether after repeated saponifications,- both with alkali and acid, 

 gave a very faint, transitory green such as cholesterol gives in 

 the Liebermann test, and there may have been a very small amount 

 of cholesterol present, but no crystals could be obtained. In view 

 of the fact that the color reaction is probably not specific I am 

 doubtful whether there was a trace of cholesterol present or not. 

 It could not be positively identified. It may be mentioned that 

 cholesterol in combination as in lanolin gives the Liebermann-Bur- 

 chard reaction very strongly. 



The same methods applied to the sea-urchin egg gave, as usual, 

 a crystalline mass on evaporating the ether after saponification; 

 the crystals looked like cholesterol and gave a typical reaction 

 of Salkowski. I may say that the extract of the whole body of 

 the star-fish contains cholesterol in abundance. 



Another very interesting peculiarity of the star-fish egg is the 

 character of its phosphatide. It resembles the jecorin described by 

 Drechsel. A large quantity of eggs was extracted with hot alcohol 

 and ether; the lecithin (?) precipitated from the ether solution in 

 the usual way, redissolved in ether (not anhydrous) and reprecipi- 

 tated with acetone and the process repeated until it dissolved 

 quite clear in the ether and did not settle out a white substance 

 when standing in the cold. This white substance coming out of 

 the ether had a sweet taste, but had no reducing action on Feh- 

 ling's solution either before or after heating with hydrochloric acid. 

 The phosphatide thus prepared is more hygroscopic than lecithin 

 from the brain or eggs. It makes unusually beautiful, regular 

 mye.in forms when shaken with water, and it seems to be toxic 

 for sea-urchin eggs. It was probably not a pure substance. It 

 contains a large amount of a reducing sugar which, calculated as 

 glucose, amounts to 10.51 per cent by weight. The nature of this 



