826 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



of the ordinary ampliiaster. The number of dividing cells is at least 

 double that which is found in normal ova of a corresponding age, and, 

 later on, the larvfe are irregular in form, and frequently have two or 

 three gastric cavities. 



By more complete asphyxiation the ova may be made to allow of 

 the entrance of from five to ten spermatozoa ; those which receive a 

 still larger number may be regarded as being dead. After discussing 

 the results of experiments on such eggs as these, Fol expresses his 

 belief that individuality cannot be regarded as being determined by 

 the egg, the female pronucleus, or tlie spermatozoon taken separately, 

 but that the number of amphiasters which are found at the time of the 

 first cleavage aiford the earliest criterion for the number of indivi- 

 di;als. 



Occurrence of Chlorophyll in Animals.* — C. A, MacMunn bases 

 his conclusions as to the identity of animal and vegetable chloro- 

 phyll on the fact that the wave-lengths of the centres of the bands 

 of the same solutions of animal and vegetable chloroi)hyll are the 

 same, and that the wave-lengths of the centres of the bands are 

 the same when the same reagent is added to the respective solutions. 

 Without committing himself to accepting the views of Kraus or Sorby, 

 he applies the term chlorophyll to that colouring matter, or mixture 

 of colouring matters, which can be extracted out of green leaves, 

 such as those of Primula, by means of alcohol or alcohol and ether. 

 The colouring matter, to which the writer has given the name 

 " enterochlorophyll," and which can be extracted from the liver 

 or other appendage of the enteron of invertebrates, was shown to 

 be probably produced by, and in, the body of the animal, and not 

 food chlorophyll. The absence of parasitic algns in sections of the 

 livers of certain moUusks which yield enterochlorophyll shows 

 that this pigment cannot be due to their presence. The writer 

 further showed that Pockliugton's observations, published in the 

 'Pharmaceutical Journal' in 1873, on the presence of chlorophyll 

 in the wing-cases of Cantharides beetles, could be verified, and he 

 had succeeded not only in verifying the presence of the principal 

 chlorophyll band in the ether, chloroform, and alcohol solutions of 

 the wing-cases ; but the changes produced in the spectra of these 

 solutions on the addition of certain reagents showed the presence of 

 a body indistinguishable from vegetable chlorophyll. Hence Leydig's 

 conclusion as to the presence of that colouring matter in insects was 

 proved to be correct. However, in the case of green larvae the 

 occurrence of a band in the red when a strong light is concentrated 

 on the integument may be merely due to the presence of food 

 chlorophyll in the intestine, for, on squeezing out the contents of 

 the latter, the green colour and the band both disapj)ear. It was 

 then shown that chlorophyll could hardly be of much use in respira- 

 tion, as oxidizing and reducing agents do not aifect it ; that for pro- 

 tective purposes or in mimicry a body of less complex chemical 



* Pioc. B:it. Assoc. Adv. Sci., 1883. Cf. Nature, xxix. (1883) pp. 581-2. See 

 also mfra p. 860. 



