CARBON MONOXIDE A RESPIRATION PRODUCT OF 



NEREOCYSTIS LUETKEANA 



Seth C. Langdon and W. R. Gailey 



(with three figures) 



The consideration of carbon monoxide as a plant respiration 

 product is somewhat novel from the point of view of the plant 

 physiologist. That such may be the case seems clear from the 

 evidence to be submitted in this paper. This investigation was 

 carried on during the summer of 191 8 at the Puget Sound Marine 

 Station at Friday Harbor, Washington. It was expected to con- 

 tinue the investigation for another summer before publication. 

 This was not possible, however, and since it now appears wholly 

 unlikely that the work will ever be carried further by the authors, 

 the data at hand are presented. 



In previous papers by Langdon, 1 it was shown that there was 

 present an average of 4 per cent (by volume) of carbon monoxide 

 in the pneumatocyst of the giant Pacific Coast kelp, Nereocystis 

 Luetkeana. This statement was based on the analysis of the gas 

 from about 1000 different specimens. The quantity of carbon 

 monoxide varied from 1 to 12 per cent, the average being 4 per 

 cent. The actual existence of the carbon monoxide in the gas 

 from the kelp was demonstrated by a variety of chemical tests, by 

 its physiological effects on animals, and by the standard spectro- 

 scopic blood tests. There was also present in the gas 15-25 per 

 cent of oxygen, the remainder of the gas being nitrogen. There 

 was no evidence of the presence of other gases, except, of course, 

 water vapor, although particular search was made for carbon 

 dioxide, hydrogen, and hydrocarbon gases. 



The occurrence of carbon monoxide within a living plant at 

 once raised the question as to its source and possible relation to 

 anabolic or katabolic processes. In the theoretical 2 considerations 



'Jour. Amer. Chem. Soc. 39:149. 1917; also Puget Sound Marine Sta. Publ. 

 1:237. 1917. 



2 Spoehr, H. A., Plant World 19:1. 1916. 

 Botanical Gazette, vol. 70] [230 



