370 



Dr. C. A. MacMunn. 



Tarbuck (Edward L.) Handbook of House Property. Second Edition. 

 8vo. London 1880. The Publishers. 



Williams (Greville), F.R.S. On the Antiseptic Alkaloids contained 

 in Creosote Oils. 8vo. London 1883. The Action of some Heated 

 Snbstances on the Organic Sulphides in Coal Gas. 8vo. London 

 1883. " The Author, 



" Observations on tbe Colouring-matters of the so-called Bile of 

 Invertebrates, on those of the Bile of Vertebrates, and on 

 some unusual Urine Pigments, &c." By Charles A. 

 MacMunn, B.A., M.D. Communicated by Dr. M. Foster, 

 Sec. U.S. Received March 8. Read April 5, 1883. 



I. Bile of Ihvertebbata. 



The liver of Invertebrates is generally considered by biologists to 

 be nothing more than a pancreas in function, but the observations 

 which I have made seem to me to> indicate that it discharges other 

 functions in addition to the preparation of a digestive ferment. The 

 colouring-matters found in the bile of Vertebrates do not occur in that 

 of Invertebrates, with one exception, and that is, hsemochromogen in 

 Astacus fiuviatilis and in JPulmoniferous Mollusca, for I have shown in 

 a former paper* that ha3mochromogen is present in mammalian bile. 

 The only observations on the colouring-matters of Invertebrate bile with 

 which I am acquainted are those of Sorby,f and some casual observa- 

 tions of Krukenberg,J but neither of these observers makes any men- 

 tion of the facts to which I have to call attention. Hoppe-Seyler § 

 failed to detect bile pigments and bile acids in Invertebrate bile. With 

 the exception of these three observers, so far as I know, no systematic 

 examination has been made of the bile and extracts of the liver or 

 enteric appendages of Invertebrates. 



The animals examined by me were selected from the three sub- 

 kingdoms Mollusca, Arthropoda, and Echinodermata. Among Vermes 

 I also examined Lumhricus,- Hirudo, and Aphrodite, with a negative result 

 as regards enterochlorophyll (Lumbricics contains lutein in the wall of 

 the intestine). The most striking fact which presents itself in such 

 examinations as I have to record is the wide distribution of one 

 colouring-matter, which is beyond doubt a chlorophyll pigment, in the 

 bile of Mollusca and some Arthropoda, and in the appendages of the 



* " Proc. Roy. Soc," 1880, vol. 31, p. 206. ' 



f " On the Evolution of Haemoglobin," " Quart. Journ. Mic. Sci.," vol. xvi, pp. 

 77-85. 



X " Yergleichend-physiologische Studien an den Kusten der Adria," 1880. 

 § " Physiologische Chemie," 1877-1881. 



