S4 



Appendices to Eighteenth Annual Report 



investigation we assumed all the phosphorus extracted by acidulated 

 water to be inorganic in nature rendered it necessary to make further 

 observations. Especially was this the case since Siegfried (Ztsch. f. 

 phys. Chem., Bd. xxi., p. 360, 1896) has shown that in the flesh of 

 mammals some of the phosphorus thus extracted is in organic combina- 

 tion, being linked to a substance which he has described as carnic acid. 

 He states that carnic acid has the formula C ]0 H 15 N 3 O 5 , and that it is 

 identical with antipeptone. 



If this is so, the phosphorus compound — which he calls phospho- 

 carnic acid — must be nearly allied to the pseudo-nucleins. If such a 

 body occurs in the muscle of the salmon in sufficient quantity to jdeld 

 the phosphorus of the nucleic acid of the testes and of the ichthulin and 

 lecithin of the ovaries, the conclusion as to the extent of synthesis may 

 have been erroneous. 



In the previous Report it was shown that the average amount of 

 phosphorous in the muscle of the salmon is 0*215 per cent., and that 

 of this about 0*109 is soluble in water. 



To determine how much of this is in organic combination and how 

 much in such compounds as phosphocarnic acid, the following observations 

 were made : — 



1. 100 grm. of the flesh of a fresh sea salmon in March 1899 were 

 extracted repeatedly with over two litres of water and acetic acid. The 

 watery extract was boiled and the precipitate well washed. The inorganic 

 phosphorus was precipitated with ammonia and chloride of calcium. In 

 the precipitate the phosphorus was estimated in the usual way, calcium 

 being washed out of the molybdate precipitate with 10 per cent, nitrate 

 of ammonia solution. 



Mg 2 P 2 0 7 =-357, P 2 0 5 =-228, P=-099 



The filtrate containing any phosphocarnic acid was evaporated, burned 

 and treated with molybdate of ammonia, and P. estimated as above. 



Mg 2 P 2 O 7 =-017, P 2 O 5 =*011, P=0-005 



2. 135 grm. of the flesh of a kelt (32) captured in March were analysed 

 in the same way : — 



Mg 2 P 2 O 7 =-330, P 2 0 5 =-211, P 2 0 5 %=156, P=0*068% 



The filtrate, containing any phosphocarnic treated as above, gave no 

 precipitate with ammonia-magnesia mixture. 



The phosphorus extracted by water from the muscle is almost' entirely 

 in simple inorganic combination. 



The evidence thus supports the view that the ovarian ichthulin and 

 the testicular nuclein are built up from simple inorganic phosphorus 

 compounds derived from the muscle. 



D. Further Observations on the Source of the Pigment 

 of Salmon Muscle. 



By M. I. Newbigin, D.Sc. 



On the Pigments of certain Crustacea. 



It is well known that the salmon when in the sea feeds largely on 

 herring, and that these in turn prey upon small free-swimming Crustacea, 

 many of which have a bright red colour. It therefore seemed of interest 

 to compare the pigment of such Crustacea with the colouring matter of 

 the muscles nid ovaries of the salmon. 



