176 



Appendices to Fourth Annual Report 



1. The spontaneous coagulation of the blood is not due to the forma- 



tion of a mere coalesced mass of cells or plasmodium, but to the 

 formation of a substance very like the fibrin of vertebrate blood 

 entangling the blood corpuscles in its meshes. 



2. The blood plasma contains two proteids — a fibrinogen, which is 



the precursor of the fibrin just alluded to ; and hgemocyanin, a 

 proteid with which copper is in combination, and which takes 

 the place of the haemoglobin in other animals as an oxygen 

 carrier. In the reduced state hsemocyanin is colourless ; in the 

 oxygenated state, blue. 



3. The blood corpuscles are amoeboid, and resemble the white cor- 



puscles of vertebrate blood. Like them, too, they furnish a 

 ferment which is capable of bringing about the formation of 

 fibrin in a coagulated liquid, i.e., a liquid containing a fibrinogen, 

 whether vertebrate or crustacean. 



4. In addition to the blue colour due to oxy-haemocyanin, the blood 



plasma contains a small amount of a red pigment called tetro- 

 nerythrin ; the sam.e colouring matter as occurs in the shell and 

 hypoderm. The small quantity in which this pigment is present 

 makes the blood of nephrops contrast strikingly with that of 

 allied decapods, in which, as a rule, it is present in abundance. 



APPENDIX F.--NO. XI. 



FURTHER REPORT ON THE EXAMINATION OF RIVER 

 WATER FOR MICRO-ORGANISMS. By W. S. Greenfield, 

 M.D., Professor of General Pathology in the University of Edin- 

 burgh, and G. Sims Woodhead, M.D., Senior Assistant in the 

 Pathological Department. 



In the present report it is proposed to give some further information as 

 to the progress of an investigation which has been conducted in my 

 laboratory during the past few months, on tlie micro-organisms which 

 occur in the water of various large rivers, especially those connected with 

 fishing interests. 



Owing to various causes it has not been possible to conduct the work 

 without intermission, and progress has also been retarded by a necessary 

 change of workers."*^ 



It had been intended to give some fuller account of the progress of the 

 investigation of each river. But when one came to put together the 

 detailed notes of the observations, it was found that they were far too 

 voluminous for publication, and whilst of great value to the investigator, 

 they would be of little service to those not actually engaged in similar 

 work. It was found, also, that they would require for their elucidation a 

 large number of figures and plates. 



It has been thought best, therefore, to state only some net results, 

 which give but a small idea of the extent and complexity of the investi- 



* During the summer the chief part of the practical work was carried on under 

 my supervision by Mr Joseph Griffiths, M. B., who has since left for Cambridge 

 University, and more recently Dr Woodhead has been continuing the work, which 

 is still in active progress. It may be well to state that whilst the report is the 

 joint work of Dr Woodhead and myself, I am alone responsible for the microscopic 

 examinations and measurements. — W. S. G. 



