1899-1900.] Dr Noel Paton and Mr Newbigin on Salmon. 51 
Comparing the upper water male fish taken in 1898 with those 
taken in 1896, it is seen that the June fish in the former group re- 
semble the July and August rather than the June fish in the latter 
group. What the explanation of this may be is not manifest. 
Possibly an earlier migration to the river may have induced an 
earlier development of the testes and a greater loss of substance 
from the muscles. 
C. On the Nature of the Phosphorus Compounds of the 
Muscles of Salmon, and the Synthesis of the Organic 
Phosphorus Compounds of Testes and Ovaries. 
Prom the study of the phosphorus compounds in the muscles 
and in the testes and ovaries at various seasons (Report, p. 143 et 
seq.), we came to the conclusion that the nucleic acid in the testes 
and the ichthulin in the ovaries— both complex organic phosphorus 
compounds — are built up from simple inorganic phosphates stored 
in the muscles. 
The recent researches carried on in Rohman’s laboratory ( Berl . 
klin. Wochensch., 1898, p. 789) tend to show that, in dogs at 
least, inorganic phosphorus compounds are not used in the body to 
anything like the same extent as organic compounds ; and the fact 
that in our previous 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 combination, being linked 
to a substance which he has described as carnic acid. He states 
that carnic acid has the formula C 10 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 
yield 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 
