DR. C. A. MAC MUNN ON ENTEROCHLOROPHYLL, AND ALLIED PIGMENTS. 251 
14 and 11 do not agree (spectrum 14 represents probably a pigment more changed 
than spectrum 11). 
The above experiments are sufficient to show that the chlorophyll of plants is 
altered by saponification, but I have now to show that it is not altered in the same 
manner nor to the same extent as Spongilla chlorophyll and enterochlorophyll.* * * § At 
times I found the same splitting up of the dominant band by caustic soda, but the 
bands did not give the same readings as in a similar solution of Spongilla chlorophyll. 
Thus taking an alcohol solution of grass chlorophyll, whose bands read as follows : 
1st, X 683-5 to X 640 ; 2nd, X 627 to X 600 ; 3rd, X 593 to X 566 ; 4th, X 551 to X 535 ; 
and saponifying as before, I found that the ether-alcohol extract gave a double band 
in red, the first one very narrow and faint, the second darker, and a band in violet not 
due to the yellow chlorophyll constituent. These read (approximately): 1st, X 669 
to X 660 ; 2nd, X 649 to X 631 ; and the one in violet X 460 to X 443-5 (?); in a deeper 
layer, however, other bands were seen, and one broad band in red covered the space 
occupied by the first two seen in a thin layer, the whole series reading: 1st, X 672 
to X 623 ; 2nd, X 609 to X 580*5 ; 3rd, X 540 to X 527 ; 4th, (about) X 511 "5 to 494*5. 
The ether solution also gave the double band in red, while only one could be seen 
in the mother solution (soap-lees), namely, the second of the two bands in red. t 
Now in this case I used only enough caustic soda to ensure the saponification of the 
fat, so that the splitting up of the band in red was not due to an excess of alkali. 
The grass was obtained in spring, and the leaves were young, which probably 
accounts for the results obtained. 
Saponification of the Chlorophyll of Spongilla lacustris.—Spongilla may be taken as 
a typical example of an animal which builds up chlorophyll. The observations of 
Prof. Ray Lankester | and Sorby § have shown this beyond doubt; hence it is most 
suitable for deciding the question which I had to answer. Does animal chlorophyll 
contain the same green and yellow constituents as vegetable chlorophyll, and is it 
similarly affected by saponification? 
I have been able to examine the chlorophyll of Spongilla in great abundance, as I 
had a good deal of material upon which to work. The spectrum yielded by the living 
sponge is shown in spectrum 2, Chart I. If portions of this sponge are digested for 
some time with ether containing alcohol, and the extraction repeated as long as the 
solution becomes green, a fine green solution is obtained, showing a blood-red fluores- 
* Saponification does not always affect the dominant hand in red to the same extent. Professor 
Foster, in looking over some of my preparations, noticed that in one case the centre of the bands, before 
and after saponifying, was the same; hence the decomposability of chlorophyll differs in different cases. 
See above, which was written before this foot-note. 
f The petroleum-ether extract of the soap from this chlorophyll showed only two bands when examined 
by sunlight, their positions corresponding to those already given. 
$ Quart. Journ. Micro. Soc., loc. cit. 
§ Ibid., vol. 15, N.S., p. 47. 
2 K 2 
