UR. C. A. MAC MUNN ON ENTEROCHLOROPHYLL, AND ALLIED PIGMENTS. 253 
plant chlorophyll, the latter solution was almost colourless, the previous ether extrac¬ 
tion having taken up the green colouring matter. The “chlorophyll green” was obtained 
from the ether extract on evaporation in the form of spherical crystals giving a black 
cross with crossed Nicols. The mother liquid from which the above extracts had been 
removed also showed a double band in red and a feeble shading before D, so that it 
contained the same pigment as that present in the ether extract. Hence it is quite 
evident that Spongilla contains a colouring matter which in alcoholic solution gives 
the same spectrum as vegetable chlorophyll; it further resembles the latter in being 
composed of a green and a yellow constituent, but its behaviour with caustic soda in 
the cold, and on saponification with it, shows that it is decomposed into a body whose 
spectrum is not the same as that of a solution of vegetable chlorophyll similarly 
treated. The green constituent, and probably the yellow, a,re however crystallizable 
in the same forms as the constituents of vegetable chlorophyll. 
Saponification of Enterochlorophyll* —To obtain a sufficient supply of enterochloro- 
phyll for saponification from the oyster, twenty “ livers ” were removed and repeatedly 
extracted with absolute alcohol as long as they gave up anything to it. The united 
extracts furnished an olive-yellow solution with a blood-red fluorescence, the solution 
giving almost the same bands as a similar solution of leaf green as regards the red half 
of the spectrum, but wanting that after D. Thus such a solution gives spectrum 1, 
Chart III. and 2, III. in a thinner layer. The bands read: 1st, A. 672 to X 654, 
shading up to X 640 ; 2nd, X 620’5 to X 595 ; 3rd, X 545 - 5 to X 532 ; the 4th band 
about X 501 to X 475. On saponifying and shaking with petroleum-ether the green 
constituent—or, at least, what answers to it in this case—was taken up with the 
yellow one, and the solution gave two bands in red, as shown in spectrum 3, 
Chart III.; and in a thin layer one band appeared, as shown in spectrum 4, 
Chart III., in the blue and green from about X505 to X 475. In the hope of sepa¬ 
rating the green from the yellow constituent this solution was evaporated down and 
again extracted with petroleum ether, but again the band in red was seen. On 
filtering a petroleum-ether solution an orange stain was left on the paper. Hence the 
lipochrome present in the enterochlorophyll (in this case) of Ostrcea differs from that of 
Spongilla and plant chlorophyll in giving only one band. It resembles Kuhne’s 
rhodophan or xanthophan, while in Spongilla and in plants the lipochrome is more like 
chlorophand 
On extracting the soap with ether this became a yellow-green colour, and showed 
a faint band in red and abrupt absorption of the violent end of the spectrum. 
* It seems highly probable that the individual differences found by me on saponifying enterochloro¬ 
phyll are due simply to the fact that it is present in various stages of formation, presenting a parallel in 
this respect to plant chlorophyll. 
f According to Kuhne, loc. cit., chlorophan gives two bands, rhodophan, a very bi’oad dark shading, 
absorbing the spectrum from D onwards towards violet, and recalling to mind tetronerythrin, which I 
am inclined to think it is, and xanthophan one band. 
