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This substance, which was first discovered in the red spots which decorate the heads of certain birds, has recently been shown by Krukenberg to be one of the most important of the coloring matter of sponges, while Merejkowsky now finds it in fishes and in almost all classes of invertebrate animals.
Thus, then, the coloring matter described as chlorophyl by Lankester has really been mainly derived from that of the endodermal algae of the variety plumosa, which predominates at Naples; while the anthea-green of Krukenberg must mainly consist of the green pigment of the ectoderm, since the Trieste variety evidently does not contain algae in any great quantity.
At first sight it might seem impossible to reconcile this copious evolution of oxygen with the completely negative results obtained from the same animal by so careful an experimenter as Krukenberg, yet the difficulty is more apparent than real.
Being at Naples early in the spring of 1879, I exposed to sunlight some of the reputedly chlorophyl containing animals to be obtained there, namely, Bonellia viridis and Idotea viridis, while Krukenberg had meanwhile been making the same experiment with Bonellia and Anthea at Trieste.
Krukenberg, too, who follows these investigators in terming it bonellein, has recently figured the spectra of Anthea-green, and this also seems to differ considerably from chlorophyl, while I am strongly of the opinion that the pigment of the green crustaceans is, if possible, even more distinct, having not improbably a merely protective resemblance.
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