Sodium Sulphate as an Agent Causing the Development of the 'Chloride-secreting Cells' in Macropodus

Abstract

IN an earlier paper¹, I have reported the enormous development of the 'chloride-secreting cells' in the branchial lamellæ of the paradise fish acclimatized in a table-salt solution of salinity 27·3 per cent. As these cells are very scanty and rudimentary in the control specimens, the conclusion was drawn, in harmony with the suggestion of Keys and Willmer², that they are intimately concerned in the undertaking of osmotic regulation against a hypertonic external medium. The question now arises as to whether the secretory activity of these cells is restricted to chloride alone, as their name implies, or is of a more general nature, capable of turning out salts other than chloride.