Hæmoglobin in the Crustacea

Abstract

HÆMOGLOBIN in solution in the blood plasma is found in numerous entomostracan Crustacea. Ray Lankester first discovered it in Chirocephalus, observing the absorption bands of oxyhæmoglobin with a microspectroscope¹, and soon afterwards found it in Daphnia. The wave-length of the α-band differs among species within the genus Daphnia ². The pigment also occurs in the blood of other Cladocera, for example: Sida, Simocephalus, Moina, Bosmina, Ilyocryptus, Eurycercus, Leydigia, Chydorus, etc., but not in Leptodora. The hæmoglobin of Ceriodaphnia has a higher oxygen affinity than that of Daphnia, and the former lives in fouler water³. Hæmoglobin is present, too, in Phyllopoda : it is in the blood of Conchostraca (Lynceus, Leptestheria ⁴, Limnadia), Anostraca (Chirocephalus, Artemia ^5,6) and Notostraca (Triops ⁷, Lepidurus). It may be universal in the blood of the Phyllopoda. Among the Ostracoda, hæmoglobin occurs in Cypria ⁸ and Pseudocypris.