134
WERNER BERGMANN
spiders, and the Myriapoda, the centipedes and millepedes. Cholesterol
has been isolated from the "living fossils," the horseshoe crabs, Limulus
polyphemus (96) and L. longispina (Trachypleus tridentatus)
(115)
of the Arachnoidea. The sterol is accompanied by some unidentified
diunsaturated A
5 -sterol (115).
The fatty extract of the red millepede, Strongylosoma
tambanum
(116), has found some medicinal use in Japan under the name "Akayusade" oil. It contains about 20% of unsaponifiable material from which
yasudosterol, a poorly identified compound, has been isolated.
B. STEROLS OF INSECTS
About fifty years ago the sterols of four species of insects had already been isolated and investigated. The Spanish fly, Lytta vesicatoria,
which is a phytophagous beetle, had been found to contain cholesterol
(7). It had been well identified as its dibromide, isobutyrate, and
benzoate. The common cockchafer of Europe, Melolontha vulgaris (7),
and the cockroach, Blatta orientalis (6), had given sterol mixtures
among which cholesterol was suspected to be one of the major components. The sterol from the chrysalis oil of the silk moth, Bombyx
mori, became the subject of a controversy soon after its first isolation
by Lewkowitsch in 1907 (117). While this author believed it to consist
essentially of cholesterol, Tsujimoto held it to be sitosterol (118). About
the same time two Italian investigators regarded it as a new and uniform sterol, which they named bombicesterol (5).
Since these early and preliminary investigations of half a century
ago our knowledge of insect sterols has made only very little progress.
Bombicesterol has been reinvestigated and declared a mixture of cholesterol and a sitosterol-like product (119). This conclusion has been
challenged by Kawasaki (120), who has reaffirmed his belief in the
existence of a uniform bombicesterol in continuation of the old controversy (121). Inagosterol, obtained from the oil of locusts of the
probable species Oxya velox and Oxya vicina (122), has been shown
either to be identical with bombicesterol or the mixture of cholesterol
and the sitosterol-like compound. Russian and Mexican cantharides
(Spanish flies) have been found to contain ^-sitosterol (123) in contrast to cholesterol previously reported. Cholesterol has been isolated
from "ants' eggs," the pupae of ants (123, 124), from wasps such as
Vespa mandarina (125), and from the common cabbage butterfly,
Vieris brassica (126). The last observation is of particular interest because the cholesterol was satisfactorily identified, and no other sterols
were found in spite of a careful search. This investigation, which has
been overlooked by most investigators, proves conclusively that choles-
WERNER BERGMANN
spiders, and the Myriapoda, the centipedes and millepedes. Cholesterol
has been isolated from the "living fossils," the horseshoe crabs, Limulus
polyphemus (96) and L. longispina (Trachypleus tridentatus)
(115)
of the Arachnoidea. The sterol is accompanied by some unidentified
diunsaturated A
5 -sterol (115).
The fatty extract of the red millepede, Strongylosoma
tambanum
(116), has found some medicinal use in Japan under the name "Akayusade" oil. It contains about 20% of unsaponifiable material from which
yasudosterol, a poorly identified compound, has been isolated.
B. STEROLS OF INSECTS
About fifty years ago the sterols of four species of insects had already been isolated and investigated. The Spanish fly, Lytta vesicatoria,
which is a phytophagous beetle, had been found to contain cholesterol
(7). It had been well identified as its dibromide, isobutyrate, and
benzoate. The common cockchafer of Europe, Melolontha vulgaris (7),
and the cockroach, Blatta orientalis (6), had given sterol mixtures
among which cholesterol was suspected to be one of the major components. The sterol from the chrysalis oil of the silk moth, Bombyx
mori, became the subject of a controversy soon after its first isolation
by Lewkowitsch in 1907 (117). While this author believed it to consist
essentially of cholesterol, Tsujimoto held it to be sitosterol (118). About
the same time two Italian investigators regarded it as a new and uniform sterol, which they named bombicesterol (5).
Since these early and preliminary investigations of half a century
ago our knowledge of insect sterols has made only very little progress.
Bombicesterol has been reinvestigated and declared a mixture of cholesterol and a sitosterol-like product (119). This conclusion has been
challenged by Kawasaki (120), who has reaffirmed his belief in the
existence of a uniform bombicesterol in continuation of the old controversy (121). Inagosterol, obtained from the oil of locusts of the
probable species Oxya velox and Oxya vicina (122), has been shown
either to be identical with bombicesterol or the mixture of cholesterol
and the sitosterol-like compound. Russian and Mexican cantharides
(Spanish flies) have been found to contain ^-sitosterol (123) in contrast to cholesterol previously reported. Cholesterol has been isolated
from "ants' eggs," the pupae of ants (123, 124), from wasps such as
Vespa mandarina (125), and from the common cabbage butterfly,
Vieris brassica (126). The last observation is of particular interest because the cholesterol was satisfactorily identified, and no other sterols
were found in spite of a careful search. This investigation, which has
been overlooked by most investigators, proves conclusively that choles-