> I have also read this. however I have also read that the stomach acid has
> little trouble dissolving the chitin. I am inclined to accept the latter.

This is highly unlikely.  Palynologists (people who study pollen) use 
acetolysis (boiling in concentrated sulphuric acid) as a method to 
remove all extraneous material (including the cytoplasm) from the 
exine (the outer shell of the pollen grain) to aid identification.  
i.e. the outer coat is not disolved by *boiling* in acid that is more 
concentrated than stomach acid.  This process is sometimes practised 
by melissopalynologists.

Regards
Peter Bray_________________________________________________________
Airborne Honey Ltd., Pennington St, PO Box 28, Leeston, 
New Zealand Fax 64-3-324-3236,  Phone 64-3-324-3569  
http://www.airborne.co.nz  [log in to unmask]

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