MALE CELLS OF RHOMALEUM MICROPTERUM BEAUV. 7 



probable that they have become fused into one mass. Occa- 

 sionally, however, cells appear in which a granule is present in 

 addition to the larger chromatoid body, and I have observed one 

 case in which two equal granules or chromatoid bodies were 

 present in a cell at the time of diakinesis. The mass of the two 

 would approximately equal that of the single body usually found 

 at this time. It is possible therefore that the chromatoid body 

 represents simply the enlargement of one of the smaller granules, 

 as suggested by Wilson, who observed a few granules in the cyto- 

 plasm in the presynaptic stages of Pentatoma. In any case the 

 single chromatoid body in Rhomaleum is undoubtedly made up 

 of the material of the granules seen in the cytoplasm of the 

 spermatogonia and early growth period. 



Throughout the growth period the chromatoid body increases 

 in size. When the early diakinesis is reached the cell has reached 

 its maximum size, and at this point the chromatoid body is also 

 largest. Fig. 7 shows a cell in which it was even larger than 

 usual, while Fig. 8 represents a living cell at about the same 

 stage, stained with both janus green and neutral red. The 

 mitochondria at this stage are scattered about the cytoplasm 

 to some extent, though they still show a tendency to be aggre- 

 gated in a mass at one side of the nucleus. From this point 

 onward the chromatoid body behaves as an inert mass, which 

 does not increase in size, and is not affected in the slightest degree 

 by either maturation division. At each division the mito- 

 chondria are arranged in the manner described by Lewis and 

 Robertson, except that here again I noticed but little tendency 

 to the thread-like form so evident in Chorthippus. The granules 

 are arranged in rows about the spindle but their separate granular 

 condition is always evident. The chromatoid body remains in 

 whichever half of the cell the division plane happens to place it. 

 It is sometimes within the mass of spindle fibers as in Fig. 9, 

 which represents a first spermatocyte telpohase, but more often 

 toward the periphery of the cell. Fig. 10 shows a very late 

 telophase of the second maturation division. The nuclei have 

 already assumed the flocculent appearance characteristic of the 

 early spermatids. The cells are completely divided except for 

 the spindle which still bridges them. The mitochondrial masses 



