MALE CELLS OF RHOMALEUM MICROPTERUM BEAUV. 9 



wanders further and further from the nucleus, and usually lies 

 close to the axial filament (Fig. 12). It migrates eventually to a 

 considerable distance down the tail, where it may be seen, still 

 in its vacuole, forming a swelling at one side of the axial filament 

 in the nearly mature sperms (Fig. 13). When the metamorphosis 

 is complete no bodies are seen in the tails themselves, but 

 scattered among them are numerous deeply staining bodies of 

 the same size in various stages of degeneration. This condition 

 is plainly visible in the living material where the loose granules 

 stain quickly and brilliantly with neutral red. The process is 

 therefore identical with that in Pentatoma, except that it is 

 unusual to find any great amount of protoplasm cast off from the 

 sperm tails with the chromatoid bodies. 



STAINING REACTIONS OF THE CHROMATOID BODY. 



As has been noted above the chromatoid body in Rhomaleum 

 gives the specific reaction when the living cells are treated with 

 neutral red which has been described for certain granules of 

 similar behavior in Chortkippus. Lewis and Robertson have also 

 observed that somatic and apical cells often appear to be crowded 

 with material which gives a similar though more distinct relation. 

 I am able to confirm their observation with regard to the apical 

 cell in Rhomaleum. It appears, therefore, that a specific sub- 

 stance which is an ordinary inclusion of the cytoplasm of certain 

 somatic cells and of the apical cell is present in the cytoplasm of 

 the spermatogonial and early growth period cells of some grass- 

 hoppers in small quantities, that it increases in amount during 

 the growth period, and may become aggregated into one mass. 

 Like almost any foreign substance in the cytoplasm this 

 mass appears to lie in a vacuole in fixed material. It is finally 

 eliminated from the nearly mature spermatozoa. That a similar 

 condition occurs in the male germ-cells of many other animals 

 is made probable by the fact that similar bodies have been 

 described in an increasing number of forms. 



As to what this substance is, one can give no certain answer. 

 In the living cells it remains almost invisible when unstained, 

 and it appears faintly pink after a rather long treatment with 

 neutral red. In the fixed material the body stains densely with 



