HISTOLYSIS OF FAT-BODY OF APIS 575 



of ' Kornchenkugeln' from fat-cell debris, with aquisition of a 

 nucleus (Weissmann/64). 2) The attack of fat-cells by 'excre- 

 tory-secretory cells' (Anglas, '00). 3) Lyocytosis, or dissolution 

 of the cells by enzymes from the imaginal tissue cells developing 

 (Anglas, '02). 4) Autolysis (Terre, '99; Perez, '02, '11). 5) 

 Phagocytosis (Kowalewski, '85; van Rees, '87; deBruyne, '98; 

 Karaweiew, '98; Anglas, '00; Perez, '02, '11). The evidence 

 seems best for the processes of autolysis, with or without 

 leucocytic absorption of the debris, and phagocytosis by the 

 leucocytes themselves where a precocious breaking down of the 

 trophocytes is necessary. 



c. Metabolism in the larval fat-body. After considerable 

 speculation on the possibility of excretory and other manners of 

 functioning of this tissue, attention has turned to the process by 

 which food material is released from the fat-cells and prepared 

 for tissue nourishment. Storage of nutriment in the fat-body 

 was first pointed out in 1875 by Kunckel d'Herculais. 



Berlese, '99, (on the Diptera), believed that material from the 

 histolyzing intestine passed through the blood to the fat-cells, 

 forming the albuminoid granules. He named the fat-cells 

 'trophocytes' from this activity. Action on the granules by 

 nuclear enzymes was thought to render them basophilic, in digest- 

 ing them for tissue nourishment. 



Anglas, '00, (wasp and bee) , observed that in the wasp certain 

 cells undergo a marked transformation, assigned to attack by 

 excretory-secretory cells. The nuclear membrane disappears, 

 nuclear and cytoplasmic materials mingle, and the nucleus can 

 finally no longer be discerned. This process of phagocytosis was 

 not described specifically, for the bee, though the author states 

 that the two forms are closely similar. The transformations 

 described were not noted in other than those cells attacked by the 

 phagocytes. 



Perez, '02, (Formica), and '11, (Polistes), describes the growth 

 of fine granules formed in the region around the nucleus, to 

 albuminoid globules, and a modification of the nucleus, without 

 attack of phagocytes. The fat-globules disappear presumably 

 by digestion, with the growth of the albuminoid globules. The 



