126 William A. Kepner. 



of the ovary tubules of many insects. Each tubule is anchored with 

 a terminal filament to the peritoneal wall. This filament abuts 

 against a region filled with certain primordial cells. This region of 

 the tubule is called the terminal chamber (Fig. 1). Leading from 

 the terminal chamber is a chain of follicles composed of nurse-cell 

 follicles alternating with egg follicles. In the adult this chain of 

 follicles extends from terminal chamber to the common oviduct. 



The terminal filament is composed of spindle-shaped cells which 

 tend to lie parallel to the axis of the filament. Their outline is not 

 well defined. The cytoplasm is densely granular, which makes them 

 conspicuously different from the cells of the terminal chamber (Figs. 

 1, t. £., and 7, t. f.). The nuclei are oval and have an evident 

 reticular structure ; they measure 6 to 8 microns long. 



While it is the writer's opinion that the terminal filament is but 

 a peritoneal process serving as an anchorage to the ovary tubule, 

 and having nothing to do with either the origin or the nutrition of 

 the oocytes, certain early writers have held it to be a more important 

 structure and that by a repeated division of its cellular elements it 

 gives rise to groups of cells which form the primitive elements from 

 which the cells of follicle epithelium, nurse cells and ova were differ- 

 entiated. The results of more recent investigators point decidedly 

 away from this view. Kohler, '07, deals with this particular feature 

 of the insect ovary and claims that "Bei den Hemipteren ist der 

 Endfaden meist von der Endkammer durch die Tunica propria 

 getrennt. Auch dort, wo dies nicht dar Fall ist, wo sich der End- 

 faden als Fortsetzung der die Endkammer ausscheidenden Epithel- 

 zellen zeigt, besteht eine sharfe Abgrenzung der Epithelzellen des 

 Endfadens gegen die Geschlechtszellen der Endkammer. Der dient 

 ausschliesslich als Aufhangeband." 



In Scolia dubia the tunica propria does not completely separate 

 the terminal filament from the cells of the terminal chamber. There 

 is, however, a rather distinct differentiation between the two regions. 

 The cells of the tenninal filament stain more deeply than those of 

 the terminal chamber. Between the two regions there can be found 

 no intermediate zone marked by mitotic divisions or other transi- 

 tional features. (Fig. 7.) 



