218 



PSYCHE. 



[February 1S92. 



called them 1 "eingesprengte zellen" and 

 regarded them as unicellular glands. It 

 was Wielowiejski who first fully de- 

 scribed them and named them oenocy- 

 tes from their wine-yellow color. He 

 pointed out that these oenocytes are not 

 infrequently the largest cells in the 

 body, excepting the ova, that they are 

 arranged in metameric clusters in the 

 trachigerous abdominal segments and 

 that they are more or less intimately 

 associated with the blood and fat-body. 

 In some cases they occur in the poste- 

 rior thoracic region. Most frequently 

 pleural in position they may occasion- 

 ally extend over the sternal region. 

 The separate cells of the clusters are 

 usually distinctly isolated and inde- 

 pendent of one another, but in rare 

 instances they may fuse in pairs or to 

 form smaller clusters. The tough and 

 resistent cytoplasmic wall is round or 

 oval and often drawn out into a few 

 pseudopodia-like outgrowths by means 

 of which the cells are suspended to the 

 tracheal ramifications or to one another. 

 The cytoplasm, which is very abun- 

 dant, is full of yellowish granules and is 

 sometimes radially striated towards its 

 periphery. The large spherical or oval 

 nucleus contains a densely wound and 

 delicate chromatic filament. An idea 

 of the appearance of these cells may be 

 obtained from Fig. i , which represents 

 a cluster of oenocytes from a nearly 

 mature Phryganeid larva. This speci- 

 men does not show the pseudopodia- 

 like outgrowths. 



1 Ueber den propulsatorischen apparat der insecten. 

 Archiv f. mikr. anat., 9. bd. p. 129-196. 1S73. 



To Graber is due the credit of first 

 pointing out the identity of the oeno- 

 cyte-clusters with certain metameric 

 cell-masses mentioned by embryolo- 

 gists. Tichomiroft 2 and Korotnefl 8 de- 

 scribed segmental masses of cells origi- 

 nating from the ectoderm near the stig- 

 mata and just pleurad to the nerve-cord. 

 Tichomiroff at first regarded these cells 

 as a kind of fat-body but finally con- 

 cluded that they represented an organ 

 stii generis which he called the "gland- 

 like body." Korotneff regarded the 

 migrant ectoderm-cells in Gryllotalpa 

 as mesenchymatous, and if I understand 

 him correctly, as giving rise to the fat- 

 body. 



I fully agree with Graber that the 

 embryonic cells described by the two 

 Russian embryologists are identical 

 with the oenocytes of Wielowiejski. 

 Graber is also correct in referring to the 

 same category certain huge cells de- 

 scribed by me in Doryphora. 4 They 

 originate from the ectoderm as I have 

 since been able to ascertain. 



Graber describes the oenacyte clus- 

 ters in Stenobothrus as delaminated 

 from the ectoderm. In Hydrophilus he 

 claims that they originate in connection 

 with a distinct pair of metastigmatic 

 invaginations. It appears to have es- 

 caped his notice that these invaginations 



2 The embryonic development of the silk-worm- 

 (Bombyxmori). Publ. labor, zool. mus. Moscow., vol. 

 1. 1SS2. (Russian.) 



3 Die embryologie der Gryllotalpa. Zeitschr. f. 

 wiss. zool., 41- bd. 1SS5. 



4 The embryology of Blatta germanica and Dory- 

 phora decemlineata. Journ. morph., vol. 3, no. 2. p. 

 291-374. 1SS9. 



