MisceUancous. 185 



are neither synchronous nor homologous with those of the chroma- 

 tophorc. The cause of the active luovement of the chromatophore 

 resides exchisivcly in the radial fibres. This is directly demon- 

 strable by moans of a crucial experiment. 



If wc completely destroy the centre of a chromatophore witli a 

 needle, so as to leave only the periphery intact, the movements of 

 expansion and contraction continue to take place in this intact 

 portion. If, on the other hand, wc destroy the radial fii)res by a 

 circular lesion, leaving the cell intact, the movements are completely 

 abolished. It is, on the contrary, the central or coloured portion of 

 the chromatophore which, by the influence of its elasticity, exercises 

 the active role in the stage of contraction. This elasticity is easily 

 displayed ; a gentle pressure on the centre of a chromatophore is 

 sufficient to flatten it and spread it out ; but as soon as the pressure 

 is removed the organ resumes its spherical shape. 



To sum up our results : the chromatophore of the Cephalopods is 

 an elastic ])igmented sphere, the expansive movements of which are 

 determined by the contraction of muscles arranged radially at its 

 equator, and which reverts to tlie spherical shape as soon as the 

 contraction has ceased. — Com_i)tes Remlns, t. cxiii. uo. 16 (Oct. 19, 

 1891), pp. 510-512. 



On ihe Anatomy of the Male Sexual Organs of the Honey-Bee. 

 By G. KoscHEWNiKOFF, Assistant in the University of Moscow. 



In my investigations into the structure of the male sexual appa- 

 ratus of the honey-bee I arrived at the following results. 



All existing figures and descriptions of the male sexual apparatus 

 of the honey-bee in zoological and apicultural literature are either 

 incomplete or incorrect. The testis of the bee has two envelopes. 

 The external one, formed by the fat-body, has two kinds of cells — 

 (1) large and flat, with elongated flattened nuclei ; (2) irregularly 

 spherical, which are entirely similar to the cells of the fat-body con- 

 taining fat-globules. The second inner envelope is of the nature of 

 connective tissue, and two layers are to be distinguished in it. In 

 the outer layer we fiud large cells wdth oval nuclei, and the inner 

 layer is finely fibrillar, with spindle-shaped nuclei. 



The seminal tubules are surrounded by a delicate fibrillar enve- 

 lope, containing elongated nuclei, and open into a reservoir in the 

 interior of the testis, which is clothed with epithelium. This epi- 

 thelium enters slightly into the orifice of each separate seminal 

 tubule. 



The trachere, which everywhere penetrate the testicular enve- 

 lopes, ramify in the interior of the testis between the several seminal 

 tubules. The belief (Cholodkowsky) that in butterflies there are no 

 tracheae within the testis is erroneous. 



The entire testis of the bee corresponds to only a section of the 

 testis of such a type as, e. g., in Bomhyx mori. The reservoir, into 

 which all seminal tubules open, is enveloped in a thick membrane 



Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 6. Vol. ix. 13 



