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TEXT-BOOK OF ENTOMOLOGY 



(" vagina " of Burgess) of the copulatory pouch opens between the 

 7th and 8th segments, that of the oviduct (vagina) on the 9th seg- 

 ment being " situated immediately below the anus and hardly sepa- 

 rated from it, between the lappets of the 

 9th segment." (Burgess.) The opening of 

 the copulatory pouch is, as we have seen, the 

 genuine or primitive sexual opening. 



The spermatheca. This is a sac or pouch 

 for the reception and storage or preserva- 

 tion of the semen. While in most of the 

 higher insects it opens into the dorsal wall 

 of the vagina (Fig. 472, /), in the cockroach, 

 locusts, and grasshoppers it opens into the 

 4so. spermatheca of bursa; but in other European Orthoptera, 



the honey-bee, queen, x 40: a. . . .. , . 



space filled by a clear fluid; b, as 111 most insects, it lies Upon the dorsal 



mass of spermatozoa; c, duct; -\-\ P ,-t /-,-, -> T .-, 



d, d, active spermatozoa. After wall of the vagina. (Berlese.) In the cock- 

 roach, it is a short tube dilated at the end 



and wound into a spiral of about one turn. "From the tube a 

 coecal process is given off, which may correspond with the accessory 

 gland attached to the duct of the spermatheca in many insects (e.g. 

 Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, and some Lepidoptera). The spermatheca 

 is filled during copulation, and is always found 

 to contain spermatozoa in the fertile female. 

 The spermatozoa are no doubt passed into the 

 genital pouch from time to time, and there 

 fertilize the eggs descending from the ovarian 

 tubes." In Meloe the spermatheca is exceed- 

 ingly large. (Miall and Denny, pp. 170, 171.) 

 The colleterial glands. We have already 

 briefly referred to these glands. Those of the 

 cockroaches form a number of long blind 

 tubes opening into the vagina. They furnish 

 the material for the egg-capsule or ootheca, 

 viz. chitin and large crystals of oxalate of 

 lime. 



-ST 



Kff 



FIG. 4S1. Female sexual 

 organs of Scolytus : Eli. c-gi.'- 

 tubes ; pEL, paired Oviducts ; 

 ST, spermatheca; B T. copu- 

 latory pouch ; K '/>. < rnirnt- 



glands ; &>>. vagina. After 

 ' fr m Judcich and 



In Phyllodromia germanica " these glands are glisten- 

 ing white till the time of oviposition approaches, when 

 they assume a yellow tint, and the octahedral crys- 



tals are seen imbedded in a viscid substance which fills their lumina. This 

 viscid substance is soluble in potassium hydrate, and is consequently not chitin. 

 When excreted to form the ootheca, it slowly hardens, deepens in color, and 

 becomes insoluble in potassium hydrate. Light has nothing to do with this 

 change, which is possibly produced by the oxygen in the air. It is the same 



