14 SCHOOL ENTOMOLOGY 



ovaries and which leads to the ovipositor or external ter- 

 mination of the female reproductive organs. Somewhere 

 in the vagina is a sort of sac or pouch in which the fer- 

 tilizing element, received from the males during copulation, 

 is stored. This sac is the spermatheca. As the egg passes 

 over the opening of the spermatheca it receives, through 

 minute holes in one end, called the micropyle, the sperm 

 cells by which it is fertilized. Parthenogenetic individuals 

 lack the spermatheca. 



The reproductive organs of the male are similar to 

 those of the female but are much smaller because the 

 sperm cells are very much smaller than the ova or egg 

 cells. The collections of tubes forming, in the females, the 

 ovaries, are called, in the males, testes. In these the sperm 

 cells are formed. The seminal tubes, as the separate ele- 

 ments of the testicle are called, open into a duct called the 

 vas deferens. The two vasa deferentia unite to form the 

 ejaculatory duct paralleling the vagina as the vasa defer- 

 entia parallel the oviducts. There is in the walls of this 

 duct, usually, a pouch formed by the invagination of the 

 wall and used for the storage of the seminal fluid until 

 needed. This is named the seminal vesicle and corre- 

 sponds to the spermatheca in the female. The external 

 organ through which the male reproductive organs open 

 is the penis. There may be specially developed claspers or 

 other structures used in copulation. They are homologous 

 with the modifications of the ovipositor for boring, etc. 



Ovipositors show the most varied forms. They are 

 adapted for depositing the eggs in every possible situation. 

 The eggs, too, are of many different kinds. Stinging 

 organs are modifications of the ovipositor and usually are 

 connected with specially developed poison sacs which add 

 to their efficiency. They are adapted for two purposes, 



