490 



SEMEN. 



nipulation, pressure, &c., whereby the sepa- 

 rate constituent elements can be demon- 

 strated. In Staphylinus cyaneus (,/?g. 371. B) 

 these bundles are wrapped up into one 

 roundish knot (excepting the anterior ones, 

 which are still covered by the remains of the 

 cysts) ; in Panorpa communis they have curled 

 arrangement. 



In many cases, several of such fibres join 

 themselves lengthwise into one restiform 

 mass, which is still covered in the interior of 

 the testicles by a common gelatinous enclo- 

 sure. This produces the long vermiform 

 bodies, which are so frequently met with in 

 the testicles of the butterflies, but which also 

 occur in some few other insects, as in Diptera 

 (e. g. in Scatopsis). 



In their gradual advance through the vas 

 deferens, the spermatozoa lose this mode of 

 grouping; their bundles separate. In the 

 place of this they are, however, very fre- 

 quently enclosed in masses by peculiar baglike 

 enclosures, the so-called Spermatophora *, 

 such as we find in the spermatozoa of the Ce- 

 phalopods, only of a much more simple struc- 

 ture. By the aid of these formations, the 

 spermatozoa are transferred into the female 

 generative organs. Formerly it was usual to 

 look upon the remains of these bags as the 

 torn-off generative organ of the male. The 

 spermatophora of insects have usually the 

 form of a pedunculated globule (for instance, 

 in the Locustinae and Lepidoptera). Through 

 a series of transition-forms they reach ulti- 

 mately the shape of a long thin cylinder, 

 of which a striking example is afforded in 

 Clivina Fossor. The spermatozoa lie either 

 irregularly in the interior of the spermato- 

 phora, or" united into regular bundles. This 

 mode of grouping has an extremely elegant 

 appearance in the Locustinae. The tails of 

 the fibres join together on either side of a 

 furrow, from which the several fibres start 

 to the right and left like the barbs from the 

 shaft of a feather. Spermatophora are want- 

 ing in many of the Hexapoda. Instead of them 

 we sometimes find (as in Caraba3a, Tittigoria, 

 &c.) a number of long and rather broad 

 bandlike transparent strings, which are fre- 

 quently wound in the shape of a spiral, and, 

 like the spermatophora, are also formed in 

 the vas deferens of the male. These strings, 

 on being treated with water, separate into 

 a great number of spermatozoa, the separa- 

 tion taking place either gradually from the 

 ends, or more suddenly in their whole ex- 

 tent. The entire mass thus proves itself to 

 be one large seminal string, a formation 

 which, in its whole quality, approximates very 

 nearly to the second form of the seminal 

 bundles from the interior of the testicles 

 enumerated by us. 



The cause of such an arrangement and 

 grouping of the spermatozoa is equally as 

 unknown to us as that of the formation of 

 the bundles of spermatozoa in the cvsts. 

 Whether they are peculiar phenomena of at- 



traction, or whether they are other relations 

 caused by external influences and circum- 

 stances, we know not. We must therefore 

 for the present be satisfied with a simple 

 statement of the facts. 



Although, from the great uniformity of 

 the spermatozoa in the class of Insects, we 

 might reasonably expect a corresponding simi- 

 larity in the other groups of the Arthropoda, 

 observation teaches us that such is not the 

 case. 



Instead of the filiform formations, which, 

 however, are here the usual constituents 

 of the seminal liquid, there are found in 

 some cases quite peculiar bodies of a re- 

 markable shape. The history of their de- 

 velopement alone can prove that the ele- 

 ments alluded to are not, as one might 

 perhaps suppose, morphologically different 

 formations, but that they owe their origin 

 to a mere modification in the application 

 of the ordinary stages of developement. It 

 can be proved that the bodies in question in 

 most cases are immediately connected with 

 the former stages of developement of the 

 spermatozoa. Thus our conjecture (above 

 expressed) gains in probability, that many of 

 such-like little bodies are mere forms of de- 

 velopement of ordinary filiform spermatozoa. 

 The following investigations, however, will 

 afford us a confirmation of the truth of our 

 conjecture: 



Arachnida. In the class of the Arachnida, 

 the usual filiform appearance of the sperma- 

 tozoa has only been observed among the scor- 

 pions. The spermatozoa of these animals are 

 about ^Q'" long, and rather thickened at one 

 end. They develope themselves, according to 

 Kb'lliker, in the usual manner in the interior of 

 vesicles, which are contained, in numbers, in 

 a larger cyst-like cell. 



In the Arane<e, on the other hand, which, 

 owing to the difficulty of an anatomical ex- 

 amination, have hitherto but rarely been 

 submitted to a careful inspection, the sper- 

 matozoa are said to present a very dif- 

 ferent shape. V. Sit bold*, to whom we are 

 indebted for the only statements regarding 

 them, describes them as round or reni- 

 form cellular bodies, on the interior wall of 

 which a round or oblong nucleus is situ- 

 ated. We have also met with such corpuscles, 

 and that in great quantity, in the testicles 

 of the most different species of spiders ; 

 we must however dispute the assumption of 

 V. Siebold, viz. that such are the developed 

 spermatozoa, since we have succeeded in 

 discovering filiform bodies besides these for- 

 mations, which former undoubtedly develope 

 themselves from the latter, and are the real 

 spermatozoa. These relations we have re- 

 cognised most distinctly in Clubiona claus- 

 traria. The contents of the testicles here 

 consist of a large number of small round 

 cells of^i^'", in which a very perceptible nu- 

 cleus is contained. The nucleus is at first 

 round (Jig. 372. A), but gradually elongates 



Vid. Stein. 



* Lehrbuch der Vergluchenden Anatomie, 544. 



