^2 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS \"0L. 94 



plate of the female, while the distal part of the j^late is held down 

 by the epiphallus. 



Paired grasshoppers remain thus together for a number of hours, 

 or for a day or more, in some cases for more than two days, the 

 duration of copulation apparently being determined by the length of 

 time necessary for the formation of the spermatophore, or spermato- 

 phores, and the transference of the latter to the female, or by the 

 number of spermatophores produced. Individuals of each sex may 

 have several successive matings. 



It is now well established for the Acrididae that during copulation 

 the spermatozoa are transferred from the male to the female in true 

 spermatophores, which, as defined by Cholodkowsky (1910), are 

 sperm-containing capsules foniicd in the genital passage of the male. 

 In some cases only a single spermatophore is produced at each mating, 

 which, with one end remaining in the genital passage of the male 

 and the other inserted well into the spermathecal duct of the female, 

 forms a conduit from one individual to the other through which the 

 sperm are discharged by the action of the endophallic apparatus of 

 the male ; in other cases a number of small spermatophores are in- 

 jected into the female. The spermatozoa, as in Tettigoniidae and 

 Gryllidae, are united by their head ends in bundles, or spermato- 

 desmata. 



The spermatophores of Locusta migratoria and their formation 

 have been studied by Iwanowa (1926), Sokolow (1926), and Bol- 

 dyrev (1929). It appears that normally only one spermatophore is 

 produced by this species at a single mating. Iwanowa reports finding 

 sometimes three or four spermatophores in the receptaculum of the 

 female, but Boldyrev gives evidence that insemination is accomplished 

 properly with one spermatophore, and that if the male attempts to 

 insert a second into the spermathecal orifice the process is not natural 

 and cannot result in the discharge of the spermatozoa. 



A spermatophore of Locusta migratoria, as described and figured 

 by Boldyrev (fig. 32 D), is an elongate structure with transparent 

 walls, consisting of a proximal sac constricted into two bladderlike 

 compartments, and of a long slender distal tube. The length of the 

 entire spermatophore is usually 25 to 27 mm, but it may reach 29 or 

 30 mm. The spermatophore thus greatly exceeds the length of the 

 intromittent organ (fig. 32 B), since the latter measures not more 

 than 5 or 6 mm from the gonopore at the bottom of the spermato- 

 phore sac of the endophallus {sps) to the tips of the apical processes 

 of the aedeagus. Only the distal tubular part of the spermatophore 

 is introduced into the spermathecal canal. The extrusion of the tube, 



