1967] 
MacLeod & Adams — Berothidae 
249 
with the genital chamber and is located quite close to the spermatheca 
to which it is connected by a slit-like opening in its floor. In these 
groups no appreciable spermathecal duct really exists (cf Principi, 
1949: fig. XIV; 1954: fig. V). In the Berothidae (and closely similar 
Mantispidae) the greatly enlarged bursa is widely confluent with 
the genital chamber, while the spermatheca, located at a, considerable 
distance from the bursa, is connected to it through a rather long 
spermathecal duct which is often tortuously looped. Tjeder (i954> 
1959) has observed and figured this duct, but has not noted its 
connection with the bursa except in two cases (1959) where he has 
misleadingly termed it a “copulatory aperture” (fig. 323) and a 
“gonopore” (figs. 252, 253). Small spermathecal (accessory) glands 
have sometimes been recognized (cf Tjeder, 1959, fig. 242), but in 
several cases the structure which has borne this designation seems to 
be the fertilization canal connecting spermatheca and oviduct (cf 
Tjeder, 1959, fig. 313). 
Judging from our own work with Lomamyia and the published 
accounts of several other genera (Tjeder, 1959), we believe that a 
very large spermatophore is probably characteristic of most berothids 
and that this circumstance probably provides the functional explana- 
tion of the wide-mouthed and voluminous structure of their bursae. 
In our laboratory studies, the formation and fate of these spermato- 
phores was followed on many occasions. Mated females of Lomamyia 
were often observed to carry awkwardly a very large spermatophore 
protruding from the bursa for several days. During this time eggs, 
quite predictably, were never laid. 
Examination and dissection of spermatophores revealed that in- 
variably they consist of a rather soft, albuminous^ outer layer which 
surrounds a comma-shaped central core of harder material. During the 
post-copulatory period when a female is carrying her spermatophore, 
the outer coat is the first portion to wear (or be eaten) away, leaving 
the exposed central core attached for a somewhat longer time. In- 
spection of cores from both fresh and worn spermatophores disclosed 
the unexpected fact that they are traversed throughout their length 
by a small central canal which is in perfect alignment with the open- 
ing of the spermathecal duct in the bursa. Presumably sperm travel 
up this canal to the spermathecal duct, but just how the precise con- 
fluence of the two ducts is achieved during copulation is not yet 
known. Quite probably the tip of the mediuncus or the tuft of prom- 
inent setae from the posterior margin of the mediuncus is inserted 
into the spermathecal duct during copulation, thus providing an axis 
