Fig. 2. Dorsal view of dissected D. asper. a. Asymmetrical abdomen; b, hepatopancreas; c, testes; d, left vas 
deferens; intestine. (0.6X.) 
Spermatophore of Dardanus asper — Matthews 
Morphology of Living Vas Deferens 
as Revealed by Dissection 
From the comparative morphological study 
of hermit crab vasa deferentia, Mouchet (1931) 
concludes that spermatophores with a pedes- 
tal and a veil are elaborated in those vasa 
deferentia which possess two helices. The 
pedunculate spermatophore of D. asper (Fig. 
15) which possesses a pedestal {e) and a veil 
{d) should, therefore, owe its origin to a vas 
deferens with two helices. Mouchet {op. cit.) 
also states that the examination of the external 
form of the hermit crab vas deferens allows 
one to predict the principal characteristics of 
the spermatophore that it produces and also 
to know the method of fragmentation of the 
sperm column at the moment of its trans- 
formation into successive ampullae. She fur- 
ther states that in all hermit crabs it is at the 
exact point of change of curvature of the two 
consecutive helices that the continuous flow 
of sperm is fragmented either into arches or 
into successive rectilinear fragments. 
For those hermit crabs whose vasa deferen- 
tia offer little complexity, it may be possible 
to predict the principal characteristics of the 
spermatophore and to determine the method 
of fragmentation of the sperm column, but 
such is not the case in the highly complex 
vasa deferentia of D. asper. The enlarged por- 
tion of the vas deferens of D. asper (Fig. 5) 
reveals that the curvatures (c, d, e) change 
direction three times before the compact left- 
handed helix (g) is encountered. These coils 
are referred to as right-handed or left-handed 
