258 
Fig. 3. Posterior portion of the testes, a, Sacculi; 
h, sperm-forming elements; c, continuous sperm mass; 
posterior portion of left testis; e, indeterminate por- 
tion of left vas deferens; /, right testis; g, portion of the 
right vas deferens. (4.5 X; insert lOX.) 
in relation to the course traversed by the sperm 
flow; hence the curvatures at c are right- 
handed, at d left-handed, at e right-handed, 
and at g left-handed. The region c-e, with its 
changes in curvature, was at first included in 
the indiscriminate region h which emanates 
from the testis. This interpretation must be 
abandoned as neutral red, injected into the 
enlarged, distal portion of the vas deferens 
(Fig. Ad), permeates the regions e, d, c (Fig. 
5) and reveals a continuous sperm column 
already encased in its sheath. The change of 
curvature id) should mark the^ exact location 
of the fragmentation of the sperm column if 
Mouchet’s thesis is correct. As this fragmen- 
tation does not occur until the compact, left- 
handed coils (g) are encountered, Mouchet’s 
assignation of the region of sperm-column 
sheath formation solely to the right-handed 
coils of the first helix (c) fails to account for 
any activity in curvatures (d, e). Obviously, 
sheath formation and fragmentation are not 
limited to two consecutive helices in D. asper. 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, VoL VII, July, 1953 
The utilization of the dissecting microscope 
serves not only to reveal the nature of the 
muscular contractions but also enables one 
to correlate the changing morphology of the 
lumen with the complicated molding of the 
spermatophore. 
Cognizant of the arrangement of the ob- 
lique muscular fibers in the wall of the vas 
deferens, one might expect to observe peris- 
taltic waves traversing the tube from the testis 
distad to the genital pore. These contractions 
would serve to force the homogeneous sperm 
mass through a series of ever-changing dies, 
and, aided by secretions from the epithelial 
lining of the wall, the heterogeneous sperma- 
tophore would evolve. Actual observations, 
however, prove this supposition to be some- 
what inaccurate although correct in principle. 
The entire vas deferens, with the possible 
exception of the enlarged distal portion (Fig. 
Ad), exhibits isolated, intermittent contrac- 
tions, which persist for well over an hour, 
even though connective tissue, blood vessels, 
and nerves are severed. These spasmodic con- 
tractions might possibly be attributed to the 
austere dissection had not this activity been 
observed in superficial regions of the vas def- 
erens prior to dissection. These muscular con- 
tractions are occasionally simple, sphincter- 
like twitches; however, at times they seem to 
result in a lateral compression of the wail and 
at other times in a dorsoventral flattening. 
Fig. 4. Dissection of the right testis and vas deferens. 
a, Enlarged distal portion of the vas deferens; b, sinuous 
portion of the vas deferens; c, posterior portion of the 
testis. (1.5 X.) 
