The Development of the Spermatophoric Mass of the Rock 
Lobster, Parribacus antarcticus (Lund)^ 
Donald C. Matthews^ 
INTRODUCTION 
The literature on the spermatophores of 
the tribe Scyllaridea is both superficial and 
scattered. Although cursory accounts of the 
extruded mass have appeared for both the 
Palinuridae and the Scyllaridae, few thorough 
histological studies have been made. This 
paper proposes to extend the knowledge of 
the biology of the common Hawaiian scyl- 
larid, Parribacus antarcticus (Lund) , through an 
account of its spermatophoric development. 
Although Caiman (1909: 290) in discussing 
the spermatophores of Crustacea fails to men- 
tion specifically the spermatophores of the 
Palinuridae {sens. lat.\ he does state that in 
most Macrura the spermatozoa are enclosed 
in a sheath, forming a continuous cord-like 
mass. Moreover, he {loc. cit.) states that, "In 
Scyllarus and in the Anomura this is broken 
up into separate spermatophores attached by 
one end in a row on a strip of membrane." 
Andrews (1912: 178), in referring to the 
spermatophoric mass of Panulirus argus La- 
treille, states: 
When cut the interior was white and full of holes or 
tubes. It suggested a very stiff cheese, but the minute 
cavities were not closed vesicles but short tubes ... a 
careful examination of sections shows the short, tubular 
and somewhat branched cavities to be about one half 
millimeter in diameter and 1 or two long, separated by 
very fine walls of the dense white rubber-like material 
. . . the enveloping mass is white except on the surface 
where it is more or less black or grey according, ap- 
parently, to the length of exposure to water. 
^ Contribution No. 41, Hawaii Marine Laboratory. 
2 Department of Zoology and Entomology, Uni- 
versity of Hawaii. Manuscript received December 22, 
1952. 
Although the change in consistency and color 
conforms to that observed by the author in 
the extruded mass of Panulirus penicillatus 
(Oliver), the observed "tubular cavities" were 
probably merely the result of sections cut 
through a highly contorted, continuous tube 
(Matthews, 1951: 365, fig. 10). 
Andrews’ description {op cit., 183) of the 
external spermatophoric mass of Parribacus 
antarcticus is adequate, but again his refer- 
ence to an "internal . . .matrix enclosing 
tubular cavities” is, as will be shown subse- 
quently, erroneous. 
Allen (1916), Fasten (1917), and Wilson 
(1948) described the change of color and con- 
sistency in the extruded spermatophoric mass 
of Panulirus interruptus, but did not investi- 
gate its development within the vas deferens. 
The observations of Crawford and De Smidt 
(1923) on Panulirus argus were also limited 
to the extruded spermatophoric mass. 
The nonpedunculate spermatophore of Pa- 
nulirus penicillatus (Oliver) {vide Matthews, 
1951) resembles the spermatophores of the 
Macrura, but apparently no published ac- 
counts have verified Caiman’s statement {op. 
cit.) regarding the pedunculate spermato- 
phores of the Scyllaridae. 
METHODS AND TECHNIQUES 
Twenty sexually mature Parribacus antarc- 
ticus (Lund) obtained from the Honolulu 
Aquarium during May, June, and July, 1952, 
were used in this study. Of the 18 male re- 
productive systems dissected, 6 were used to 
study the nature of the testes and the coiled 
vasa deferentia, 8 were vitally stained, and 4 
28 
