A CYTOLOGICAL AND CYTOCHEMICAL STUDY OF THE MALE ACCESSORY REPRODUCTIVE GLANDS IN THE JAPANESE BEETLE, POPILLIA JAPONICA NEWMAN

¹ Arnold Biological Laboratory, Brown University

1. Differences in secretory activity have been correlated with morphological and cytological regional differences at successive levels in the accessory reproductive glands.

2. Intense cytoplasmic basophilia, abolished by ribonuclease, is characteristic of cells at all levels.

3. The Golgi element of the secretory cells is in the form of vacuolated spherules and is demonstrable by use of sudan black, particularly after postchromation. The Golgi element contains phospholipine.

4. The secretion product of the gland consists of a ground-mass of a mucus-like protein-polysaccharide compound, bearing scattered large globules of mucus and many smaller droplets of phospholipine, and possibly other lipoidal substances.

5. The mucus-like ground substance and the lipoid components are produced in the upper levels of the gland; the mucus globules originate in tall apocrine cells in the middle region; the lower levels apparently do not contribute to the secretion mass but serve as expanded reservoirs for the retention of the finished secretion product.