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Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, Vol s2-74, 165-192, Copyright © 1931 by Company of Biologists

Memoirs: The Hatching of Insects from the Egg, and the Appearance of Air in the Tracheal System

ENID K. SIKES Ph.D., B.Sc.1 and V. B. WIGGLESWORTH M.A., M.D.1

1 London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Hatching spines are described in the bugs, Cimex and Rhodnius; and in the lice, Polyplax, Pedicinus, Pediculus, Phthirus, and Haematopinus. In all these insects the spines occur on the embryonic cuticle which is shed at the time of hatching.

The mechanism of hatching is described in the following insects: the flea (Ceratophyllus), the mealworm (Tenebrio), the grain moth (Sitotroga), the blow-fly (Lucilia), the bed-bug (Cimex), and the sucking-louse (Polyplax).

In the light of these, and other observations in the literature, the general mechanism of the hatching of insect eggs is discussed.

The first appearance of air in the tracheae of these insects is described and the mechanism of the process considered. It is suggested that the fluid in the tracheae is absorbed by the osmotic pressure of the tissue-fluids, and that since osmotic pressure is increased by muscular activity, air appears earliest in those insects which show the greatest activity while in the egg. It is argued that osmotic pressure will account also for the appearance of gas in the closed tracheal system.






© The Company of Biologists Ltd 1931