~T E S XCVIII-C AND THBEE TEXT-FIQWES
SYNOPSISThe spermatogenesis of the honey-bee, Apia indiea (F.), has been worked out with special referenceThe haploid number of sixteen chromosomes in the parthenogenetic malea remains constant throughMeiosis I is abortive, resulting in the formation of a definite non-nucleated cytoplasmic bud containingThe significance of an extra-and an intra-nuclear spindle in relation to the abortive meiosisisdisouased. Meiosis I1 is normal 80 far aa the nuclear division is concerned. The cytoplaam, however, dividea unequally, resulting in the formation of a normal spermatid and a diminutive non-functional spermatidThe mitochondria are in the form of 6lamenta and granules in the early stagea. During meiosis I they assume a characteristic "blebbed" appearance. In the spermatid they fuse to form a typical mitochondrisl nebenkern, which ultimately givea rise to the mihhondrial sheath around the axial filament of the sperm.A number of typical duplex spheroids ("Golgi dictyosomes"), each with a lipid sheath enclosing a non-lipid medulla, are present in the epermatocytes. In the spermatid these duplex spheroids fuse to form a typical single acroblast which is sloughed off a%r depositing a pro-ecrosome at the nuclear membrane. The pro-acrosome condenses to form the acmsome of the ripe sperm.to the abortive meiosis and the role of cytoplasmic organellea. out spermatogenesis. some extra-nuclear spindle fibres and the cytoplasmic body.
M Y .
IKTRODUCTIONEXCEPT for the recent brief reviews, cytological information on Hymenoptera in general and the honey-bee in particular is scanty. Almost all the previous workers on the honeybee (viz.: Meves, 1904(viz.: Meves, , 1907Mark & Copeland, 1907; Doncaster, 1907; Nachtsheim, 1913 ; Sanderson & Hall, 1948 ; Hachinohe & Onishi, 1952 ; and others) have shown that the number of chromosomes in the drone remains sixteen in all the stages of meiosis. According to the recent work by Manning (1949Manning ( , 195oa-c, 1952, however, this is not so. Manning believes that in meiosis I1 one of the chromosomes is not included in the spermatid, with the result that sperms with only fifteen chromosomes are produced. But Sanderson and Hall (1951), Ruttner and Mackensen (1952), and Ken and Laidlaw (1956) do not agree with Manning.Similarly Walker (1949), and Smith and Peacock (1957) have challenged the views of previous workers regarding the clumping of the metaphase I chromosomes and the formation and nature of the cytoplasmic bud during the abortive meiosis I.
