A Historical Study of the Malpighian Tubules of Gryllus Assimilis

Author

Charlie A. Sims, Prairie View State Normal and Industrial College

Date of Award

8-1940

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Degree Discipline

Arts and Science

Abstract

Up to this time several investigations have been reported upon the structure of the excretory system in various orthoptera, particularly in Acrididae (Schindler 1878; Tietz '23, Faussez, 1887), in Gryllidae (Sayce, 1899; Bordas, '02, '13 and in Blattidae (Miall and Benny, 1886). They differed in nearly every instance as to the anatomy and histology of the malpighian tubules.⁷ Stuart made an anatomical and a histological study of the malpighian tubules in Melanoplus differentialis. He described the malpighian tubules as being long flexuous, thread like structures about 172 to 312 in number, lying with their ends free in the body cavity and bathed by the body fluid. They are divided into a cephalic group extending as far forward as the gastric caeca, and a caudal group extending as far back as the rectum. All enter the digestive tube just cephalad to the ileo-ventricular sphincter, grouped as they do so into twelve masses, each of which enters an excretory ampulla which in turn opens into the caudal stomach. Schindler described the tubules in Locusta viridissima as being about 100 in number and massing together into four or five tuffs before entering the gut. In Eremobia muricata, Faussez reported that the tubules gather into ten bunches, each made up of fifteen to twenty tubules and possessing a common opening into the digestive tube. In Dissosteira Carolina, Tietz describes these structures as being grouped, at their point of attachment to the gut wall into six masses of about twelve tubes each. In Greyllidae, (Sayce, 1899; Bordas, '02, '13) all the tubules are represented as opening into an excretory or urinary vesicle, the expanded distal extremity of a single common duct, the ureter. Schindler reported a striated basae membrane in the tubules of Locus viridissma; but Stuart states "this I have been unable to identify in M. differentialis".⁹ None of the former workers made a study of the mitochoudria or Golgi apparatus in their studies of the tubules, so in this report in addition to the general histology of the tubules (and ajoining alimentary canal) I am interested in the mitochoudria and Golgi apparatus in the cells of the tubules.

Committee Chair/Advisor

T. P. Dooley

Publisher

Prairie View State Normal and Industrial College

Rights

Date of Digitization

7-23-2021

Contributing Institution

John B Coleman Library

City of Publication

Prairie View

MIME Type

Application/PDF

Recommended Citation

Sims, C. A. (1940). A Historical Study of the Malpighian Tubules of Gryllus Assimilis. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.pvamu.edu/pvamu-theses/79