A study of the chromosomes in meiosis, fertilization, and cleavage in the grasshopper egg (orthoptera)

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Abstract
A technique is developed whereby the large heavily yolk‐laden grasshopper egg may be sectioned for cytological study. Eggs of Chortophaga viridifasciata and Circotettix verruculatus were examined.In C. viridifasciata the structure of the late ovarian nucleus and the chromosomes in meiosis, fertilization, and early cleavage are described. In the first maturation twelve rod‐shaped tetrads are found. Near the caudal end of the egg a polar body is given off, and in the second maturation division there are twelve dyads. At fertilization, twelve separated vesicles of the female pronucleus are seen scattered about a male pronucleus in which the chromosomes are in prophase.In early cleavage the chromosome numbers in the metaphase are found to differentiate the male‐ and female‐producing eggs. In the former there are twenty‐three and in the latter twenty‐four chromosomes. A vesicular condition in which the chromosomes retain their boundaries in interkinesis is indicative of chromosome individuality.A comparison of the first and second maturation metaphase chromosomes of the oocyte with those of the spermatocyte shows a similar compact group on the spindle, a likeness in size seriation, and a similarity of form. They differ in that in the spermatocyte complex there are eleven tetrads and one dyad. This latter, the unpaired sex chromosome, falls among the large chromosomes.A comparison of the chromosome complex of Chortophaga viridifasciata with that of Circotettix verruculatus indicates constancy of generic differences in form, size, number, and behavior of the chromosomes.