A cytological study of the pleuropodia of Melanoplus differentialis (Orthoptera, Acrididae) which furnishes new evidence that they produce the hatching enzyme

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Abstract
In an earlier paper (Slifer, '37) experiments were reported which showed that in Melanoplus differentialis eggs the hatching enzyme, which destroys the white cuticle, is secreted by the pleuropodia (appendages of the first abdominal segment of the embryo) during the last few days of incubation. In the present report the development and differentiation of the pleuropodia, together with the cytological changes which occur in them before, during and after they become functional, have been followed. The time at which the secretion granules are discharged from the pleuropodial cells was found to be closely correlated with the time at which the tough, white cuticle begins to disintegrate. The cytological evidence, then, supports the author's earlier conclusion, based upon experimental work, that the pleuropodia secrete the hatching enzyme.
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