Abstract
This chapter integrates recent cytophysiological literature on insect haemocytes with earlier work and beyond this with diverse general observations on cells. The blood cells of insects were first described by Schwammerdam, (1758) who reported that when he opened the abdomen of a louse, blood flowed out containing transparent globules. It is probably the presence of a tracheal rather than a corpuscular respiratory system that explains the paucity of cells in insect blood by comparison with vertebrate blood. Thus, human blood contains about 5 million cells in a microliter, and these occupy nearly 50 per cent of the blood volume; whereas insect blood usually contains less than one hundred thousand cells in a microliter. The blood cells or haemocytes from representative species of six orders of insects are examined in the chapter in detail through the electron microscope. These orders are Blattana, Orthoptera, Hemiptera, kpidoptera, Diptera, and Coleoptera. The nucleus of haemocytes is surrounded by an envelope composed of inner and outer unit membranes, and the space between these is frequently seen to be continuous with the cisternae of endoplasmic reticulum.
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