Abstract
I HAVE suggested that teratocytes, the giant cells which develop from the trophamnion of many parasitoid Hymenoptera, serve as a means of resistance to the defence reactions of insect hosts1. These cells are relatively small when they dissociate from the embryonic membrane, but as they become distributed in the blood of the host they expand to as much as 3,000 times their original volume. Their growth is achieved by the absorption of nutrients from the host's blood and I suggested that the consequent depletion of materials in the haemolymph would impede or inhibit haematopoiesis and prevent an effective haemocytic reaction to the young parasitoid.
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