The Effect of a Few Toxic Substances upon the Total Blood Cell Count in the Cockroach, Blatta Orientalis Linn.

Abstract

Most reports in the literature on blood cell counts of cockroaches have dealt only with the total cell counts in normal cockroaches. Haber (1926) found approximately two to three thousand cells per “droplet” of blood in Blatella germanica L. Yeager and Tauber (1932) obtained an average of approximately 30,000 cells per cu. mm. of blood in Periplaneta fuliginosa Serville, with counts ranging roughly from 15,000 to 60,000. The same workers (1933) reported an average of 31,072 cells per cu. mm. of blood from Blatta (Periplaneta) orientalis L. The author (1935, using the cockroach Blatta orientalis L., obtained an average of about 34,000 cells per cu. mm., with counts ranging from 8,800 to 83,600, after the insects had been treated with glacial acetic acid vapor by the method described by Shull and Rice (1933). The insects in this experiment that were subjected to the acid vapor until they were dead or nearly dead gave an average of 36,173 cells per cu. mm. of blood. These data indicate that the number of cells in the blood of these species of cockroaches averages between 30,000 and 35,000 cells per cu. mm. of blood.