Abstract
LONDON Royal Society, Nov. 3.—J. Mellanby: Secretin. Secretin may be prepared from the duodenal mucous membrane by (a) extraction with absolute alcohol, (6) precipitation by dilute acid, and (c) resolution of the precipitate in acid alcohol and precipitation by acetone. The product has the percentage composition of a sulphur-containing protein. It is soluble in water but insoluble in dilute acid. The physiological actions of secretin are: (a) the production of a copious secretion of pancreatic juice, (6) the contraction of intestinal muscle, and (c) the secretion of a small quantity of bile.—Margaret Hill and A. S. Parkes: Studies on the hypophysectomised ferret (1, 2, 3). Hypophysectomy of the male during the breeding season (June) caused regression to the anoestrous condition in about a month; the regression being characterised by decrease in testis weight and by aspermatogenesis. The experimentally produced degeneration is about three times as rapid as the normal decline into anoestrus. In the female ferret, removal of the pituitary body about two hours after the beginning of copulation did not inhibit ovulatibn, which occurs in the normal animal about 36 hours after mating. It would thus appear that some ovulation-producing substance is secreted by the anterior pituitary body within two hours of the beginning of copulation. The corpus luteum, however, failed to develop, and there were no signs of pregnancy or pseudo-pregnancy.—J. D. Gillett and V. B. Wiggles-worth: The climbing organ of an insect, Rhodnius prolixus (Hemiptera; Reduviidae). It is present in both sexes of the adult, but is absent in the nymphs. It occurs on the distal end of the tibia of the anterior and middle pairs of legs. It enables the insect to climb upwards on clean glass at almost a right angle, but it is of little use in the reverse direction. The organ is a little oval sac of pliant chitin filled with blood. On its lower surface it bears about 5000 tubular hairs, 1 μ. in diameter, which appear to be the outlets of unicellular glands producing an oily secretion. At their free ends the anterior surface of these hairs is cut away obliquely so that only their hind margin comes in contact with the surface the insect climbs. Among these hairs are about 50 delicate tapering hairs arising from large sockets and projecting slightly beyond the others. These appear to be sense organs. They are surmounted by a spindle-shaped mass of cells giving off a nerve fibre.
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Societies and Academies. Nature 130, 750–751 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/130750a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/130750a0