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XXII.—A Quantitative Study of Spermatozoan Nucleus Length in Drosophila melanogaster (Meig).*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2012

N. S. Sidhu
Affiliation:
Institute of Animal Genetics, Edinburgh
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Synopsis

A squash-preparation technique for the measurement of nucleus lengths in permanent preparations of the spermatozoa of Drosophila melanogaster is described. Prefixation gave longer nuclei, but the degree of pressure used in making the squash did not affect nucleus length. Variation in nucleus length between the spermatozoa of a male was fairly high (coefficient of variation 14 per cent). Smaller, though significant, differences existed between means of males within culture bottles, but there were no significant differences between means of duplicate culture bottles. There was a little evidence of heterogeneity of within-male variances. A logarithmic transformation of data before analysis was indicated. These observations provide a hitherto missing background for planning experiments in quantitative variation designed to throw light on genetic and other factors affecting the dimensions of Drosophila spermatozoa.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1964

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Footnotes

†Present address: 34/6 West Patelnagar, New Delhi 12, India.
*

This paper was assisted in publication by a grant from the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland.

References

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