[381] Ibid.
[382] Sur le Vol des Ins. 325—.
[383] Lyonet Anat. 427—.
[384] Cuv. Anat. Comp. iv. 418—.
[385] Mem. du Mus. 1819. 71.
[386] N. Dict. d'Hist. Nat. xvi. 208.
[387] Marcel de Serres, in his Observations on the Dorsal Vessel of Insects[388], endeavours to prove that the principal use of that vessel is the more perfect animalization of the chyle that, transuding through the pores of the intestinal canal, is imbibed by it. In insects, he observes, that undergo metamorphoses, in which the growth or development of parts is often very rapid, it is requisite that a considerable portion of the chyle should be in reserve for this purpose. On this account it is that the Epiploon or adipose tissue is so abundant in larvæ to what it is in the perfect insect. That the importance also of this part to insects is proved by the circumstance, that all their interior parts communicate by fibrils with this tissue, and that probably their various organs derive the nutriment from it by their means. He then asks by which of the viscera is the fat elaborated, or by what means does the chyle which transudes from the intestinal canal pass to the state of fat? Facts seem to indicate, says he, that the function of the dorsal vessel is to pump up the chyle, and to cause it then to transude through the meshes of the adipose tissue, where it finishes by elaborating that mass of fat so abundant in larvæ and certain perfect insects, which are thus enabled to sustain the effects of a long fast. So that this vessel is only a secretory organ, analogous to so many others that exist in insects; but the secretion which it has to produce is the most important of all, since the support of the vital powers depends upon it: it is, in effect, that vessel which completes the function of animalization, and which itself prepares the nutritive fluid[389]. He observes, amongst other reasons he brings to support his theory, that the colour of the fluid which it contains is always analogous to that of the adipose tissue that surrounds it, and that the colour of that tissue never changes without that of the fluid undergoing a corresponding alteration,—that when, as in many perfect insects, the quantity of fat diminishes, the dorsal vessel also diminishes in size, and that the same reagents which coagulate the fat, coagulate equally the fluid in the dorsal vessel, which seems to indicate an identity between them[390].
But there are circumstances that militate against this hypothesis. The analysis which Lyonet has given of the fluid contained in the dorsal vessel of the Cossus[391], seems to prove that it is more analogous to gum or varnish. He saw indeed a few globules, which appeared ten times as big as the others, which swam upon the water, but which he did not regard as component parts of the fluid, but as little drops of grease extravasated by dissection. The fluid of the vessel itself easily mixed with water, and appeared to sink in it to the bottom[392]. This proves that it is not of a fatty or oleaginous nature. But the strongest objection is stated by M. Carus, who judiciously observes[393], That it is contradictory to suppose that a canal should absorb or exude fluids by its parietes in a different form. Further experiments however seem necessary to ascertain the nature of the fluid and its object.
[388] Mem. du Mus. 1819.
[389] Ibid. 68—.