Functional morphology of the glandula prostatica, ejaculatory valve, and ductus ejaculatorius of the silkworm Bombyx...

The penis of the silkmoth, Bombyx mori, consists of two parts covered with cuticle, the corpus penis and crus penis, and a third part, the radix penis, without a cuticle but surrounded by a thick sphincter. The radix penis is divisible into anterior and posterior parts. The ductus (d.) ejaculatorius passing through the penis has no secretory cells. In the anterior radix penis, the wall of the d. ejaculatorius is thin and without folds; in the posterior section, it is thick, with folds in its lumen. The glandula (g.) prostatica is divisible into anterior and posterior parts according to differences in the histological and morphological characteristics of the cells and their secretions, which contain many heterogeneous substances. In the anterior g. prostatica, secretions accumulate separately in the anterior and posterior sections before ejaculation. Unlike the posterior region, the anterior region displays a large mass(es) at the periphery of the lumen along the secretory cell layer. Judging from staining properties, the pearly body and the first layer of the spermatophore wall, which, after copulation, form in the female bursa copulatrix, seem to be derived from the secretions of the anterior and posterior regions of the g. prostatica, respectively. The secretion of the posterior g. prostatica contains initiatorin, which acts as a sperm-activating factor in the inner and outer matrices of the spermatophore. An ejaculatory valve is found between the radix penis and the g. prostatica. The opening of this valve is regulated by the surrounding sphincter, thus impeding the back-flow of secretions and seminal fluid in the radix penis and resulting in their transport outwards during ejaculation. The musculature of the d. ejaculatorius and the corpus penis promotes further transport of these secretions into the female bursa copulatrix.