Cytological Observations on Cell Strains Established in Culture From Insect Ovarian Tissue

Cytological and cytochemical observations made on cell strains from ovarian tissue of the saturniid moth Antheraea eucalypti Scott about 120 generations subsequent to their establishment in culture show that a high proportion of the cells are polyploid. Direct chromosome counts indicate that the nuclei range from diploid to at least approximately 128-ploid. The cells of the four strains at present in culture are of three morphologically distinct types differing in the frequency with which they show certain levels of ploidy.