It is now widely accepted, following the work of Alexander, Kitchener and Briscoe (1944 a–c), Wigglesworth (1944, 1945) and Beament (1945), that the thin layer of lipoid material which is present on or near the outer surface of insect cuticle serves to restrict the evaporation of water from the animal. Existing knowledge of the nature of this waterproofing layer has been built up from observations on the effect of dusts, heat, detergents and organic solvents on the rate of evaporation from intact cuticle and also from a study of the changes in permeability of natural and artificial membranes when coated with thin layers of lipoid material.

*

Note added m proof. Further work has suggested that the large pits shown in Fig. 3 are artefacts.

Copyright © 1955 The Company of Biologists Ltd.
1955
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