LETS GET READY TO RRRUUUMMMBBLLEE :the cockroach saga

My Bio teacher put her hand into the unholy jar of corpses and picked a nice juicy little cockroach.The class was divided into 2 groups and each group would be shown the dissection.
Thus began the dissection...
The underside of the wings were pinned to the dissection plate.

'The legs are removed , actually plucked one by one , pluck...pluck ...pluck...pluck...pluck...hey this cockroach was disabled ...see Only five plucks ...disabled ..Get it ? , get it ? '

We groaned at her bad joke (It didn't even qualify as a joke )


'....and additional pins were inserted at the base of the wings. Once the cockroach is securely fastened to the plate, the side or ventral cuts along the abdomen are made to remove the exoskeleton....'

The fat body was teased apart with forceps and removed to expose the internal organs more clearly.Cockroach fat is white , blubbery and slimy , doesn't easily get off your hands.And guess what they would not provide us with gloves.

Someone whispered 'ummm...yummy ! ' and one of the girls started heaving (It is always the fat ugly girls that starts heaving , the pretty ones know how to faint and fall gently into the arms of the boys they like ! )



And then she began to drone...

'The most noticeable system of organs we see once the fat body is removed is the digestive system. The major structures include the crop, gastric caeca, midgut, Malpighian tubules and hindgut.
The crop, an enlargement of the foregut, serves as temporary storage for undigested food. Digestion of complex sugars begins in the foregut. Gastric caeca (pronounced 'seeka'), the elongated pouches at the beginning of the midgut, contain bacteria which aid in digestion.

The midgut is the primary area for digestion and absorption. Contents from the midgut and Malpighian tubules empty into the hindgut, where final resorption of water, salts, and nutrients from the feces and urine takes place before excretion.

The Malpighian tubules are actually the primary organs of the excretory system. Their function is to remove nitrogen-containing wastes and regulate water and salts in an insect's blood, called hemolymph....'

I did my best to suppress the yawns .

This was going to be one loooong practiccals class!

'Students ! ' she thundered ' Each of you will be given one cockroach and one cockroach only'
'And this will be your only chance where you will perform a dissection under supervision ' she continued 'so keep that mind' which was an ultimatum basically saying 'buddy , this is your only chance to slice and dice a cockroach , so DON'T SCREW IT UP !'

So the moment of truth had arrived .

drum rolls please ...

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN , CHILDREN OF ALL AGES , KEEP YOUR DISSECTION BOARDS AND YOUR DISSECTION KITS READY.
GET READY TO RRRRRUUUUUUMMMMBBBBBLLLLEEE.....

And the lab assistant began distributing dead cockroaches like they were sweets distributed to children on National Holidays.

To be continued...