diff --git a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/dispatch/ActorModelSpec.scala b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/dispatch/ActorModelSpec.scala
index 8d1230a3df..36093f86a0 100644
--- a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/dispatch/ActorModelSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/dispatch/ActorModelSpec.scala
@@ -353,14 +353,8 @@ abstract class ActorModelSpec extends AkkaSpec {
         val stopLatch = new CountDownLatch(num)
         val waitTime = (30 seconds).dilated.toMillis
         val boss = actorOf(Props(context ⇒ {
-          case "run" ⇒
-            for (_ ← 1 to num) {
-              val child = context.actorOf(props)
-              context.self startsMonitoring child
-              child ! cachedMessage
-            }
-          case Terminated(child) ⇒
-            stopLatch.countDown()
+          case "run"             ⇒ for (_ ← 1 to num) (context.self startsMonitoring context.actorOf(props)) ! cachedMessage
+          case Terminated(child) ⇒ stopLatch.countDown()
         }).withDispatcher(wavesSupervisorDispatcher(dispatcher)))
         boss ! "run"
         assertCountDown(cachedMessage.latch, waitTime, "Counting down from " + num)
diff --git a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/dispatch/MailboxConfigSpec.scala b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/dispatch/MailboxConfigSpec.scala
index c5ee2f1dfb..ea9cda5d66 100644
--- a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/dispatch/MailboxConfigSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/dispatch/MailboxConfigSpec.scala
@@ -141,8 +141,8 @@ abstract class MailboxSpec extends AkkaSpec with BeforeAndAfterAll with BeforeAn
 class DefaultMailboxSpec extends MailboxSpec {
   lazy val name = "The default mailbox implementation"
   def factory = {
-    case u: UnboundedMailbox ⇒ u.create(null, null)
-    case b: BoundedMailbox   ⇒ b.create(null, null)
+    case u: UnboundedMailbox ⇒ u.create(null)
+    case b: BoundedMailbox   ⇒ b.create(null)
   }
 }
 
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ class PriorityMailboxSpec extends MailboxSpec {
   val comparator = PriorityGenerator(_.##)
   lazy val name = "The priority mailbox implementation"
   def factory = {
-    case UnboundedMailbox()                    ⇒ UnboundedPriorityMailbox(comparator).create(null, null)
-    case BoundedMailbox(capacity, pushTimeOut) ⇒ BoundedPriorityMailbox(comparator, capacity, pushTimeOut).create(null, null)
+    case UnboundedMailbox()                    ⇒ UnboundedPriorityMailbox(comparator).create(null)
+    case BoundedMailbox(capacity, pushTimeOut) ⇒ BoundedPriorityMailbox(comparator, capacity, pushTimeOut).create(null)
   }
 }
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala
index 1ceb357c76..cd993a040c 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala
@@ -212,7 +212,6 @@ class ActorSystem(val name: String, val config: Configuration) extends ActorRefF
   val deadLetters = new DeadLetterActorRef(this)
   val deadLetterMailbox = new Mailbox(null) {
     becomeClosed()
-    override def dispatcher = null //MessageDispatcher.this
     override def enqueue(receiver: ActorRef, envelope: Envelope) { deadLetters ! DeadLetter(envelope.message, envelope.sender, receiver) }
     override def dequeue() = null
     override def systemEnqueue(receiver: ActorRef, handle: SystemMessage) { deadLetters ! DeadLetter(handle, receiver, receiver) }
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/BalancingDispatcher.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/BalancingDispatcher.scala
index b64b7ee513..c311067270 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/BalancingDispatcher.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/BalancingDispatcher.scala
@@ -64,8 +64,6 @@ class BalancingDispatcher(
     final def numberOfMessages: Int = messageQueue.numberOfMessages
 
     final def hasMessages: Boolean = messageQueue.hasMessages
-
-    final val dispatcher = BalancingDispatcher.this
   }
 
   protected[akka] override def register(actor: ActorCell) = {
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/Dispatcher.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/Dispatcher.scala
index bf12a5cafc..89c1647c5c 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/Dispatcher.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/Dispatcher.scala
@@ -98,14 +98,15 @@ class Dispatcher(
     }
   }
 
-  protected[akka] def createMailbox(actor: ActorCell): Mailbox = mailboxType.create(this, actor)
+  protected[akka] def createMailbox(actor: ActorCell): Mailbox = mailboxType.create(actor)
 
   protected[akka] def start {}
 
   protected[akka] def shutdown {
     val old = executorService.getAndSet(new LazyExecutorServiceWrapper(executorServiceFactory.createExecutorService))
-    if (old ne null)
-      old.shutdownNow()
+    if (old ne null) {
+      old.shutdown()
+    }
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/Mailbox.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/Mailbox.scala
index 007f117bc3..745bade6b8 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/Mailbox.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/Mailbox.scala
@@ -4,12 +4,10 @@
 package akka.dispatch
 
 import akka.AkkaException
-import java.util.{ Comparator, PriorityQueue }
+import java.util.{ Comparator, PriorityQueue, Queue }
 import akka.util._
-import java.util.Queue
-import akka.actor.{ ActorContext, ActorCell, ActorRef }
+import akka.actor.{ ActorCell, ActorRef }
 import java.util.concurrent._
-import atomic.{ AtomicInteger, AtomicReferenceFieldUpdater }
 import annotation.tailrec
 import akka.event.Logging.Error
 
@@ -31,7 +29,7 @@ object Mailbox {
   final val Scheduled = 4
 
   // mailbox debugging helper using println (see below)
-  // TODO take this out before release
+  // FIXME TODO take this out before release
   final val debug = false
 }
 
@@ -175,7 +173,6 @@ abstract class Mailbox(val actor: ActorCell) extends AbstractMailbox with Messag
           do {
             if (debug) println(actor.self + " processing message " + nextMessage)
             actor invoke nextMessage
-
             processAllSystemMessages() //After we're done, process all system messages
 
             nextMessage = if (isActive) { // If we aren't suspended, we need to make sure we're not overstepping our boundaries
@@ -210,7 +207,8 @@ abstract class Mailbox(val actor: ActorCell) extends AbstractMailbox with Messag
     }
   }
 
-  def dispatcher: MessageDispatcher
+  @inline
+  final def dispatcher: MessageDispatcher = actor.dispatcher
 }
 
 trait MessageQueue {
@@ -299,17 +297,16 @@ trait QueueBasedMessageQueue extends MessageQueue {
  * Mailbox configuration.
  */
 trait MailboxType {
-  def create(dispatcher: MessageDispatcher, receiver: ActorCell): Mailbox
+  def create(receiver: ActorCell): Mailbox
 }
 
 /**
  * It's a case class for Java (new UnboundedMailbox)
  */
 case class UnboundedMailbox() extends MailboxType {
-  override def create(_dispatcher: MessageDispatcher, receiver: ActorCell) =
+  override def create(receiver: ActorCell) =
     new Mailbox(receiver) with QueueBasedMessageQueue with UnboundedMessageQueueSemantics with DefaultSystemMessageQueue {
       final val queue = new ConcurrentLinkedQueue[Envelope]()
-      final val dispatcher = _dispatcher
     }
 }
 
@@ -318,19 +315,17 @@ case class BoundedMailbox( final val capacity: Int, final val pushTimeOut: Durat
   if (capacity < 0) throw new IllegalArgumentException("The capacity for BoundedMailbox can not be negative")
   if (pushTimeOut eq null) throw new IllegalArgumentException("The push time-out for BoundedMailbox can not be null")
 
-  override def create(_dispatcher: MessageDispatcher, receiver: ActorCell) =
+  override def create(receiver: ActorCell) =
     new Mailbox(receiver) with QueueBasedMessageQueue with BoundedMessageQueueSemantics with DefaultSystemMessageQueue {
       final val queue = new LinkedBlockingQueue[Envelope](capacity)
       final val pushTimeOut = BoundedMailbox.this.pushTimeOut
-      final val dispatcher = _dispatcher
     }
 }
 
 case class UnboundedPriorityMailbox( final val cmp: Comparator[Envelope]) extends MailboxType {
-  override def create(_dispatcher: MessageDispatcher, receiver: ActorCell) =
+  override def create(receiver: ActorCell) =
     new Mailbox(receiver) with QueueBasedMessageQueue with UnboundedMessageQueueSemantics with DefaultSystemMessageQueue {
       final val queue = new PriorityBlockingQueue[Envelope](11, cmp)
-      final val dispatcher = _dispatcher
     }
 }
 
@@ -339,11 +334,10 @@ case class BoundedPriorityMailbox( final val cmp: Comparator[Envelope], final va
   if (capacity < 0) throw new IllegalArgumentException("The capacity for BoundedMailbox can not be negative")
   if (pushTimeOut eq null) throw new IllegalArgumentException("The push time-out for BoundedMailbox can not be null")
 
-  override def create(_dispatcher: MessageDispatcher, receiver: ActorCell) =
+  override def create(receiver: ActorCell) =
     new Mailbox(receiver) with QueueBasedMessageQueue with BoundedMessageQueueSemantics with DefaultSystemMessageQueue {
       final val queue = new BoundedBlockingQueue[Envelope](capacity, new PriorityQueue[Envelope](11, cmp))
       final val pushTimeOut = BoundedPriorityMailbox.this.pushTimeOut
-      final val dispatcher = _dispatcher
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/CallingThreadDispatcher.scala b/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/CallingThreadDispatcher.scala
index 58ad446728..fc01045e79 100644
--- a/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/CallingThreadDispatcher.scala
+++ b/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/CallingThreadDispatcher.scala
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ private[testkit] object CallingThreadDispatcher {
 class CallingThreadDispatcher(_app: ActorSystem, val name: String = "calling-thread") extends MessageDispatcher(_app) {
   import CallingThreadDispatcher._
 
-  protected[akka] override def createMailbox(actor: ActorCell) = new CallingThreadMailbox(this, actor)
+  protected[akka] override def createMailbox(actor: ActorCell) = new CallingThreadMailbox(actor)
 
   private def getMailbox(actor: ActorCell): Option[CallingThreadMailbox] = actor.mailbox match {
     case m: CallingThreadMailbox ⇒ Some(m)
@@ -257,7 +257,7 @@ class NestingQueue {
   def isActive = active
 }
 
-class CallingThreadMailbox(val dispatcher: MessageDispatcher, _receiver: ActorCell) extends Mailbox(_receiver) with DefaultSystemMessageQueue {
+class CallingThreadMailbox(_receiver: ActorCell) extends Mailbox(_receiver) with DefaultSystemMessageQueue {
 
   private val q = new ThreadLocal[NestingQueue]() {
     override def initialValue = {