I m 'A j: A 1 >^>> • W • .^ W* 9r* w * w* W* Ij ll i i Wi ll wKT il Tl iiiiwi m i i ii m i MH I U il i ii ^ i lM "^m SSNgygSrSSVSS^nS.^ PRIITATE LIBRARY — •mOIF'-W- — 1) '\j, i^piiKMif. :'T) "Ai :yo. z^^ \ 09 r- 5 a a LU o a ■ Ra ^ A MANUAL N^H^r m OF THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. BY THOMAS H. HUXLEY, LL. D., F. R. S. NEW YOEK: D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 1, S, AND 5 BOND STREET. 1885. PREFACE. The ]3resent volume on the Anatomy of Invert ebrated Animals fulfills an nndertaking to produce a treatise on comparative anatomy for students, into whicli I entered two-and-twenty years ago. A considerable installment of the work, relating- wholly to the Invertebrata, appeared in the Medical Times and Gazette for the years 1856 and 1857, under the title of " Lectures on General Natural History." But a variety of circumstances having con- spired, about that time, to compel me to direct my atten- tion more particularly to the Vertebrata, I was led to in- terrupt the publication of the " Lectures " and to com- plete the Vertebrate half of the proposed work first. This appeared in 1871, as a " Manual of the Anatomy of Yerte- brated Animals." A period of incapacity for any serious toil prevented me from attempting, before 1874, to grapple with the im- mense mass of new and important information respecting the structure, and especially the development, of Inverte- brated animals, which the activity of a host of investiga- tors has accumulated of late years. That my progress has been slow will not surprise any one who is acquainted with the growth of the literature of animal morphology, or with the expenditure of time involved in the attempt to verify for one's self even the cardinal facts of that science ; but I have endeavored, in 4 PREFACE. the last chapter, to supply the most important recent ad- ditions to om- knowledge, respecting the groups treated of in those which have long been printed. ^^hen I commenced this work, it was mv intention to continue the plan adopted in the " Manual of the Anatomy of Tertehrated Animals,'' of giving a summary account of what appeared to me to be ascertained morphokgical facts, without referrincr to mr sources of information. I soon found, however, that it would be inconvenient to carrv out this scheme consistentlv : and some of mv pao^es are, I am afi'aid, somewhat bm'dened with notes and ref- erences. I am the more careful to mention this circumstance as, had it been my pui^ose to give any adequate Bibliograj^hy, the conspicuous absence of the titles of many important books and memoirs might appear unaccountable and in- deed blame worth V. My object, in writing the book, has been to make it useful to those who wish to become acquainted with the broad outlines of what is at present known of the moiiDhol- 02T of the Invertehraia : though I have not avoided the incidental mention of facts connected with their physiol- osTT and their distribution. On the other hand, I have ab- stained from discussing questions of aetiology, not because I underestimate their importance, or am insensible to the interest of the great problem of Evolution ; but because, to my mind, the growing tendency to mix up ^etiological speculations with morphological generalizations will, if unchecked, throw Biology into confusion. For the student, that which is essential is a knowledge of the facts of morphology ; and he should recollect that generalizations are empty formulas, unless there is some- thing in his personal experience which gives reality and substance to the terms of the propositions in which these generalizations are expressed. PREFACE. 5 The dissection of a single representative of eacli of the principal divisions of the Inveriebrata ^\SS. give the student a more real acquaintance with their comparative anatomy than any amount of readiug of this, or any other book. And I have endeavored to facilitate practical study by supplying a somewhat full description of individual forms, in the case of the more complicated tj-pes. That the power of repeating a " Classification of Ani- mals," with all the appropriate definitions, has anything to do with genuine knowledge is one of the commonest and most mischievous delusions of both students and their examiners. The real business of the learner is to gain a true and vivid conception of the characteristics of what may be termed the natural orders of animals. The mode of ar- rangement, or classification, of these into larger groups is a matter of altogether secondary importance. As such, I have relegated this subject to a subordinate place in the last chapter ; and I have thought it unnecessary^, either to discuss the systems proposed by others, or to give reasons for passing over, in silence, my own former attempts in this direction. Of the manifold imperfections in the execution of the task which I have set myself, few will be more sensible than I am ; but I trust that the book, such as it is, may be of use to the beginner. Those who desire to pursue the study of the Inverte- hrata further will do well to consult the excellent treatises of Yon Siebold,' Gegenbaur,' and Glaus;' and the elabo- * " Lelirbuch der vergleichenden Anatomie der wirbellosen Thiere," 1818. One of the best books on the subject ever written, and still indispensable. 2 " Grundzuge der vergleichenden Anatomie," 1870 ; and " Grundriss der vergleichenden Anatomie," 1874. 3 " Grundzuge der Zoologie." 3tte Auflage, 1876. 6 PREFACE. rate works of Milne-Edwards* and Bronn,*" in wliicli a very full Bibliography will be met with. Dr. Eolleston's valuable " Types of Animal Life," and tlie "Elementary Instruction in Practical Biology," by myself and Dr. Martin, will prove useful adjuncts to the appliances of the practical worker. * " Legons sur la Physiologie et I'Anatomie comparee de I'Homme et des Animaux." Tomes i.-xii. (incomplete). 2 " Die Klassen und Ordnungen des Tkierreiclis." Bde. i.-vi. (incomplete). London, June^ 1877. CONTENTS. T±CTS Preface, 3 Introduction : The General Principles of Biology, . 9 Chap. I. — The Distinctive Characters of Animals, . . . .44 11. — The Protozoa, 73 III. — The Porifera and the Coelenterata, 102 lY. — The Turbellaria, the Rotifera, the Trematoda, and the Cestoidea, 15Y V. — The Hirudinea, the Oligoch^ta, the Polych^ta, the Gephyrea, 189 YI. — The Arthropod a, 219 YII. — The Air-breathing Arthropoda, 320 YIII. — The Polyzoa, the Brachiopoda, and the Mollusca, . . 389 IX. — The Echinodermata, 466 X. — The Tunicata or Ascidioida, 510 XI. — The Peripatidea, the Myzostomata, the Enteropneusta, the Ch^tognatha, the Nematoidea, the Physemaria, THE ACANTHOCEPHALA, AND THE DiCYEMIDA, . . . 534 XII. — The Taxonomy of Invertebrated Animals, . . . .561 Index, 589 THE ANATOMY OF IISrVERTEBEATED AITIMALS. INTRODUCTION. I. — THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES OP BIOLOGY. The biolof?ical sciences are those which deal with the phenomena manifested by living matter; and though it is customary and convenient to group apart such of these phe- nomena as are termed mental, ar^d such of them as are ex- hibited by men in society, under the heads of Psychology and Sociology, yet it must be allowed that no natural boun- dary separates the subject-matter of the latter sciences from that of Biology. Psychology is inseparably linked with Physiology ; and the phases of social life exhibited by ani- mals other than man, which sometimes curiously foreshadow human policy, fall strictly within the province of the biolo- gist. On the other hand, the biological sciences are sharply marked off from the abiological, or those which treat of the phenomena manifested by not-living matter, in so far as the properties of living matter distinguish it absolutely from all other kinds of things, and as (the present state of knowledge furnishes us with no link between the living and the not- living.) These distinctive properties of living matter are — 1. Its chemical C07n2)0siti07i — containing, as it invariably does, one or more forms of a complex compound of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, the so-called protein (which has never yet been obtained except as a product of living bodies) united with a large proportion of water, and forming 10 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. the chief constituent of a substance which, in its primary un- modified state, is known as protoplasm. 2. Its unwersal disintegration and waste hy oxidation y and its concomitant reintegration hy the hitussusception of new matter. A process of waste resulting from the decomposition of the molecules of the protoplasm, in virtue of which they break up into more highly-oxidated products, which cease to form any part of the living body, is a constant concomitant of life. There is reason to believe that carbonic acid is al- ways one of these waste products, while the others contain the remainder of the carbon, the nitrogen, the hydrogen, and the other elements which may enter into the composition of the protoplasm. The new matter taken in to make good this constant loss is either a ready-formed protoplasmic material, supplied by some other living being, or it consists of the elements of protoplasm, united together in simpler combinations, which consequently have to be built up into protoplasm by the agency of the living matter itself. In either case, the addi- tion of molecules to those which already existed takes place, not at the surface of the living mass, but by interposition between the existing molecules of the latter. If the processes of disintegration and of reconstruction which characterize life balance one another, the size of the mass of living matter remains stationary, while, if the reconstructive process is the more rapid, the living bodj^ grotcs. But the increase of size which constitutes growth is the result of a process of molec- ular intussusception, and therefore differs altogether from the process of growth by accretion, which may be observed in crystals and is effected purely by the external addition of new matter — so that, in the M^ell-known aphorism of Linnaeus,* the word "grow," as applied to stones, signifies a totally dif- ferent process from what is called "growth" in plants and animals. 3. Its tendency to undergo cyclical changes. In the ordinary course of Nature, all living matter proceeds from preexisting living matter, a portion of the latter being detached and acquiring an independent existence. The new form takes on the characters of that from which it arose ; ex- hibits the same power of propagating itself by means of an offshoot ; and, sooner or later, like its predecessor, ceases to 1 " Lapides crescunt: vegetdbiUa crescunt et vivunt: animalia crescunt, vi- vunt et sentiunt." CHARACTERS OF LIVING MATTER. n live, and is resolved into more higlily-oxidated compounds of its elements. Thus an individual living body is not only constantly changing its substance, but its size and form are undergoing continual modifications, the end of which is the death and decay of that individual ; the continuation of the kind being secured by the detachment of portions which tend to run through the same cycle of forms as the parent. No forms of matter which are either not living, or have not been derived from living matter, exhibit these three properties, nor any approach to the remarkable phenomena defined under the sec- ond and third heads. But, in addition to these distinctive characters, living matter has some other peculiarities, the chief of which are the dependence of all its activities upon moisture and upon heat, within a limited range of tempera- ture, together with the fact that it usually possesses a certain structure, or organization. As has been said, a large proportion of water enters into the composition of all living matter ; a certain amount of dry- ing arrests vital activity, and the complete abstraction of this water is absolutely incompatible with either actual or poten- tial life. But many of the simpler forms of life may undergo desiccation to such an extent as to arrest their vital manifes- tations and convert them into the semblance of not-living matter, and yet remain potentially alive ; that is to say, on being duly moistened they return to life again. And this revivification may take place after months, or even years, of arrested life. The properties of living matter are intimately related to temperature. Not only does exposure to heat sufficient to decompose protein matter destroy life, by demolishing the molecular structure upon which life depends ; but all vital activity, all phenomena of nutritive growth, movement, and reproduction, are possible only between certain limits of tem- perature. As the temperature approaches these limits the manifestations of life vanish, though they may be recovered by return to the normal conditions ; but, if it pass far beyond these limits, death takes place. This much is clear ; but it is not easy to say exactly what the limits of temperature are, as they appear to vary in part with the kind of living matter, and in part with the con- ditions of moisture which obtain along with the temperature. The conditions of life are so complex in the higher organisms, that the experimental investigation of this question can be 12 THE ANATOMY OF INTERTEBRATED ANIMALS. satisfactorily attempted only in the lowest and simplest forms. It appears that, in the dry state, these are able to bear far greater extremes both of heat and cold than in the moist condition. Thus Pasteur found that the spores of fungi, when dry, could be exposed without destruction to a tem- perature of 120^-125° C. (248^-257° Fahr.), while the same spores, when moist, were all killed by exposure to 100° C. (212° Fahr.). On the other hand, Cagniard de la Tour found that dry yeast might be exposed to the extremely low tem- perature of solid carbonic acid ( — 60° Cor —76° Fahr.) with- out baing killed. In the moist state he found that it might be frozen and cooled to —5° C. (23° Fahr.), but that it was killed by lower temperatures. However, it is very desirable that these experiments should be repeated, for Cohn's careful observations on Hxcteria show that, though they fall into a state of torpidity, and, like yeast, lose all their powers of ex- citing fermentation at, or near, the freezing-point of water, they are not killed by exposure for five hours to a tempera- ture below —10° C. (14:° Fahr.), and, for some time, sinking to —18° C. (— 0°.4 Fahr.). Specimens of Spirillum voiutans^ which had been cooled to this extent, be2'an to move about some little time after the ice containing them thawed. But Cohn remarks that Euglenos.f which were frozen along with them, were all killed and disorganized, and that the same fate had befallen the higher Infusoria and Itotifera, -with the ex- ception of some encysted Vorticellce, in which the rhythmical movements of the contractile vesicle showed that life was preserved. Thus it would app3ar that the resistance of living matter to cold depends greatly on the special form of that matter, and that the limit of the Euglena^ simple organism as it is, is much higher than that of the Bacterium. Considerations of this kind throw some light upon the apparently anomalous conditions under which many of the lower plants, such as Protococcns and the Diatomacece^ and some of th3 lower animals, such as the Radiolaria^ are ob- served to flourish. Protococcus has been found not only on the snows of great heights in temperate latitudes, but cover- ing extensive areas of ice and snow in the Arctic regions, where it must be exposed to extremely low temperatures — in the latter case for manv months tosrether : while the Arctic and Antarctic seas swarm with Diatomacece and Radiolaria. It is on the Diatomace':e^ as Hooker has well shown, that all surface-life in these regions ultimately depends ; and their enor- RESISTANCE TO HEAT AND COLD. 13 mous multitudes prove that their rate of multiplication is ade- quate to meet the demands made upon them, and is not seri- ously impeded by the low temperature of the waters, never much above the freezing-point, in which they habitually live. The maximum limit of heat which living matter can resist is no less variable than its minimum limit. Kiihne found that marine Amcebce were killed when the temperature reached 35° C. (95° Fahr.), while this was not the case with iresh-^vaiier j^7)ioebce, which survived a heat of 5°, or even 10°, C. higher. Actlnophrys JElchhornii was not killed until the temperature rose to 44° or 45° C. Didymiian serpula is killed at 35° C. ; while another Myxomycete^ ^thallum septiciun^ succumbs only at 40° C. Colin (" Untersuchungen liber Bacterien," JBeitrdye zur l^iologie der JPftanzen^ Heft 2, 1872) has given the results of a series of experiments conducted with the view of ascertain- ing the temperature at which bacteria are destroyed when living in a fluid of definite chemical composition, and free from all such complications as must arise from the inequalities of physical condition when solid particles other than the j5ac- teria coexist with them. The fluid employed contained 0.1 gramme potassium phosphate, 0.1 gr. crystallized magnesium sulphate, 0.1 gr. tribasic calcium phosphate, and 0.2 gr. am- monium tartrate, dissolved in 20 cubic centimetres of distilled water. If to a certain quantity of this " normal fluid " a sn.all proportion of water containing JBacteria was added, the mul • tiplication of the Sacteria went on with rapidity, whether the mouth of the containing flask was open or hermetically closed. Hermetically-sealed flasks, containing portions of the normal fluid infected with J^acterla^ were submerged in water heated to various temperatures, the flask being carefully shaken, with- out being raised out of the water, during its submergence. The result was, that in those flasks which were thus sub- jected, for an hour, to a heat of 60°-62° C. (140°-143° Fahr.), the Bacteria underwent no development, and the fluid re- mained perfectly clear. On the other hand, in similar experi- ments in which the flasks were heated only to 40° or 50° C {104°-122° Fahr.), the fluid became turbid, in consequence of the multiplication of the Bacteria^ in the course of from two to three days. I am in the habit of demonstrating annually, that Pasteur's solution and hay-infusion, after five minutes' boilino^ in a flask properly stopped with cotton-wool, remain perfectly clear of living organisms, however long they may be kept. The same 14: THE ANATOMY OF INYEKTEBRATED ANIMALS. holds good for a solution analogous to Cohn's, but in which all the saline ingredients are ammonia salts ; ^ and in which Bacteria flourish luxuriantly. Prof. Tyndall's large series of experiments give the same results for fluids of the most diverse composition. The cases of milk and some other fluids in which Bacteria are said to appear, after they have been heated above the boiling-point, require renewed investigation. Both in Kuhne's and in Cohn's experiments, w^iich last have lately been confirmed and extended by Dr. Roberts, of Man- chester, it was noted that long exposure lo a lower temper- ature than that which brings about immediate destruction of life produces the same eflect as short exposure to the latter temperature. Thus, though all the Bacteria were killed, with certainty, in the normal fluid, by short exposure to temper- atures at or above 60° C. (140° Fahr.), Cohn observed that, when a flask containing infected normal fluid was heated to 50°-52° C. (122°-125° Fahr.) for only an hour, the conse- quent multiplication of the Bacteria was manifested much earlier than in one which had been exposed for two hours to the same temperature. It appears to be very generally held that the simpler vege- table organisms are deprived of life at temperatures as high as 60° C. (140° Fahr.) ; but it is affirmed by competent ob- servers that Algoi have been found living in hot springs at much higher temperatures, nam.ely, from 168° to 208° Fahr., for which latter surprising fact we have the high authority of Descloiseaux. It is no explanation of these phenomena, but only another mode of stating them, to say that these organ- isms have become " accustomed " to such temperatures. If this degree of heat were absolutely incompatible with the activity of living matter, the plants could no more resist it than they could become " accustomed " to be being made red- hot. (Habit may modify subsidiary, but cannot aifect funda- mental, conditions.1 Recent investigations point to the conclusion that the im- mediate cause of the arrest of vitality, in the first place, and of its destruction, in the second, is the coagulation of certain substances in the protoplasm, and that the latter contains various coagulable matters, which solidify at diff"erent temper- atures. And it remains to be seen how far the death of any form of living matter, at a given temperature, depends on the 1 These were as pure as I could obtain them. It is possible the fluid may have contained an infinitesimal proportion of fixed mineral matter. RESISTANCE TO HEAT AND COLD. 15 destruction of its fundamental substance at that beat, and how far death is brought about by the coagulation of merely accessory compounds. It may be safely said of all those living things which are laro-e enough to enable us to trust the evidence of micro- scopes/ that they are heterogeneous optically, and that their different parts, and especially the surface layer, as contrasted with the interior, differ physically and chemically ; while, in most living things, mere heterogeneity is exchanged for a definite structure, whereby the body is distinguished into visibly diverse parts, which possess different powers or func- tions. Living things which present this visible structure are said to be organized ; and so widely does organization obtain among living beings, that organized and living are not unfre- quently used as if they were terms of coextensive applicabil- ity. This, however, is not exactly accurate, if it be thereby implied that all living things have a visible organization, as there are numerous forms of living matter of which it cannot properly be said that they possess either a definite visible structure or permanently specialized organs : though doubt- less the simplest particle of living matter must possess a highly-complex molecular structure, which is far beyond the reach of vision. The broad distinctions which, as a matter of fact, exist between every known form of living substance and every other component of the material world, justify the separation of the biological sciences from all others. But it must not be ' supposed that the differences between living and not-living matter are such as to bear out the assumption that the forces j at work in the one are different from those which are to be/ e met with in the other. [Considered apart from the phenomena ''■"' "^ of consciousness, the plienomena of life are all dependent upon the working of the same physical and chemical forces as those which are active in the rest of the world. It may' be convenient to use the terms " vitality " and " vital force " to denote the causes of certain great groups of natural opera- 1 In considering the question of the complication of molecular stracture which even the smallest and simplest of living beings may possess, it is "O'cll to recollect that an organic particle totoo of an inch in diameter, in -nhich our best microscopes may be incompetent to reveal the slightest differentiation of parts, may be made up of 1,000,000 particles rsnhoor, of an inch in diameter, while the molecules of matter are probably much less than too^otto of an inch in diameter. Hence in such a body there is ample scope for any amount of com- plexity of molecular structure. 16 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS^, I tions, as we employ the names of " electricity " and " electrical \ force " to denote others ; but it ceases to be proper to do so, if ; such a name implies the absurd assumption that either " elec- . tricity " or "vitality" is an entity playing the part of an effi- i cient cause of electrical or vital phenomena. A mass of living ' protoplasm is simply a molecular machine of great complexity, \ the total results of the working of which, or its vital phenom- i ena, depend, on the one hand, upon its construction, and, on I the other, upon the energy supplied to it ; and to speak of 1 " vitality " as anything but the name of a series of operations I is as if one should talk of the " horologity " of a clocE] Living matter, or protoplasm and the products of its meta- morphosis, may be regarded under four aspects : (1.) It has a certain external and internal form, the laiter being more usually called structure ; (2.) It occupies a certain position in space and in time ; (3.) It is the subject of the operation of certain forces, in virtue of which it undergoes internal changes, modifies exter- nal objects, and is modified by them ; and — (4.) Its form, place, and powers, are the effects of certain causes. In correspondence with these four aspects of its subject, Biology is divisible into four chief subdivisions — I. Moephol- ogt; II. DiSTEiBUTiox ; III. Physiology; IV. JStiology. I. MOEFHOLOGY. So far as living beings have a form and structure, they fall within the province of Anatomy Siud Histology, the latter being merely a name for that ultimate optical analysis of living structure which can be carried out only by the aid of the microscope. And, in so far as the form and structure of any living being- are not constant during the whole of its existence, but undergo a series of changes from the commencement of that existence to its end, living beings have a Development. The history of development is an accuont of the anatomy of a liv- ing being at the successive periods of its existence, and of the manner in which one anatomical stage passes into the next. Finally, the systematic statement and generalization of the facts of Morphology, in such a manner as to arrange liv- ing beings in groups, according to their degrees of likeness, is Taxonomy. HISTOLOGY. 17 The study of Anatomy and Development has brought to light certain generalizations of wide applicability and great importance. 1. It has been said that the great majority of living beings present a very definite structure. Unassisted vision and or- dinary dissection suffice to separate the body of any of the higher animals, or plants, into fabrics of different sorts, which always present the same general arrangement in the same organism, but are combined in different ways in different organisms. The discrimination of these comparatively few fabrics, or tissues, of which organisms are composed, was the first step toward that ultimate analysis of visible structure which has become possible only by the recent perfection of microscopes and of methods of preparation. Histology, which embodies the results of this analysis, shows that every tissue of a plant is composed of more or less modified structural elements, each of which is termed a cell / which cell, in its simplest condition, is merely a spheroidal mass of protoplasm, surrounded by a coat or sac — the cell- wall — which contains cellulose. In the various tissues, these cells may undergo innumerable modifications of form — the protoplasm may become differentiated into a nucleus with its nucleolus, a primordial utricle, and a cavity filled with a wa- tery fluid, and the cell-wall may be variously altered in com- position or in structure, or may coalesce with others. But, however extensive these changes may be, the fact that the tissues are made up of morphologically distinct units — the cells — remains patent. And, if any doubt could exist on the subject, it would be removed by the study of development, which proves that every plant commences its existence as a simple cell, identical in its fundamental characters with the less modified of those cells of which the whole body is composed. But it is not necessary to the morphological unit of the plant that it should be always provided with a cell-wall. Cer- tain plants, such as Protococcus, spend longer or shorter peri- ods of their existence in the condition of a mere spheroid of protoplasm, devoid of any cellulose wall, while, at other times, the protoplasmic body becomes inclosed within a cell-wall, fab- ricated by its superficial layer. Therefore, just as the nucleus, the primordial utricle, and the central fluid, are no essential constituents of the morpho- logical unit of the plant, but represent results of its meta- morphosis, so the cell-wall is equally unessential ; and either the term " cell " must acquire a merely technical significance 18 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. as the equivalent of morphological unit, or some new term must be invented to describe the latter. On the whole, it is probably least inconvenient to modify the sense of the word "cell." The histological analysis of animal tissues has led to sim- ilar results, and to difficulties of terminology of precisely the same character. In the higher animals, however, the modifi- cations which the cells undergo are so extensive that the fact that the tissues are, as in plants, resolvable into an aggrega- tion of morphological units, could never have been established without the aid of the study of development, which proves that the animal, no less than the plant, commences its exist- ence as a simple cell, fundamentally identical with the less modified cells which are found in the tissues of the adult. Though the nucleus is very constant among animal cells, it is not universally present ; and, among the lowest forms of animal life, the protoplasmic mass which represents the mor- phological unit may be, as in the lowest plants, devoid of a nucleus. In the animal the cell- wall never has the character of a shut sac containing cellulose ; and it is not a little diffi- cult, in many cases, to say how much of the so-called " cell- wall " of the animal cell answers to the " primordial utricle " and how much to the proper " cellulose cell-wall " of the vege- table cell. Bat it is certain that in the animal, as in the plant, neither cell-wall nor nucleus is an essential constituent of the cell, inasmuch as bodies which are unquestionably the equivalents of cells — true morphological units — may be mere masses of protoplasm, devoid alike of cell-wall and nucleus. For the whole living world, then, it results : that the mor- phological unit — the primary and fundamental form of life — is merely an individual mass of protoplasm, in which no fur- ther structure is discernible ; that independent living forms may present but little advance on this structure ; and that all the higher forms of life are aggregates of such morphological units or cells variously modified. Moreover, all that is at present known tends to the conclu- sion that, in the complex aggregates of such units of which ail the higher animals and plants consist, no cell has arisen otherwise than by becoming separated from the protoplasm of a preexisting cell ; whence the aphorism, " Omnis cellula e celluldy It may further be added, as a general truth applicable to nucleated cells, that the nucleus rarely undergoes any consid- erable modification, the structures characteristic of the tis- DEVELOPMENT. X9 sues being formed at the expense of the more superficial pro- toplasm of the cells ; and that, when nucleated cells divide, the division of the nucleus, as a rule, precedes that of the whole cell. 2. In the course of its development every cell proceeds, from a condition in which it closely resembles every other cell, through a series of stages of gradually-increasing diver- gence, until it reaches that condition in which it presents the characteristic features of the elements of a special tissue. The development of the cell is, therefore, a gradual progress from the general to the special state. The like holds good of the development of the body as a whole. However complicated one of the higher animals or plants may be, it begins its separate existence under the form of a nucleated cell. This, by division, becomes con- verted into an aggregate of nucleated cells — the parts of this aggregate, following different laws of grow^th and multiplica- tion, give rise to the rudiments of the organs ; and the parts of these rudiments again take on those modes of growth, mul- tiplication, and metamorphosis, which are needful to convert the rudiment into the perfect structure. The development of the organism as a whole, therefore, repeats in principle the development of the cell. It is a prog- ress from a general to a special form, resulting from the grad- ual differentiation of the primitively similar morphological units of which the body is composed. Moreover, when the stages of development of two animals are compared, the number of these stages which are similar to one another is, as a general rule, proportional to the close- ness of the resemblance of the adult forms ; whence it fol- lows that the more closely any two animals are allied in adult structure, the later are their embrj^onic conditions distinguish- able. And this general rule holds for plants no less than for animals. The broad principle, that the form in which the more com- plex living things commence their development is always the same, was first expressed by Harvey in his famous aphorism, " Omne vivum ex ovo^^'^ which was intended simply as a mor- phological generalization, and in no wise implied the rejection of spontaneous generation, as it is commonly supposed to do. Moreover, Harvey's study of the development of the chick led him to promulgate that theory of "epigenesis," in which the doctrine that development is a progress from the general to the special is implicitly contained. 20 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. Caspar F. Wolff furnished further, and indeed conclusive, proof of the truth of the theory of epigenesis ; but, unfortu- nately, the authority of Haller and the speculations of Bonnet led science astray, and it was reserved for Von Baer to put the nature of the process of development in its true light, and to formulate it in his famous law. 3. Development, then, is a process of differentiation by which the primitively similar parts of the living body become more and more unlike one another. This process of differentiation may be effected in several ways: (1.) The protoplasm of the germ may not undergo divi- sion and conversion into a cell aggregate ; but various parts of its outer and inner substance may be metamorphosed di- rectly into those physically and chemically different materials which constitute the body of the adult. This occurs in such animals as the Infusoria, and in such plants as the unicellular A.lgce and Fungi, (2.) The germ may undergo division, and be converted into an aggregate of division masses, or llastomeres, which become cells, and give rise to the tissues by undergoing a metamorphosis of the same kind as that to which the whole body is subjected in the preceding case. The body, formed in either of these ways, may, as a whole, undergo metamorphosis by differentiation of its parts ; and this differentiation may take place without reference to any axis of symmetry, or it may have reference to such an axis. In the latter case, the parts of the body which become dis- tinguishable may correspond on the two sides of the axis (bi- lateral symmetry), or may correspond along several lines paral- lel with the axis (radial symmetry). The bilateral or radial symmetry of the body may be fur- ther complicated by its segmentation, or separation by divi- sions transverse to the axis, into parts, each of which corre- sponds with its predecessor or successor in the series. In the segmented body, the segments may or may not give rise to symmetrically or asymmetrically disposed processes, which are appendages, using that word in its most general sense. And the highest degree of complication of structure, in both animals and plants, is attained by the body when it be- comes divided into segments provided with appendages ; when the segments not only become very different from one another, but some coalesce and lose their primitive distinctness ; and DIFFERENTIATION OF STRUCTURE. 21 when the appendages and the segments into which they are subdivided similarly become diflferentiated and coalesce. It is in virtue of such processes that the flowers of plants, and the heads and limbs of the Arthropoda and of the Ver- tehrata^ among animals, attain their extraordinary diversity and complication of structure. A flower-bud is a segmented body or axis, with a certain number of whorls of appendages ; and the perfect flower is the result of the gradual difi'erentia- tion and confluence of these primitively similar segments and their appendages. The head of an insect or of a crustacean is, in like manner, composed of a number of segments, each with its pair of appendages, which by diff"erentiation and con- fluence are converted into the feelers and variously modified oral appendages of the adult. In some complex organisms, the process of difi"erentiation by which they pass from the condition of aggregated embryo cells to the adult, can be traced back to the laws of growth of the two or more cells into which the embryo cell is divided, each of these cells giving rise to a particular portion of the adult organism. Thus the fertilized embryo cell in thearche- gonium of a fern divides into four cells, one of which gives rise to the rhizome of the young fern, another to its first root- let, while the other two are converted into a placenta-like mass which remains imbedded in the prothallus. The structure of the stem of Chara depends upon the dif- ferent properties of the cells, which are successively derived by transverse division from the apical cell. An internodal cell, which elongates greatly, and does not divide, is suc- ceeded by a nodal cell, which elongates but little, and becomes greatly subdivided ; this by another internodal cell, and so on in regular alternation. In the same way the structure of the stem, in all the higher plants, depends upon the laws which govern the manner of division and of metamorphosis of the apical cells, and of their continuation in the camhiuni layer. In all animals which consist of cell-aggregates, the cells of which the embryo is at first composed arrange themselves by the splitting, or by a process of invagination, of the blas- toderm into two layers, the epihlast and the hypohlast^ be- tween which a third intermediate layer, the mesoblast^ ap- pears ; and each layer gives rise to a definite group of organs in the adult. Thus, in the Vertehrata^ the epiblast gives rise to the cerebro-spinal axis, and to the epidermis and its deriva- tives ; the hypoblast, to the epithelium of the alimentary 22 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. canal and its derivatives ; and the mesoblast, to intermediate structures. The tendency of recent inquiry is to prove that the several layers of the germ evolve analogous organs in in- vertebrate animals, and to indicate the possibility of tracing the several germ-layers back to the blastomeres of the yelk, from the subdivision of which they proceed. It is conceivable that all the forms of life should have pre- sented about the same differentiation of structure, and should have differed from one another by superficial characters, each form passing by insensible gradations into those most like it. In this case Taxonomy^ or the classification of morphological facts, would have had to confine itself to the formation of a serial arrangement, representing the serial gradation of these forms in Nature. It is conceivable, again, that living beings should have dif- fered as widely in structure as they actually do, but that the interval between any two extreme forms should have been filled up by an unbroken series of gradations ; in which case, again, classification could only affect the formation of series — the strict definition of groups would be as impossible as in the former case. As a matter of fact, living beings differ enormously, not only in differentiation of structure, but in the modes in which that differentiation is brought about ; and the intervals be- tween extreme forms are not filled up, in the existing world, by complete series of gradations. Hence it arises that living beings are, to a great extent, susceptible of classification into groups, the members of each group resembling one another, and differing from all the rest, by certain definite peculiarities. No two living beings are exactly alike, but it is a matter of observation that, among the endless diversities of living things, some constantly resemble one another so closely that it is impossible to draw any line of demarkation between them, while they differ only in such characters as are associated with sex. Such as thus closely resemble one another consti- tute a niorphologianl species ; while different morphological species are defined by constant characters which are not merely sexual. The comparison of these lowest groups, or morphological species, with one another, shows that more or fewer of them possess some character or characters in common — some feat- ure in which they resemble one another and differ from all other species — and the group or higher order thus formed is MORPHOLOGICAL GROUPS. 23 a genus. The generic groups thus constituted are susceptible of being arranged in a similar manner into groups of succes- sively higher order, which are known as families^ orders, classes, and the like. The method pursued in the classification of living forms is, in fact, exactly the same as that followed by the maker of an index in working out the heads indexed. In an alphabetical arrangement, the classification may be truly termed a mor- phological one, the object being to put into close relation all those leading words which resemble one another in the arrangement of their letters, that is, in their form, and to keep apart those which difi'er in structure. Headings which begin with the same word, but difi'er otherwise, might be compared to genera with their species ; the groups of words with the same first two syllables, to families ; those with identical first syllables, to orders ; and those with the same initial letter, to classes. But there is this diff'erence between the index and the Taxonomic arrangement of living forms, that in the for- mer there is nothing but an arbitrary relation between the various classes, while in the latter the classes are similarly capable of coordination into larger and larger groups, until all are comprehended under the common definition of living beings. The differences between " artificial " and " natural " clas- sifications are diff'erences in degree, and not in kind. In each case the classification depends upon likeness ; but in an artifi- cial classification some prominent and easilj^-observed feature is taken as the mark of resemblance or dissemblance ; while, in a natural classification, the things classified are arranged ac- cording to the totality of their morphological resemblances, and the features which are taken as the marks of groups are those which have been ascertained by observation to be the indications of many likenesses or unlikenesses. And thus a natural classification is a great deal more than a mere index. It is a statement of the marks of similarity of organization ; of the kinds of structure which, as a matter of experience, are found universally associated together ; and, as such, it fur- nishes the whole foundation for those indications by which conclusions as to the nature of the whole of an animal are drawn from a knowledge of some part of it. When a paleontologist argues from the characters of a bone or a shell to the nature of the animal to which that bone or shell belonged, he is guided by the empirical morphologi- cal laws established by wide observation, that such a kind of 24 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. bone or shell is associated with such and such structural feat- ures in the rest of the body, and no others. And it is these empirical laws which are embodied and expressed in a natural classification. II. DiSTEIBUTIOX. Living beings occupy certain portions of the surface of the earth, inhabiting either the dry land, or the fresh or salt waters; or being competent to maintain their existence in either. In any given locality, it is found that these different media are inhabited by different kinds of living beings ; and that the same medium, at different heights in the air and at different depths in the water, has different living inhabitants. Moreover, t!ie living populations of localities which differ considerably in latitude, and hence in climate, always present considerable differences. But the converse proposition is not true — that is to say, localities which differ in longitude, even if they resemble one another in climate, often have very dis- similar Faunae and Florm. It has been discovered, by careful comparison of local fau- nae and floras, that certain areas of the earth's surface are inhabited by groups of animals and plants which are not found elsewhere, and which thus characterize each of these areas. Such areas are termed Provinces of Distribution. There is no parit}'- between these provinces in extent, nor in the phys- ical configuration of their boundaries ; and, in reference to existing conditions, nothing can appear to be more arbitrary and capricious than the distribution of living beings. The study of distribution is not confined to the present order of Nature ; but, by the help of geology, the naturalist is enabled to obtain clear, though too fragmentary, evidence of the characters of the faunae and florae of antecedent epochs. The re- mains of organisms which are contained in the stratified rocks prove that, in any given part of the earth's surface, the living population of earlier epochs was different from that which now exists in the locality ; and that, on the whole, the difference becomes greater the farther we go back in time. The organic remains which are found in the later Cainozoic deposits of any district are always closely allied to those now found in the province of distribution in which that locality is included ; while in the older Cainozoic the resemblance is less ; and in the Mesozoic, and the Palaeozoic strata, the fossils may be similar to creatures at present living in some other province, or may be altogether unlike any which now exist. DISTRIBUTION IN TIME. 25 In any given locality, the succession of liHng forms may appear to be interrupted by numerous breaks — the associated species in each fossiliferous bed being quite distinct from those above and those below them. But the tendency of all palaeontological investigation is to show that these breaks are only apparent, and arise from the incompleteness of the series of remains which happens to have been preserved in any given locality. As the area over which accurate geological investi- gations have been carried on extends, and as the fossiliferous rocks found in one locality fill up the gaps left in another, so do the abrupt demarkations between the faunas and floras of successive epochs disappear — a certain proportion of the gen- era and even of the species of every period, great or small, being found to be continued for a longer or shorter time into the next succeeding period. It is evident, in fact, that the changes in the living population of the globe which have taken place during its history have been eflected, not by the sud- den replacement of one set of living beings by another, but by a process of slow and gradual introduction of new species, accompanied by the extinction of the older forms. It is a remarkable circumstance that, in all parts of the globe in which fossiliferous rocks have yet been examined, the successive terms of the series of li\4ng forms which have thus succeeded one another are analogous. The life of the Mesozoic epoch is everywhere characterized by the abundance of some groups of species of which no trace is to be found in either earlier or later formations ; and the like is true of the Palaeozoic epoch. Hence it follows, not only that there has been a succession of species, but that the general nature of that succession has been the same all over the globe ; and it is on this ground that fossils are so important to the geologist as marks of the relative age of rocks. The determination of the morphological relations of the species which have thus succeeded one another, is a problem of profound importance and difficulty, the solution of which, however, is already clearly indicated. For, in several cases, it is possible to show that, in the same geographical area, a form iV, which existed during a certain geological epoch, has been replaced by another form B, at a later period ; and that this form B has been replaced, still later, by a third form C. When these forms. A, B, and C, are comparcl together they are found to be organized upon the same plan, and to be very similar even in most of the details of their structure; but B differs from A by a sli2:ht modification of some of its 2 26 THE ANATOMY OF INYERTEBRATED ANIMALS. parts, which icodification is carried to a still greater extent in C. In ether words, A, B, and C, differ from one another in the same fashion as the earlier and later stages of the em- bryo of the same animals differ ; and, in successive epochs, we have the group presenting that progressive specialization which characterizes the development of the individual. Clear evidence that this progressive specialization of structure has actually occurred has as yet been obtained in only a few cases (e. g., Equidce^ Crocodilia)^ and these are confined to the highest and most complicated forms of life ; while it is de- monstrable that, even as reckoned by geological time, the pro- cess must have been exceedingly slow. Among the lower and less complicated forms, the evidence of progressive modification, furnished by ccmiparison of the oldest with the latest forms, is slight, or absent ; and some of these have certainly persisted, wdth very little change, from extremely ancient times to the present day. It is as important to recognize the fact that certain forms of life have thus persisted, as it is to admit that others have undergone progressive modification. It has been said that the successive terms in the series of living forms are analogous in all parts of the globe. But the species which constitute the corresponding or homotaxic terms in the series, in different localities, are not identical. And, though the imperfection of our knowledge at present pre- cludes positive assertion, there is every reason to believe that geographical provinces have existed throughout the period durino: w^hich oro^anic remains furnish us with evidence of the existence of life. The wide distribution of certain Palaeozoic forms does not militate against this view ; for the recent in- vestigations into tlie nature of the deep-sea fauna have shown that numerous Crustacea, £chi7iodermo.ta, and other inver- tebrate animals, have as wide a distribution now as their ana- logues possessed in the Silurian epoch. III. Physiologt. Tlius far, living beings have been regarded mereh' as definite forms of matter, and biology has presented no con- siderations of a different order from those whicli meet the student of mineralogy. But living tilings are not only natural bodies, having a definite form and mode of structure, growth, and development. They arc machines in action ; and, under FUNCTIONS AND ORGANS. 27 this aspect, the phenomena which they present have no par- allel in the mineral world. The actions of living matter are termed its functions ; and these functions, varied as they are, may be reduced to three categories. They are either — (1), functions which affect the material composition of the body, and determine its mass, which is the balance of the proces^ses of waste on the one hand and those of assimilation on the other ; or (2), they are functions which subserve the process of reproduction, which is essentially the detachment of a part endowed with the pow- er of developing into an independent whole ; or (3), they are functions in virtue of which one part of the body is able to exert a direct influence on another, and the body, by its parts or as a whole, becomes a source of molar motion. The first may be termed sustentative^ the second generative, and the third correlative functions. Of these three classes of functions the first two only can be said to be invariably present in living beings, all of which are nourished, grow, and multiply. But there are some forms of life, such as many Fungi^ which are not known to possess any powers of changing their form ; in which the protoplasm exhibits no movements, and reacts upon no stimulus ; and in which any influence which the different parts of the body ex- ert upon one another must be transmitted indirectly from molecule to molecule of the common mass. In most of the lowest plants, however, and in all animals yet known, the body either constantly or temporarily changes its form, either with or without the application of a special stimulus, and thereby modifies the relations of its parts to one another, and of the whole to surrounding bodies ; while, in all the higher animals, the different parts of the body are able to affect, and be affected by one another, by means of a special tissue, termed nerve. Molar motion is effected on a large scale by means of another special tissue, muscle / and the organism is brought into relation with surrounding bodies by means of a third kind of special tissue — that of the sensory organs — by means of which the forces exerted by surrounding bodies are trans- muted into affections of nerve. In the lo^vest forms of life, the functions which have been enumerated are seen in their simplest forms, and they are ex- erted indifferently, or nearly so, by all parts of the proto- plasmic body ; and the like is true of the functions of the body of even the highest organisms, so long as they are in the condition of the nucleated cell, which constitutes the 28 THE ANATOMY OP INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. starting-point of their development. But the first process in that development is the division of the germ into a number of morphological units or blastomeres, which, eventually, give rise to cells ; and, as each of these possesses the same physio- logical functions as the germ itself, it follows that each mor- phological unit is also a physiological unit, and the multicellu- lar mass is strictly a compound organism, made up of a mul- titude of physiologically independent cells. The physiologi- cal activities manifested by the complex whole represent the sum, or rather the resultant, of the separate and independent physiological activities resident in each of the simpler con- stituents of that whole. The morphological changes which the cells undergo in the course of the further development of the organism do not affect their individuality ; and, notwithstanding the modi- fication and confluence of its constituent cells, the adult or- ganism, however complex, is still an aggregate of morphologi- cal units. Nor is it less an aggregate of physiological units, each of which retains its fundamental independence, though that independence becomes restricted in various ways. Each cell, or that element of a tissue which proceeds from the modification of a cell, must needs retain its sustentative functions so long as it grows or maintains a condition of equilibrium ; but the most completely metamorphosed cells show no trace of the generative function, and many exhibit no correlative functions. Contrariwise, those cells of the adult organism which are the unmetamorphosed derivatives of the germ exhibit all the primary functions, not only nourishing themselves and growing, but multiplying, and frequently showing more or less marked movements. Organs are parts of the body which perform particular functions. In strictness, perhaps, it is not quite right to speak of organs of sustentation or generation, each of these functions being necessarily performed by the morphological unit which is nourished or reproduced. What are called the organs of these functions are the apparatuses by which cer- tain operations, subsidiary to sustentation and generation, are carried on. Thus, in the case of the sustentative functions, all those organs mny be said to contribute to these functions wliich are concerned in brinains: nutriment within the reach of the ulti- mate cells, or in removing waste matter from them ; while in the case of the generative function, all those organs contribute to the function whicii produce the cells from which germs are MUSCLE AND NERYE. 29 given off; or help in the evacution, or fertilization, or develop- ment, of these germs. On the other hand, the correlative functions, so long as they are exerted by a simple undifferentiated morphological unit or cell, are of the simplest character, consisting of those modifications of position which can be effected by mere changes in the form or arrangement of the parts of the pro- toplasm, or of those prolongations of the protoplasm which are called pseudopodia or cilia. But, in the higher animals and plants, the movements of the organism and of its parts are brought about by the change of the form of certain tis- sues, the property of which is to shorten in one direction when exposed to certain stimuli. Such tissues are termed contractile ; and, in their most fully developed condition, muscular. The stimulus by which this contraction is natu- rally brought about is a molecular change, either in the sub- stance of the contractile tissue itself, or in some other part of the body ; in which latter case, the motion which is set up in that part of the body must be propagated to the contractile tissue through the intermediate substance of the body. In plants, there seems to be no question that parts which retain a hardly modified cellular structure may serve as channels for the transmission of this molecular motion ; wdiether the same is true of animals is not certain. But, in all the more com- plex animals, a peculiar fibrous tissue — nerve — serves as the agent by w4iich contractile tissue is affected by changes oc- curring elsewhere, and by which contractions thus initiated are coordinated and brought into harmonious combination. While the sustentative functions in the higher forms of life are still, as in the lower, fundamentally dependent upon the powers inherent in all the physiological units which make up the body, the correlative functions are, in the former, deputed to two sets of specially modified units, which constitute the muscular and the nervous tissues. When the different forms of life are compared together as physiological machines, tliey are found to differ as machines of human construction do. In the lower forms, the mechan- ism, though perfectly well adapted to do the work for which it is required, is rough, simple, and weak ; while, in the higher, it is finished, complicated, and powerful. Considered as machines, there is the same sort of difference between a polyp and a horse as there is between a distaff and a spin- ning-jenny. In the progress from the lower to the higher organism, there is a gradual differentiation of organs and of 30 THE ANATOMY OF INTERTEBRATED ANIMALS. functions. Each function is separated into many parts, wbich are severally intrusted to distinct organs. To use the strik- ing phrase of Milne-Edwards, in passing from low to high organisms, there is a division of physiological labor. And exactly the same process is observable in the development of any of the higher organisms ; so that, physiologically as well as morphologically, development is a progress from the gen- eral to the special. Thus far, the physiological activities of living matter have been considered in themselves, and without reference to an}^- thing that may affect them in the world outside the living body. But living matter acts on, and is powerfully affected by, the bodies which surround it; and the study of the in- fluence of the " conditions of existence " thus determined constitutes a most important part of physiolog^^ The sustentative functions, for example, can only be ex- erted under certain conditions of temperature, pressure, and light, in certain media, and with supplies of particular kinds of nutritive matter ; the sufficiency of which supplies, again, is greatly influenced by the competition of other organisms, which, striving to satisfy the same needs, give rise to the passive " struggle for existence." The exercise of the correl- ative functions is influenced by similar conditions, and by the direct conflict with other organisms, which constitutes the ac- tive struggle for existence. And, finally, the generative func- tions are subject to extensive modifications, dependent partly upon what are commonly called external conditions, and part- ly upon wholly unknown agencies. In the lowest forms of life, the only mode of generation at present known is the division of the bodj" into two or more parts, each of which then grows to the size and assumes the form of its parent, and repeats the process of multiplication. This method of multiplication by fission is properly called generation, because the parts which are separated are sev- erally competent to give rise to individual organisms of the same nature as that from which they arose. In many of the lowest organisms the process is modified so far that, instead of the parent dividing into two equal parts, only a small portion of its substance is detached, as a bud, which develops into the likeness of its parent. This is generation by gemination. Generation by fission and by gemmation is not confined to the simplest forms of life, however. On the contrary, both modes of multiplication are AGAMOGENESIS. 31 common not only among plants, but among animals of con- siderable comp]exit3^ The multiplication of flowering plants by bulbs, tliat of annelids by fission, and that of polyps by budding, are well- known examples of these modes of reproduction. In all these cases, the bud or the segment consists of a multitude of more or less metamorphosed cells. But, in other in- stances, a single cell detached from a mass of such undiffer- entiated cells contained in the parental organism is the foun- dation of the new organism, and it is hard to say whether such a detached cell may be more fitly called a bud or a segment — whether the process is more akin to fission or to gemma- tion. In all these cases the development of the new being from the detached germ takes place without the influence of other living matter. Common as the process is in plants and in the lower animals, it becomes rare among the higher animals. In these, the reproduction of the whole organism from a part, in the way indicated above, ceases. At most we find that the cells at the end of an amputated portion of the organism are capable of reproducing the lost part ; in the very highest animals, even this power vanishes in the adult ; and, in most parts of the body, though the undifferentiated cells are capable of multiplication, their progeny grow, not into whole organisms like that of which they form a part, but into ele- ments of the tissues. Throughout almost the whole series of living beings, how- ever, we find concurrently with the process of agamog&nesis, or asexual generation, another method of generation, in which the development of the germ into an organism resembling the parent depends on an influence exerted b}' living matter different from the germ. This is gamogenesis or sexual gen- eration. Looking at the facts broadly, and without reference to many exceptions in detail, it may be said that there is an inverse relation between agamogenetic and gamogenetic re- production. In the lowest organisms gamogenesis has not yet been observed, while in the highest agamogenesis is ab- sent. In many of the lower forms of life agamogenesis is the common and predominant mode of reproduction, while gamo- genesis is exceptional ; on the contrary, in many of the high- er, while gamogenesis is the rule, agamogenesis takes place exceptionally. In its simplest condition, which is termed ^^ conjugation^'* sexual generation consists in the coalescence of two similar 32 THE ANATOMY OF IXTERTEBRATED ANIMALS. masses of protoplasmic matter, derived from dijGferent parts of the same organism, or from two organisms of the same species, and the single mass which results from the fusion develops into a new organism. In the majority of cases, however, there is a marked mor- phological ditference between the two factors in the process, and then one is called the raale, and the other the female, element. The female element is relatively large, and under- goes but little change of form. In all the higher plants and animals it is a nucleated coll, to which a greater or less amount of nutritive material, constituting a food-yelk, may be added. The male element, on the other hand, is relatively small. It may be conveyed to the female element by an outgrowth of the wall of its cell, which is short in many AlgcB and Fungi, but becomes an immensely elongated tubular filament, in the case of the pollen-cell of flowering plants. But, more com- monly, the protoplasm of the male cell becomes converted into rods or filaments, which usually are in active vibratile movement, and sometimes are propelled by num.erous cilia. Occasionally, however, as in manv JSTeinatoidea and Arthro- poclci, they are devoid of mobility. The manner in which the contents of the pollen-tube affect the embryo cell in flowering plants is unknown, as no perforation through, which the contents of the pollen-tube may pass, so as actually to mix with the substance of the em- bryo cell, has been discovered ; and there is the same diffi- culty with respect to the conjugative processes of some of the Cryptogennia. But in the great majority of plants, and in all animals, there can be no doubt that the substance of the male element actually mixes with that of the female, so that, in all these cases, the sexual process remains one of con- jugation ; and impregnation is the physical admixture of pro- toplasmic matter derived from two sources, which may be either different parts of the same organism, or different organ- isms. The effect of impregnation appears in all cases to be that the impregnated protoplasm tends to divide into portions (blcistomeres), which may remain united as a single cell-aggre- gate, or some or all of which may become separate organ- isms. A longer or shorter period of rest, in many cases, intervenes between the act of impregnation and the com- mencement of the process of division. As a general rule, the female cell, which directly receives GAMOGENESIS. 33 the influence of the male, is that which undergoes division and eventual development into independent germs ; but there are some plants, such as the FloridecE, in which this is not the case. In these, the protoplasmic body of the trichogyne, which unites with the spermatozooids, does not undergo division itself, but transmits some influence to adjacent cells, in virtue of which they become subdivided into independent germs or spores. There is still much obscurity respecting the reproductive processes of the Infusoria ; but, in theVorticellidce, it would appear that conjugation merely determines a condition of the whole organism, which gives rise to the division of the endo- plast or so-called nucleus, by which germs are thrown ofl"; and, if this be the case, the process would have some analogy to what takes place in the FloridecB. On the other hand, the process of conjugation by which two distinct Dlporpce combine into that extraordinary double organism, the Diplozoon paradoxum, does not directly give rise to germs, but determines the development of the sexual organs in each of the conjugated individuals; and the same process takes place in a large number of the Infusoria,, if what are supposed to be male sexual elements in them are really such. The process of impregnation in the Floridem is remark- ably interesting, from its bearing upon the changes which fecundation is known to produce upon parts of the parental organism other than the ovum, even in the highest animals and plants. The nature of the influence exerted by the male element upon the female is wholly unknown. No morphological dis- tinction can be drawn between those cells which are capable of reproducing the whole organism without impregnation and those which need it, as is obvious from what happens in insects, where eggs which ordinarily require impregnation, exceptionally, as in many moths, or regularh^, as in the case of the drones among bees, develop without impregnation. Even in the higher animals, such as the fowl, the earlier stages of division of the germ may take place without im- pregnation. In fact, generation may be regarded as a particular case of cell-multiplication, and impregnation simply as one of tlie many conditions which may determine or affect that process. In the lowest organisms the simple protoplasmic ma^s divides, and each part retains all the physiological properties of the 34 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. whole, and consequently constitutes a germ whence the whole body can be reproduced. In more advanced organisms each of the multitude of cells into which the embryo cell is converted at first, probably retains all, or nearly all, the physiological capabilities of the whole, and is capable of serving as a re- productive germ ; but, as division goes on, and many of the cells which result from division acquire special morphological and phj'siological properties, it seems not improbable that they, in proportion, lose their more general characters. In propor- tion, for example, as the tendency of a giv^en cell to become a muscle-cell or a cartilage-cell is more marked and definite, it is readily conceivable that its primitive capacity to reproduce the whole organism should be reduced, though it might not be altogether abolished. If this view is well based, the power of reproducing the whole organism would be limited to those cells which had acquired no special tendencies, and conse- quently had retained all the powers of the primitive cell in which the organism commenced its existence. The more ex- tensively diffused such cells were, the more generalh' might multiplication by budding or fission take place ; the more lo- calized, the more limited would be the parts of the org-anism in which such a process would take place. And, even w^here such cells occurred, their development or non-development might be connected with conditions of nutrition. It depends en the nutriment supplied to the female larva of a bee wheth- er it shall become a neuter or a sexually perfect female ; and the sexual perfection of a large proportion of the internal parasites is similarly dependent upon their food, and perhaps on other conditions, such as the temperature of the medium in which they live. Thus the gradual disappearance of aga- mo2:enesis in the hig-her animals would be related witli that increasing specialization of function which is their essential characteristic ; and, when it ceases to occur altogether, it may be supposed that no cells are left which retain unmodified the powers of the primitive embryo cell. The organism is like a society in which every one is so engrossed by his spe- cial business that he has neither time nor inclination to marrv. Even the female elements in the highest organisms, little as they differ to all appearance from undifferentiated cells, and though they are directly derived from epithelial cells which have undergone very little modification from the condi- tion of blastomeres, are incapable of full development unless they are subjected to the influence of the male element, which may, as Caspar Wolff suggested, be compared to a kind of THE ALTERNATION OF GENERATIONS. 35 nutriment. But it is a living nutriment, in some respects comparable to that which would be supplied to an animal kept alive by transfusion, and its molecules transfer to the impregnated embryo cell all the special characters of the or- ganism to w^hich it belonged. The tendency of the germ to reproduce the characters of its immediate parents, combined, in the case of sexual genera- tion, with the tendency to reproduce the characters of the male, is the source of the singular phenomena of hereditary transmission. No structural modification is so slight, and no functional peculiarity is so insignificant in either parent, that it may not make its appearance in the offspring. But the transmission of parental peculiarities depends greatly upon the manner in w^hich they have been acquired. Such as have arisen naturally, and have been hereditary through many an- tecedent generations, tend to appear in the progeny with great force ; while artificial modifications — such, for example, as result from mutilation — are rarely, if ever, transmitted. Circumcision through innumerable ancestral generations does not appear to have reduced that rite to a mere formality, as it should have done if the abbreviated prepuce had become hereditary in the descendants of Abraham ; while modern lambs are born with long tails, notwithstanding the long-con- tinued practice of cutting those of every generation short. And it remains to be seen whether the supposed hereditary transmission of the habit of retrieving among dogs is really what it seems at first sight to be ; on the other side, Brown- Sequard's case of the transmission of artificially-induced epi- lepsy in Guinea-pigs is undoubtedly very weighty. Although the germ always tends to reproduce, directly or indirectly, the organism from which it is derived, the result of its development differs somewhat from the parent. Usually the amount of variation is insignificant ; but it may be con- siderable, as in the so-called " sports ; " and such variations, whether useful or useless, may be transmitted with great te- nacity to the offspring of the subjects of them. In many plants and animals which multiply both asexually and sexually there is no definite relation between the aga- mogenetic and the gamogenetic phenomena. The organism may multiply asexually before, or after, or concurrently with, the occurrence of sexual generation. But in a great many of the lower organisms, both animal and vegetable, the organism (A) which results from the im- pregnated germ produces offspring only agamogenetically. 36 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. It thus gives rise to a series of independent organisms (B, B, B, . . .), which are more or less different from A, and which sooner or later acquire generative organs. From their impregnated germs A is reproduced. The process tlius de- scribed is what has been termed the " alternation of genera- tions " under its simplest form — for example, as it is exhibited by the ScdpcB, In more complicated cases the independent organisms which correspond with B may give rise agamo- ^eaetically to others (BJ, and these to others (B^), and so on (e. g., Aphis). Bat, however long the series, a tinal term appears which develops sexual organs, and reproduces A. The " alternation of generations " is, therefore, in strictness, an alternation of asexual with sexual generation, in which the products of the one process differ from those of the other. The Hi/drozoa offer a complete series of gradations be- tween those cases in which the term B is represented by a free, self-nourishing organism (e. g., CyanfEO), through those in which it is free but unable to feed itself ( (Jalycophoridce), to those in which the sexual elements are developed in bodies which resemble free zooids, but are never detached, and are mere generative organs of the body on which they are devel- oped ( (7i> rdi/loph ra) . In the last case the " individual " is the total product of the development of the impregnated embryo, all the parts of which remain in material continuity with one another. The multiplication of mouths and stomachs in a Cordylophora no more makes it an aggregation of different individuals than the multiplication of segments and legs in a centipede con- verts that Arthropod into a compound animal. The Cordy- lophora is a differentiation of a whole into many parts, and the use of any terminology which implies that it results from the coalescence of many parts into a whole is to be depre- cated. In Cordylophora the generative organs are incapable of maintaining a separate existence ; but in nearly-allied Hydro- zoa the unquestionable homologues of these organs become free zooids, in many cases capable of feeding and growing, and developing the sexual elements only after they have un- dergone considerable changes of form. Morphologically, the swarm of 3fedusrje thus set free from a Hydrozoon are as much organs of the latter as the multitudinous pinnules of a Comatida, with their genital glands, are organs of the Echi- noderm. Morphologically, therefore, the equivalent of the CAUSES OF THE PflENOMEXA OF LIFE. 37 individual Comatula is the Hydrozoic stock plus all the 3Ie- dusce which proceed from it. No doubt it sounds paradoxical to speak of a million of A.phides^ for example, as parts of one morphological individ- ual ; but beyond the momentary shock of the paradox no harm is done. On the other hand, if the asexual Aphides are held to be individuals, it follows, as a logical consequence, not only that all the polyps on a Cordylophora tree are " feeding individuals," and all the genital sacs " generative individuals," while the stem must be a " stump individual," but that the eyes and legs of a lobster are "ocular" and " locouiotive individuals." And this conception is not only somewhat more paradoxical than the other, but suggests a conception of the origin of the complexity 01 animal struct- ure which is wholly inconsistent with fact. IV. JEtiologt. Morphology, distribution, and physiology, investigate and determine the facts of biology. ^Etiology has for its object the ascertainment of the causes of these facts, and the ex- planation of biological phenomena, by showing that they con- stitute particular cases of general physical laws. It is hardly needful to say that aetiology, as thus conceived, is in its in- fancy, and that the seething controversies, to which the attempt to found this branch of science made in the " Origin of Species " has given rise, cannot be dealt with in this place. At most, the general nature of the problems to be solved, and the course of inquiry needful for their solution, may be indi- cated. In any investigation into the causes of the phenomena of life, the first question which arises is. Whether we have any knowledge, and if so, what knowledge, of the origin of living matter ? In the case of all conspicuous and easily-studied organ- isms, it has been obvious, since the study of Nature began, that living beings arise by generation from living beings of a like kind ; but, before the latter part of the seventeenth cen- tury, learned and unlearned alike shared the conviction that this rule was not of universal application, and that multitudes of the smaller and more obscure organisms were produced by the fermentation of not-living, and especially of putrefying dead matter, by what was then termed generatio cequlvoca or spontanea^ and is now called ahiogenesis. Redi showed 38 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. that the general belief was erroneous in a multitude of in- stances ; Spallanzani added largely to the list ; while the in- vestigations of the scientific helminthologists of the present century have eliminated a further category of cases in which it was possible to doubt the applicability of the rule " omne viviun e vivo'''* to the more complex organisms which consti- tute the present fauna and flora of the earth. Even the most extravagant supporters of abiogenesis at the present day do not pretend that organisms of higher rank than the lowest Fungi and Protozoa are produced otherwise than by genera- tion from preexisting organisms. But it is pretended that Bacteria, Torula^, certain Fungi, and *' Monads," are de- veloped under conditions which render it impossible that these organisms should have proceeded directly from living matter. The experimental evidence adduced in favor of this prop- osition is always of one kind, and the reasoning on which the conclusion that abiogenesis occurs is based may be stated in the following form : All living matter is killed by being heated to n degrees. The contents of a vessel, the entry of germs from without into which is prevented, have been heated to n degrees. Therefore, all living matter which may have existed there- in has been killed. But living Bacteria, etc., have appeared in these contents subsequently to their being heated. Therefore, they have been formed abiogenetically. No objection can be taken to the logical form of this rea- soning, but it is obvious that its applicability to any particu- lar case depends entirely upon the validity, in that case, of the first and second propositions. Suppose a fluid to be full of Bacteria in active motion, what evidence have we that they are killed when that fluid is heated to n degrees ? There is but one kind of conclusive evidence, namely, that from that time forth no living Bacteria make their appearance in the liquid, supposing it to be prop- erly protected from the intrusion of fresh Bacteria. The only other evidence, that, for example, which may be fur- nished by the cessation of the motion of the Bacteria, and such slight changes as our microscopes permit us to observe in their optical characters, is simply presumptive evidence of death, and no more conclusive than the stillness and paleness of a man in a swoon are proof that he is dead. And the caution is the more necessary in the case of Bacteria, since ABIOGENESIS. 39 tnany of them naturally pass a considerable part of their ex- istence in a condition in which the)^ show no marks of life whatever save growth and multiplication. If indeed it could be proved that, in cases which are not open to doubt, living matter is always and invariably killed at precisely the same temperature, there might be some ground for the assumption that, in those which are obscure, death must take place under the same circumstances. But what are the facts? It has already been pointed out that, leaving Bacteria aside, the range of high temperatures be- tween the lowest, at which some living things are certainly killed, and the highest, at which others certainly live, is rather more than 100° Fahr., that is to say, between 104° Fahr. and 208° Fahr. It makes no sort of difference to the argument how living beings have come to be able to bear such a tem- perature as the last mentioned ; the fact that they do so is sufficient to prove that, under certain conditions, such a tem- perature is not sufficient to destroy life.* Thus it appears that there is no ground for the assumption that all living matter is killed at some given temperature be- tween 104° and 208° Fahr. No experimental evidence that a liquid may be heated to n degrees, and yet subsequently give rise to living organisms, is of the smallest value as proof that abiogenesis has taken place, and for two reasons : Firstly, there is no proof that organisms of the kind in question are dead, except their per- manent incapacity to grow and reproduce their kind ; and, secondly, since we know that conditions may largely modify the power of resistance of such organisms to heat, it is far more probable that such conditions existed in the experiment in question, than that the organisms were generated afresh out of dead matter. Not only is the kind of evidence adduced in favor of abiogenesis logically insufficient to furnish proof of its occur- rence, but it may be stated, as a well-based induction, that the more careful the investigator, and the more complete his mastery over the endless practical difficulties which surround experimentation on this subject, the more certain are his ex- periments to give a negative result ; while positive results are no less sure to crown the efforts of the clumsy and the careless. 1 Messrs. Dallinger and Drysdale have recently sho\%Ti ffood grounds for belie v'ing that the germs of some Monads are not destroyed dj exposure to a temperature of 280° Fahr. or even 300° Fahr, 40 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBKATED ANIMALS. It is argued that a belief in abiogenesis is a necessary corollary from the doctrine of Evolution. This may be true of the occurrence of abiogenesis at some time; but if the present day, or any recorded epoch of geological time, be in question, the exact contrary holds good. If _all living beings have been evolved from preexisting forms of life, it is enough^ that a single particle of living protoplasm should once have appeared on the globe, as the result of no matter what agency. In the eyes of a consistent evolutionist, any further indepen- dent formation of protoplasm would be sheer waste. The production of living matter since the time of its first appearance, only by way of biogenesis, implies that the spe- cific forms of the lower kinds of life have undergone but little change in the course of geological time, and this is said to be inconsistent with the doctrine of evolution. But, in the first place, the fact is not inconsistent with the doctrine of evolu- tion properly understood, that doctrine being perfectly con- sistent with either the progression, the retrogression, or the stationary condition, of any particular species for indefinite periods of time ; and, secondl}^ if it were, it would be so much the worse for the doctrine of evolution, inasmuch as it is un- questionably true that certain, even highly-organized, forms of life have persisted without any sensible change for very long periods. The Terehratula psittacea of the present day, for example, is not distinguishable from that of the Cretaceous epoch, while the highly-organized Teleostean fish, JBeryx^ of the Chalk, differed only in minute specific characters from that which now lives. Is it seriously suggested that the ex- isting lerehratulcE and ISeryces are not the lineal descendants of their Cretaceous ancestors, but that their modern repre- sentatives have been independently developed from primordial germs in the interval ? But if this is too fantastic a sugges- tion for grave consideration, why are we to believe that tbe Glohigerince of the present day are not lineally descended from the Cretaceous forms ? And, if their unchanged genera- tions have succeeded one another for all the enormous time represented by the deposition of the Chalk and that of the Tertiary and Quaternary deposits, what difficulty is there in supposing that they may not have persisted unchanged for a greatly longer period ? The fact is, that at the present moment there is not a shadow of trustworthy direct evidence that abiogenesis does take place, or has taken place, within the period during which the existence of life on the globe is recorded. But it ORIGIN OF SPECIES. 41 need hardly be pointed out that the fact does not in the, slightest degree interfere with any conclusion that may be i^ nr, arrived at, deductively, from other considerations that, at some time or other, abiogenesis must have taken place.^ If the hypothesis of evolution is true, living matter must have arisen from not-living matter ; for, by the hypothesis, the condition of the globe was at one time such that living matter could not have existed in it,^ life being entirely in- compatible with the gaseous state. But, living matter once originated, there is no necessity for another origination, since the hypothesis postulates the unlimited, though perhaps not indefinite, modifiability of such matter. Of the causes which have led to flie origination of living matter, then, it may be said that we know absolutely nothing. But postulating the existence of living matter endowed with that power of hereditary transmission, and with that tendency to vary which is found in all such matter, Mr. Darwin has shown good reasons for believing that the interaction betw^een living matter and surrounding conditions, which results in the survival of the fittest, is sufficient to account for the gradual evolution of plants and animals from their simplest to their most complicated forms, and for the known phe- nomena of Morphology, Physiology, and Distribution. Mr. Darw^in has further endeavored to give a physical explanation of hereditary transmission by his hypothesis of Pangenesis ; while he seeks for the principal, if not the only cause of variation in the influence of changing condi- tions. It is on this point that the chief divergence exists among those who accept the doctrine of evolution in its general outlines. Three views may be taken of the causes of varia- tion : a. In virtue of its molecular structure, the organism may tend to vary. This variability may either be indefinite, or may be limited to certain directions by intrinsic conditions. In the former case, the result of the struggle for existence would be the survival of the fittest among an indefinite number of varieties ; in the latter case, it would be the survival of the fittest among a certain set of varieties, the 1 It makes no difference if we adopt Sir TV. Thomson's hvpothesis, and suppose that the germs of living things have been transported to our globe from some other, seeing that there is as much reason for supposing that all stellar and planetary components of the universe are or have been gaseous, as that the earth has passed through this stage. 42 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. nature and number of which would be predetermined by the molecular structure of the organism. h. The organism may have no intrinsic tendency to vary, but variation may be brought about by the influence of con- ditions external to it. And in this case, also, the variability induced may be either indefinite or defined by intrinsic limi- tation. c. The two former cases may be combined, and variation may to some extent depend upon intrinsic, and to some ex- tent upon extrinsic, conditions. At present it can hardly be said that such evidence as would justify the positive adoption of any one of these views exists. If all living beings have come into existence by the gradual modification, through a long series of generations, of a pri- mordial living matter, the phenomena of embryonic develop- ment ought to be explicable as particular cases of the general law of hereditary transmission. On this view, a tadpole is first a fish, and then a tailed amphibian, provided with both gills and lungs, before it becomes a frog, because tlie frog was the last term in a series of modifications whereby some ancient fish became a urodele amphibian; and the urodele amphibian became an anurous amphibian. In fact, the de- velopment of the embryo is a recapitulation of the ancestral history of the species. If this be so, it follows that the development of any organism should furnish the key to its ancestral history ; and the attempt to decipher the full pedigree of organisms from so much of the family history as is recorded in their develop- ment has given rise to a special branch of biological specula- tion, termed pliylogeny. In practice, however, the reconstruction of the pedigree of a group from the developmental history of its existing mem- bers is fraught with difficulties. It is highly probable that the series of developmental stages of the individual organism never presents more than an abbreviated and condensed sum- mary of ancestral conditions ; while this summary is often strangely modified by variation and adaptation to conditions ; and it must be confessed that, in most cases, we can do little better than guess what is genuine recapitulation of ancestral forms, and what is the effect of comparatively late adapta- tion. The only perfectly safe foundation for the doctrine of evolu- tion lies in the historical, or rather archagological, evidence PHYLOGENY. 43 that particular organisms have arisen by the gradual modifi- cation of their predecessors, which is furnished by fossil remains. That evidence is daily increasing in amount and in weight ; and it is to be hoped that the comparison of the actual pedigree of these organisms with the phenomena of tbeir development may furnish some criterion by which the validity of phylogenetic conclusions, deduced from the facts of embryology alone, may be satisfactorily tested. * " ' t CHAPTER I. I. THE DISTINCTIVE CHAEACTERS OF ANIMALS. The more complicated forms of the living things, the general characters of which have now been discussed, appear to be readily distinguishable into widely-separated groups, animals, and plants. The latter have no power of locomo- tion, and only rarely exhibit any distinct movement of their parts when these are irritated, mechanically or otherwise. They are devoid of any digestive cavity; and the matters which serve as their nutriment are absorbed in the gaseous and fluid state. Ordinary animals, on the contrary, not only possess conspicuous locomotive activit}^, but their parts readily alter their form or position when irritated. Their nutriment, consisting of other animals or of plants, is taken in the solid form into a digestive cavity. But even without descending to the very lowest forms of animals and plants, we meet with facts which weaken the force of these apparently broad distinctions. Among animals, a coral or an oyster is as incapable of locomotion as an oak; arid a tape-worm feeds by imbibition and not by the ingestion of solid matter. On the other hand, the Sensitive-Plant and the Sundew exhibit movements on irritation, and the recent observations of Mr. Darwin and others leave little doubt that the so-called " insectivorous plants " really digest and assimi- late the nutritive matters contained in the living animals which they catch and destroy. All the higher animals are dependent for the protein compounds which they contain upon other animals or upon plants. They are unable to man- ufacture protein out of simpler substances ; and, although positive proof is wanting that this incapacity extends to all animals, it may safely be assumed to exist in all those forms of animal life which take in solid nutriment, or which live parasitically on other animals or plants, in situations in which they are provided with abundant supphes of protein in a dissolved state. THE DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERS OF ANIMALS. 45 The great majority of the higher plants, on the contrary, are able to manufacture protein when supplied with carbonic acid, ammoniacal salts, water, and sundry mineral phosphates and sulphates, obtaining the carbon which they require by the decomposition of the carbonic acid, the oxygen of which is disengaged. One essential factor in the performance of this remarkable chemical process is the chlorophyll which these plants contain, and another is the sun's light. Certain animals {^Infusoria, Coelenterata, TarhellaricL) possess chlorophyll, but there is no evidence to show what part it plays in their economy. Some of the higher plants when parasitic, and a great group of the lower plants, the Fungi (which may be parasitic or not), are, however, devoid of chlorophyll, and are consequently totally unable to derive the carbon which they need from carbonic acid. Nevertheless they are sharply distinguished from animals, inasmuch as they are still, for the most part, manufacturers of protein. Thus such a Fungus as Penicillium is able to fabricate all the con- stituents of its body out of ammonium tartrate, sulphate, and phosphate, dissolved in water (see siqyra, p. 14, note) ; and the yeast-plant flourishes and multiplies with exceeding rapid- ity in water containing sugar, ammonium tartrate, potassium phosphate, calcium phosphate, and magnesium sulphate. Nevertheless, the experiments of Mayer have shown that when peptones are substituted for the ammonium tartrate, the nutrition of the yeast-plant is favored instead of being impeded. So that it would seem that the yeast-plant is able to take in protein compounds and assimilate them, as if it were an animal ; and there can be no reasonable doubt that many parasitic Fungi, such as the Botrytis Bassiana of the silk-worm caterpillar, the Empusa of the house-fly, and, very probably, the Peronospora of the potato-plant, directly as- similate the protein substances contained in the bodies of the plants and animals which they infest ; nor is it clear that these Fungi are able to maintain themselves upon less fully elaborated nutriment. Cellulose, amyloid, and saccharine compounds were former- ly supposed to be characteristically vegetable products ; but cellulose is found in the tests of Ascidians; and amyloid and saccharine matters are of very wide, if not universal, occur- rence in animals. And on taking a comprehensive survey of the whole ani- mal and vegetable w^orlds, the test of locomotion breaks down as completely as does that of nutrition. For it is the rule 46 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. rather than the exception among the lowest plants, that at one stage or other of their existence they should be actively locomotive, their motor organs being usually cilla^ altogether similar in character and function to the motor organs of the lowest animals. Moreover, the protoplasmic substance of the body in many of these plants exhibits rhythmically pulsating spaces or contractile vacuoles of the same nature as those characteristic of so many animals. No better illustration of the impossibility of drawing any sharply-defined distinction between animals and plants can be found than that which is supplied by the history of what are commonly termed '"Monads," The name of "Monad"* has been commonly applied to minute free or fixed, rounded or oval bodies, provided with one or more long cilia {flagella), and usually provided with a nucleus and a contractile vacuole. Of such bodies, all of which would properly come under the old group of Motiadi- dcBy the history of a few has been completely worked out ; and the result is that, while some (e. g., Chlamydomonas, zoospores of Peronospora and Coleochcete) are locomotive conditions of indubitable plants, others {Hadiolaria, Nocti- lucci) are embryonic conditions of as indubitable animals. Yet others (zoospores of 3Iyxomyc€tes) are embryonic forms of organisms which appear to be as much animals as plants ; inasmuch as in one condition they take in solid nutriment, and in another have the special morphological, if not physio- logical peculiarities of plants; while, lastly, in the case of such monads as those recently so carefully studied by Messrs. Dallinger and Drysdale, the morphological characters of which are on the whole animal, while their mode of nutrition is un- known, it is impossible to say whether they should be regarded as animals or as plants. Thus, traced down to their lowest terms, the series of plant forms gradually lose more and more of their distinctive vegetable features, while the series of animal forms part with more and more of their distinctive animal characters, and the two series converge to a common term. Thfi most character- istic morphological peculiarity of the plant is the investment of each of its component cells by a sac, the walls of which contain cellulose, or some closely analogous compound ; and - 0. F. Muller, " Historia Vermium," 1773. " Vermis inconspicuus, sim- plicissimus, pellucidus, punctiformis." MORPHOLOGICAL DIFFERENTIATION. 47 the most characteristic physiological peculiarity of the plant is its power of manufacturing protein from chemical com- i pounds of a less complex nature. The most characteristic morphological peculiarity of the i animal is the absence of any such cellulose investment/ The ' most characteristic physiological peculiarity of the animal is its want of power to manufacture protein out of simpler compounds. The great majority of living things are at once referable to one of the two categories thus defined ; but there are some in which the presence of one or other characteristic mark cannot be ascertained, and others which appear at different periods of their existence to belong to different categories. n. THE MOEPHOLOGICAL DIFFEEEXTIATION OF A:NIMALS. The simplest form of animal life imaginable would be a protoplasmic body, devoid of motility, maintaining itself by the ingestion of such proteinaceous, fatty, amyloid, and min- eral matters as might be brought into contact with it by ex- ternal agencies ; and increasing by simple extension of its mass. But no animal of this degree of simplicity is known to exist. The very humblest animals with which we are ac- quainted exhibit contractility, and not only increase in size, but, as they grow, divide, and thus undergo multiplication. In the simplest known animals — the Protozoa — the proto- plasmic substance of the body does not become differentiated into discrete nucleated masses or cells, which by their meta- morphosis give rise to the different tissues of which the adult body is composed. And, in the low^est of the Protozoa^ the body has neither a constant form nor any further distinction of parts than a greater density of the peripheral, as com- pared with the central, part of the protoplasm. The first steps in complication are the appearance of one or more rhythmically contractile vacuoles, such as are found in some of the lower plants ; and the segregation of part of the in- 1 No analysis of the substance composing the cysts in -which so many of the Protozoa inclose themselves temporarily has yet been made. But it is not im- probable that it may be analogous to cliitin /"and, if so, it is 's\-ortby of remark that, though cbitin is a nitrogenous body, it readily yields a substance ajipar- ently identical with cellulose when heated with the double hyposulphite of copper and ammonia. It is possible, therefore, that the difference between the chitinous investment of an animal and the cellulose investment of a plant may depend upon the proportion of nitrogenous matter which is present in each case in addition to the chitiu. 48 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. terlor protoplasm as a rounded mass, the " endoplast " or " nucleus." Other Protozoa advance further and acquire permanent locomotive organs. These may be developed only on one part of the surface of the body, which may be modified into a special organ for their support. In some, a pedicle of attachment is formed, and the body may acquire a dense envelope {Infusoria), or secrete an internal skeleton of calcareous or silicious matter {Forarninifera, Itadiolaria), or fabricate such a skeleton by gluing together extraneous par- ticles [Forambiifera). A mouth and gullet, with an anal aperture, may be formed, and the permeable soft central portion of the protoplasm may be so limited as to give rise to a virtual alimentary tract be- tween these two apertures. The contractile vacuole may be developed into a complicated system of canals (Paramceci- um)y and the endoplast may take on more and more definite- ly the characters of a reproductive organ, that is, may be the focus of origin of germs capable of reproducing the individ- ual ( Vorticella), In fact, rudiments of all the chief system of organs of the higher animals, with the exception, more or less doubtful, of the nervous, are thus sketched out in the Protozoa, just as the organs of the higher plants are sketched out in Cauler]}a, In the Metazoa, which constitute the rest of the animal kingdom, the animal, in its earliest condition, is a protoplas- mic mass with a nucleus — is, in short, a Protozoon. But it never acquires the morphological complexity of its adult state by the direct metamorphosis of the protoplasmic matter of this nucleated body — the ovum — into the different tissues. On the contrary, the first step in the development of all the Metazoa is the conversion of the single nucleated body into an a arous^ animals. Finally, when development takes place within the body of the parent, the foetus may receive nourishment from the latter by means of an apparatus termed a placenta, by which an exchange between the parental and foetal blood is readily effected. Examples of placentas are found not only in the higher mammals, but in some Plagiostome fishes and among the Tunicata, In many insects and in the higher Vertebrates, the em- bryo acquires a special protective envelope, the amnion^ which is thrown off at birth ; while, in many Vertebrates, another foetal appendage, the allantois, subserves the respi- ration and nutrition of the foetus. The strange phenomena included under the head of the "Alternation of Generations," and which result from the di- vision, by budding or otherwise, of the embryo which leaves the egg, into a succession of independent zooids, only the last of which acquires sexual organs, have already been gener- ally discussed. IV. — THE DISTEIBUTIOK^ OF ANIMALS. The distribution of animals has to be considered under two points of view : first, in respect of the present condi- tion of Nature ; and secondly, in respect of past conditions. The first is commonly termed Geo<^raphical, the second Geological, or JPaleo7itological, Distribution. A little con- * As eggs capable of development are alive, this terminology is etymologi- cally bad ; and ovovivi parous is particularly objectionable, as all animals bring forth live eggs, or that which proceeds from them. But, as understood to ap- ply to animals which lay esrgs, to those in which the eggs are hatched within the interior of the body without any special fcetal nutritive apparatus, and to those in which the young are provided with such an apparatus, it has a certdn convenience. 68 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBKATED ANIMALS. sideration, however, will show that this classification of the facts of distribution is essentially faulty, inasmuch as many of the phenomena included under the second head are of the same order as those comprehended under the first. Zoological Distiibution comprehends all the facts which relate to the occurrence of animals upon the earth's surface throughout the time during which animal life has existed on the globe. Therefore it embraces : First, Zoological Chronology^ or the duration and order of succession of living forms in time ; and — Secondly, Zoological Geography^ or the distribution of life on the earth's surface at any given epoch. What is commonly termed Geographical Distribution is simply that distribution which obtains at the present epoch ; but it is obvious that, at any given moment in their past his- tory, animals must have had some sort of geographical distri- bution ; and considerable acquaintance with the nature of that distribution has now been obtained for all the epochs, the nature of the living population of which has been revealed by fossil remains. I do not propose to deal at length with either branch of distribution in this place, but a few broad truths which have been established may be mentioned. Geographical Distribution at the Present Epoch. — The fauna of the deep sea (below five hundred fathoms) has been shown, by the investigations of Wyville Thomson and his associates of the Challenger, to present a striking general uni- formity (in all parts of the world hitherto explored, in corre- spondence with the general uniformity) of conditions at such depths. With respect to the surface of the sea, the observations of the same naturalists tend to establish a like uniformity of the great types of foraminiferal life throughout the tropical and temperate zones — with a diminution in the abundance of that life toward the arctic and antarctic regions, where it appears to be replaced by Hadiolaria and Diatomaceous plants. With regard to higher organisms, the oceanic Ilydrozoa and the Ctenophora are undoubtedly very widely spread. It is probable that they attain their maximum development in warm seas, though the know^n facts are insufficient for the definite conclusion. Sagitta and Appenclicularia, with many genera of Copepoda^ Crustacea, and Pteropoda, are of world- wide distribution ; and it is at present doubtful whether any well-marked provinces of the ocean can be defined by the oc- MARINE DISTRIBUTION. 69 currence of purely pelagic animals. On the other hand, shal- low-water marine animals fall into assemblages characteristic of definite areas or provinces of distribution — that is to say, though many species have a world-wide distribution, others occur only in particular localities, and certain geog'raphical areas are marked by the existence in them of a number of such peculiar species. The basins of the Pacific, the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the Arctic seas, are thus especially characterized ; and even limited areas of these great geographical divisions, such as the Celtic, (he Lusitanian, and the Australian, have their peculiar features. But, though the shallow-water marine faunae thus follow the broad features of physical geography, and though, within each great province of distribution thus marked out, temper- ature and other physical conditions have an obvious influence in determining the range of species ; yet, on comparing any two great areas together, difierences in climatal conditions are at once seen to be inadequate to account for the diifer- ences between the faunae of the two areas. Climate in no way enables us to understand why the Trigonia^ the pearly N^autilus^ the Cestracion, the eared seals, and the penguins, are found in the Pacific and not in the Atlantic area ;^ nor why the Cetacea of the arctic and antarctic regions should be as difl'erent as they are. When we turn to the distribution of land-animals, the boundaries of the provinces of distribu- tion correspond neither with physical features nor with cli- matic conditions. Mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians, are so distributed at the present day as to mark out four great areas or provinces of distribution of very unequal extent, in each of which a number of characteristic types, not found elsewhere, occur. These are : 1. The Arctogceal, including North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia as far as Wallace's line, or the boundary between the Indian and the Papuan divisions of the Indian Archipelago ; 2. The Austrocohim- bian, comprising all the American Continent south of Mexico; 3. The Australian^ from Wallace's line to Tasmania ; 4. The Kovozelanian^ including the islands of New Zealand.'^ * Penguins are found at the Cape of Good Hope and at the Falkland Islands, "but not in the northern parts of tlae west coast of Africa, nor of the east coast of South America. In the Pacific they stretch north to the Papuan and Peru- vian coasts. 2 On the classification and distribution of the AlectoromorpJia, and Hetero- morplM : Proceedings of the Zoological Society, 1868. Sclater on the " Gop- graphical Distribution of Birds," Ibid., vol. ii. Pucheran, " Eevue et Magasin de Zoologie," 1865. Murray, " The Geographical Distribution of Mammals," 70 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. There is no doubt that provinces of distribution, closely corresponding with these, existed at the time of the Qua- ternary and later Tertiary rocks. In Europe, North America, and Asia, the Arctogseal province was as distinctly charac- terized in the Miocene, and probably in the Eocene epoch, as it is at present. What may have been the case in Austroco- lumbia, Australasia, and JNovozelania, we have no means of being certain, in the absence of sufficient knowledge of the Miocene and Eocene deposits of those regions. Our present knowledge of the geographical distribution which obtained in the older periods does not enable us to speak with any confidence as to the limits of the provinces of distribution in the past. But this much is certain, that as far back as the epoch of the Trias — at the dawn of the Secondary period — the Meptilia and Amphibia of Europe, India, and South Africa, and probably North America, presented the same kind of resemblance as the mammals and birds of the corresponding Arctogasal fauna do now. But then there is no information respecting the reptiles and amphibians of the corresponding epoch in Austrocolumbia and Australia, so that it is impossible to say whether, in Triassic times, the Arcto- gaeal province was limited as it is now. Outside the limits of the Arctogasal province, the mate- rials for forming a judgment of the distribution of animals are altogether insufficient to enable us to draw any conclu- sion as to the existence, and still less as to the boundaries, of definite provinces of distribution in Palaeozoic times. No remains of land-animals have yet been discovered. The fresh-water fauna consists of Amphibians and Fishes, and we know nothing, or next to nothing, of these in any^art of the world except the Arctogaeal province. A good deal is known of the older Silurian fauna outside the boundaries of the present Arctogaeal province, and within those of both the Austrocolumbian and Australasian prov- inces. With a generally similar fades, the faunae of these regions present clear differences. And, considering that the groups of animals which are represented are chiefly deep-sea and pelagic forms, it is not wonderful that this similarity of facies should exist. The investigations of the Challenger expedition show that such forms present a like similarity of facies at the present day. One of the most important facts which have been estab- lished under the head of Zoological Chronology is, that in all parts of the world the fauna of the later part of the Tertiary THE OLDEST KNOWN FAUNA. 71 period, in any province of distribution, was made up of forms either identical with, or very similar to, those now living in that area. For example, the elephants, tigers, bears, bisons, and hip- popotamuses of the later tertiary deposits of England are all closely allied to members of the existing Arctogaeal fauna ; the great armadillos, anteaters, and platyrrhine apes of the caves of South America, are as closely related to the existing Austrocolumbian fauna ; and the fossil kangaroos, wombats and phalangers of the Australian tertiaries to those which now live in the Australasian province. No remains of elephants occur in Australia, nor kangaroos in Austrocolumbia ; nor anteaters and armadillos in Europe in Tertiary deposits. But, as we go back in time from the Tertiary to the Sec- ondary, this law no longer holds good. Most of the few ter- restrial mammals of secondary age which have been dis- covered belong to Australasian and not to Arctogfeal types, and the marine fauna resembles that of the existing Pacific more than it does that of the Atlantic area, but differs from both in the presence of numerous wholly extinct groups. It looks as if, in the latter part of the Cretaceous epoch, a great change in the limits of the then existing distributional area had taken place, and the types now characteristic of the Arctogaeal province had invaded regions from which they had before been shut out. And the assumption of a process of a similar character appears to me to be the only rational explanation of the rapid advent of types absent in the Palaeozoic deposits known to us, in the earlier Secondary rocks. Yet other results of first-rate importance have come out of the study of the chronological relations of fossil remains. Cuvier's investigations proved that the hiatuses between existing groups of ungulate mammals tend to be filled up by extinct forms. Later investigations have not only confirmed this conclusion, but have shown that, in several cases, an existing much-modified form can be shown to have been pre- ceded in time, in the same distributional area, by exactly such forms as it is necessar}^ should have existed, if the much- modified existing animal had proceeded by way of evolution from a simpler form. For certain groups of animals, then, there is as much and as good evidence of their having been evolved by successive modification of a primitive form as the nature of the case per- 72 THE AXATOMY OF INYERTEBRATED ANIMALS. mits us to expect. But the groups in which there is evi- dence of such modifications during geologically recorded time, all belong to the most differentiated members of their classes. Lower forms, coextensive in duration, exhibit no sign of having undergone any notable modification. While the former are mutable^ the latter diie persistent types in rela- tion to oreolocjical time. Leaving the debatable question of the nature of Eozoon aside, the oldest fossiliferous rocks are the Cambrian. The scanty fauna therein preserved consists of forms which are neither Protozoa nor Porifera^ nor even appertain to the lowest groups of their respective classes. There is no reason to believe that it gives a just notion of the contemporaneous fa ana, nor is there any valid reason for the supposition that it represents the forms of animal life which were the first to make their appearance on our planet. CHAPTER IL THE PROTOZOA. In its feeblest manifestations, the contractility of animals results in mere changes of the form of the body, as in the adult Gregarinoe ; but, from the sluggish shortenings and lengthenings of the different diameters of the body which these creatures exhibit, all gradations are traceable, through those animals which push out and retract broad lobular pro- cesses, to those in which the contractile prolongations take the form of Ions: and slender filaments. Whether thick or filamentous, such contractile processes are called "pseudo- podia," when their movements are slow, irregular, and in- definite ; " cilia " or " flagella," when they are rapid and occur rhythmically in a definite direction ; but the two kinds of or- gans are essentially of the same nature. It will be convenient to distinguish those Protozoa which possess pseudopodia, as myxopods^ and those which are provided with cilia or flagella, as mastigopocls. The Protozoa are divisible into a lower and a higher group. In the former — the Monera — no definite structure is discernible in the protoplasm of the body ; in the latter — the ExDOPLASTicA — a Certain portion of this substance (the so- called nucleus) is distinguishable from the rest;^ and, very common!}', one or more " contractile vacuoles " are present. The name of contractile vacuoles is given to spaces in the pro- toplasm, which slowly become filled with a clear, watery fluid, and, when they have attained a certain size, are suddenly obliterated by the coming to2:ether, on all sides, of the proto- plasm in which they lie. This systolic and diastolic move- ment usually occurs at a fixed point in the protoplasm, at regu- lar intervals, or rhythmically. But the vacuole has no proper * I adopt this distinction as a matter of temporary convenience, though I entertain great doubt whether it will stand the test of further investigation. 74 THE ANATOMY OF INYERTEBRATED ANIMALS. wall, nor, in most cases, is any trace of it discernible at the end of the systole. Occasionally, the vacuole certainly com- municates with the exterior, and there is some reason to think that such a communication mav always exist. The function of these organs is entirely unknown, though it is an obvious conjecture that it may be respiratory or excretory. The "nucleus" is a structure which is often wonderful]}'' similar to the nucleus of an histological cell ; but, as its iden- tity with this is not fully made out, it may better be termed " endoplast." It is, usually, a rounded or oval body imbed- ded in the protoplasm, and but slightly different therefrom in either its optical or chemical characters. Generally it be- comes more deeply stained by such coloring-matters as haema- toxylin or carmine, and resists the action of acetic acid better than the surrounding protoplasm. In a few Protozoa there are many endoplasts in the sub- stance of the body, and the protoplasm shows some tendency to become partially differentiated into cells. But where, as in the higher Infusoria^ the body presents a definite organi- zation, with permanently differentiated constituents, which may be properly termed tissues, these tissues do not result from the metamorphosis of cells, but originate from the pro- toplasm directly by changes of its physical and chemical char- acters. Conjugation, followed by the development of germs, which are set free and assume the form of the parent, has been ob- served in several groups of tlie Protozoa, but it is not yet quite certain how far sexual distinctions are established among these animals. I. — THE MOXERA. In these lowest forms of animals the entire living body consists of a particle of gelatinous protoplasm, in which no nucleus, contractile vacuole, or other definite structure, is visible ; and which, at most, presents a separation into an outer, more clear, and denser layer, the ectosarc ; and an inner, more granular and fluid matter, the endosarc. The outer layer is the seat of active changes of form, whereby it is produced into pseudopodia, which attain a certain length, and are then retracted, or are effaced by the devel- opment of others from adjacent parts of the body. These pseudopodia are sometimes broad, short lobes ; at others, elon- gated filaments. When lobate, the pseudopodia remain dis- THE MONERA. 75 tinct from one another, their margins are clear and transpar- ent, and the granules which they may contain plainly flow into their interior from the more fluid central part of the body. But, when they are filiform, they are very apt to run into one another, and give rise to networks, the constituent filaments of which, however, readily separate and regain their previous form ; and, whether they do this or not, the surfaces of these pseudopodia are often beset by minute granules, which are in incessant motion — like those which are observ- able on the reticulations of the protoplasm of the cells in a Trachscantia hair. The rayxopod thus described moves about by means of its contractile pseudopodia, and takes the solid matters which serve as its food into all parts of its body by their aid ; w^hile the undigested exuvia of the food are rejected from all parts of the body in the same indiscriminate way. It is an organ- ism which is devoid of any visible organs except pseudopodia ; and, so far as is known at present, it multiplies by simple di- vision. The Protamoeha (with lobate pseudopodia) and Protoge- nes (with filamentous pseudopodia), of Haeckel, are Monera of this extremaly simple character. In Myxodictyiun (Haeck- el) the pseudopodia of a number of such Monera run togeth- er, and give rise to a complex network, or common plasmo- dlum. It is open to doubt, however, whether either Protamoeha, Protogenes, or Myxodlctyum, is anything but one stage of a cycle of forms, which are more completely, though perhaps not yet wholly, represented by some other very interesting Monera^ also described by Haeckel. Thus, the genus 'Vampyrella is a myxcpod with filanien- tous pseudopodia, a species of which infests one of the stalked Diatomace:^, Gomplionema, feeding upon the soft parts of the frustules of its host, by inserting some of its pseudopodia through the raphe of the frustule, which it envelops, and absorbing the contained protoplasm. Having thus provided itself with abundant nourishment, by creeping from frustule to frustule of the Gomphonema, it thrusts aside the last evacuated frustule from its peduncle, and, taking its place, draws in its pseudopodia, becomes spherical, and surrounds itself with a structureless cvst, inclosed in which it remains perched upon the peduncle of the Gomplionema. Soon its protoj^lasm undergoes division into four equal masses, and each of these, becoming converted into a young Vampyrella^ 76 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. escapes from the cyst, and recommences the predatory life of its parent. In this case the myxopod becomes encysted, and Fig, 1. — Trotomyx.a aurardiaca (Haeckel").— c, the Ptill condition snrronnded hy a Btructurcless cyst ; h. encysted form, the protoplasm of which is dividinc:; c, the cy?t burstini^and pivin;jf exit to the bodies into which the protoplasm breaks np. These are at first "monads,'' d, earh beinp: provided with a flajrelliform cilinm, by means of which it propels itself (cT). After a time each monad retracts its cilinm. and resumes an Amoeba like form (e> ; many of these coalesce and form a single plasmodinm. which crows and feeds nnder the form /. The specimen fieared contains a Peridinhim. (above"), three J)ictyocyi(t(v. (below), and two I)^ are very closely allied to the Amoe- hce, but, in the cycle of forms through which they pass, they curiously resemble 3Iyxastrum. In form they are spheroidal 1 Contractile vacuoles have been observed in the colorless blood-corpus- cles of Amphibia under certain conditions. THE GREGARIXIDyE. 87 or elongated oval bodies, sometimes divided by constrictions into segments. Occasionally, one end of the body is pro- duced into a sort of rostrum, which may be armed with re- curved horny spines. In the ordinary GregarinoPy the body presents a denser cortical layer (ectosarc) and a more fluid inner substance (endosarc), in which last the endoplast (nucleus) is imbed- ded. The presence of contractility is manifested merely by slow changes of form, and nutrition appears to be effected by the imbibition of the fluid nutriment, prepared by the organs of the animals in which the Gregarince are parasitic. There is no contractile vacuole. The Greg ar mm have a peculiar mode of multiplication, sometimes preceded by a process which resembles conju- gation. A single Gregarbia (or two which have become applied together) surrounds itself with a structureless cyst. Fio. 7.— .4, aregarina of the earthworm (after Lieberkuhn) ; B. encvsted ; C. D, contents divided into peeudo-navicellae ; E, F, free pseudo-navicel!», G, H, free amcebiform contents of the latter. The nucleus disappears, and the protoplasm breaks up (in a manner very similar to that in which the protoplasm of a 88 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS, sporangium of Mucor divides into spores) into small bodies, each of which acquires a spindle-shaped case, and is known as a 'pseudo-nanicella. On the bursting of the cyst these bodies are set free, and, when placed in favorable circum- stances, the contained protoplasm escapes as a small active body like a Protamoeha. M. E. van Beneden has recently dis- covered a very large Gregarina (G. gigantea), which inhab- its the intestine of the lobster, and his careful investigation of its structure and development has yielded very interesting results. Gregarina gigantea attains a length of two-thirds of an inch. It is long and slender, and tapers at one extremity, while the other is obtuse, rounded, and separated by a slight constriction from the rest of the body, which is cylindroidal. The outer investment of the body is a thin structureless cu- ticle ; beneath this lies a thick cortical layer (ectosarc), dis- tinguished by its clearness and firmness from the semifluid central substance (endosarc), which contains many strongly- refracting granules. In the centre of the body, the ellipsoid "nucleus," with its "nucleolus," fills up the whole cavity of the cortical layer, and thus divides the medullary substance into two portions. The body of this Gregarina may present longitudinal striations, arising from elevations of the inner surface of the cortical layer, which fit into depressions of the medullary substance ; but these are inconstant. On the other hand, there are transverse striations which are constant, and which arise from a layer of what are apparently muscular fibrilloe, developed in a peripheral part of the cortical layer, immediately below the cuticle. The fibrillas themselves are formed of elongated corpuscles joined end to end. A trans- verse partition separates the ceplialic enlargement from the body, and the layer of muscular fibres only extends into the posterior part of the enlargement. The embryos of Gregarina gigantea^ when they leave their pseudo-navicellse, are minute masses of protoplasm simi- lar to ProtamoebcB, and like them devoid of nucleus and con- tractile vacuole. They soon cease to show any change of form, and acquire a globular shape, the peripheral region of the body at the same time becoming clear. Next, two long processes bud out from this body; one is actively mobile, the other still. The former, detaching itself, assumes the appear- ance and exhibits the motions of a minute thread-worm, whence M. van Beneden terms it a pseudo-filaria. The en- largement at one end becomes apparent, the pseudo-filaria THE INFUSORIA. 89 passes into a quiescent state, and the "nucleolus " makes its appearance in its interior. Around tliis a clear layer is differ- entiated, giving rise to the " nucleus," and the pseudo-fllaria passes into the condition of the adult Gregarina gigantea. 4. The Catallacta of Haeckel, represented by the genus Magosphoera^ are, in one stage, myxopcds with long pseudo- podia, which, broad and lobe-like at the base, break up into fine filaments at their ends, and may therefore be said to be intermediate between those of JProtogenes and those of Prot- aniceha. The myxopod is provided with a distinct endoplast and a well-marked contractile space. When fully fed, it se- cretes a cyst and divides into a number of masses, each of which is converted into a conical body, with its base turned outward and its apex inward. These conical bodies are im- bedded in gelatinous matter, and thus cohere into a ball, from the centre of which they radiate. Each develops cilia around its base, and contains an endoplast and a contractile vacuole. After the complex globe thus formed has burst its envelope, it swims about for a while, like a Volvox. The several cilia- ted animalcules feed by taking in solid particles through the disk. They then separate, and, finally, retracting their cilia, become myxopods such as those with which the series started. MagosjyJic^ra is thus very nearly an endoplastic repetition of the moneran Protomonas — the mastigopod being provided with many small cilia, instead of with a couple of large fla- gella. On the other hand, the Catallacta are closely allied to the next group, and, I am disposed to think, might well be included in it. 5. The Ixfusoeta. — Excluding from the miscellaneous as- semblage of heterogeneous forms, which have passed under this name, the Pesmidicp^ Piatomaccce^ Volvochiece, and V^ibrionidce, which are true plants, on the one hand ; and the comparatively highly-organized Potifera^ on the other ; there remain three assemblages of minute organisms, which may be conveniently comprehended under the general title of Infu- soria. These are — («) the so-called " ]\Ionads," or Pnfusoria Jlagellata ; (b) the Acinetae^ or Pnfusoria tentacuUfera ^ and (c) the Pnfusoria ciliata. (a.) The Flagellata. — These are characterized by pos- sessing only one or two long, whip-like cilia, sometimes (when more than one are present) situated at the same end of the body, sometimes far apart. The body very generally exhib- its an endoplast and a contractile vacuole. There is no per- manently open oral aperture, but there is an oral region, into 90 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. which the food is forced, and, passing into the endosarc, re- mains for some time smrounded by a globule of contempo- raneously ingested water — a so-called " food- vacuole." Prof. H. James Clark, who has recently carefully studied the Fla- gellata, points out that, in Bicosoeca and Codonoeca, a fixed monadiform body is inclosed within a structureless and trans- parent calyx. In Codosiga a similar transparent substance rises up round the base of the flagellum, like a collar. Jn Salimigceca the collar around the base of the flagellum is combined w ith a calycine investment for the whole animal. In A^ithophysa, there are two motor organs — the one a stout and comparatively stiff flagellum, which moves by occasional jerks, and the other a very delicate cilium, which is in con- stant vibratory motion. The discrepancy between the two kinds of locomotive organs attains its maximum in Aniso7ie7na.f which presents interesting points of resemblance to Noctiluca. Multiplication by longitudinal fission was observed in Codosiga and Anthophy s a, find ^roh^hly occurs in the other genera. In Codosiga the flagellum is retracted before fission takes place, but the body does not become encysted ; in An- thophysa the body assumes a spheroidal form, and is sur- rounded by a structureless cyst, before division occurs. Conjugation has not been directly observed among most of the I)tfusoria flagellata^ nor do any of them exhibit a structure analogous to the endoplastule of the Ciliata, Messrs. Dallinger and Drysdale have recently worked out the life-history of several flagellate " Monads," which occur in putrefying infusions of fish. They show that these Ha- gellata not only present various modes of agamic multiplica- tion by fission, preceded or not by encyst ment, but that they conjugate, and that the compound body which results (the equivalent of the zygospore in ])lants) becomes encysted. Sooner or later, the contents of the cyst become divided either into comparatively large or excessively minute bod- ies, which enlarge and gradually take on the form of the parent. The careful investigations of these authors lead them to conclude that, while the adult forms are destroyed at from 61°-80° C, the excessively minute sporules which have been mentioned, and which may have a diameter of less than i^QQQQQ of an inch, may be heated to 148° C. without the destruction of their vitality. In Euglena viridis (which, however, may be a plant), THE FLAGELLATA. 91 Stein ^ has observed a division of the "nucleus" to take place, whereby it becomes converted into separate masses, some of which acquire an ovate or fusiform shape, surrounding them- selves with a dense coat, while others become thin-walled sacs, full of minute granules, each of which is provided with a single cilium. The ultimate fate of these bodies has not been traced. A careful study of the singular genus N'octiluca led me, in 1855, to assign it a place among the Infusoria^ and recent investigations have conclusively proved that it is one of the Flagellata. The spheroidal body of N^octiluca oniliGrls (Fig. 8) is about one-eightieth of an inch in diameter, and, like a peach, presents a meridional groove, at one end of which the mouth is situated. A long and slender, transversely striated ten- tacle overhangs the mouth, on one side of which a hard- toothed ridge projects. Close to one end of this is a vibratile cilium. A funnel-shaped depression leads into a central mass of protoplasm, connected by fine radiating bands with a layer of the same substance which lines the cuticular enve- lope of the body. There is no contractile vacuole, but an oval endoplast lies in the central protoplasm. Bodies which are ingested are lodged in vacuoles of the latter until they are digested. According to the observations of Cienkowsky,'^ if a JS'oc- tiluca be injured, the body bursts and collapses, but the pro- toplasmic and other contents, together with the tentacle, form an irregular mass, the periphery of which eventually becomes vacuolated, enlarges, and secretes a new investment. But even a small portion of the protoplasm of a mutilated Nocti- luca is able to become a perfect animal. Under some condi- tions, the tentacle of a Noctiluca may be retracted into the body, and, at all times of the year, spheroidal N'octilucce, devoid of flagellum, tooth, or meridional groove, but other- wise normal, are to be found. These last are probably to be regarded as encj^sted forms. Multiplication may take place in at least two ways. Fission may occur in the spheroidal forms, as well as in those possessed of a tentacle ; it is in- augurated by the enlargement, constriction, and division, of the endoplast. This process takes place more especially in the latter part of the year. 1 " Oreranismus der Infusionsthlere," ii., 5fi. » "Ueber Noctiluca miliaris." (Schulze's " Arcliiv fiir mikroskop. Anato- mie," 1872.) 92 THE ANATOMY OF IXYERTEBRATED ANIMALS. Another mode of a sexual multiplication, which has a sin- gular resemblance to the process of partial yelk division, Fig. 8. — XoctUiica miliai^.—e, gastric vacuole ; g, radiating filaments ; /, anal aperture (.?). occurs only in the spheroidal JS^octihicce. The endoplast dis- appears, and the protoplasm, accumulating on the inner side of one region of the cuticle, divides first into two, then four, eight, sixteen, thirty-two, or more masses ; the division of the protoplasm being accompanied by the elevation of the cuticle into protuberances, which, at first, corresjDond in number and dimensions with these division masses. When the division masses have become very numerous, each protrudes upon the surface, and is converted into a free monadiform gernr., pro- vided with an endoplast, a beak, and a long tentacle, which is hardly to be distinguished from a flagelliform cilium. The process of conjugation has been directly observed. Two JVoctilucce, applying themselves by their oral surfaces, adhere closely together, and a bridge of protoplasm connect- ing the endoplasts of the two becomes apparent. The ten- tacula are thrown off, the two bodies gradually coalesce, and the endoplasts fuse into one. The whole process occupies five or six hours. Spheroidal or encysted JVoctllucce may conjugate in a similar manner. In this case, the regions nearest the endoplasts are those which become applied to- gether. Whether this process is of a sexual nature, or not, is not clearly made out. Cienkowsky admits that it may THE FLAGELLATA, 93 hasten the process of multiplication by monadiform germs described above. Ifoctiluca is extremely abundant in the superficial waters of the ocean, and is one of the most usual causes of the phos- phorescence of the sea. The light is given out by the pe- ripheral layer of protoplasm which lines the cuticle. The PeridlnecB (see Fig. 1, /) form another aberrant group of the Flagellata, which lead to the Ciliata. Tiie body is inclosed in a hard case (sometimes produced into rays), which, at one part, presents a groove-like interruption, laying bare the contained protoplasm, in which lies an endo- plast, and in some cases a contractile vacuole. One or more flagelliform cilia, and usually a wreath of short cilia, are pro- truded from the protoplasm, and serve as locomotive organs. The mouth is a depression, whence, in some cases, an oeso- phageal canal is continued and terminates abruptly in tlie semi-fluid central substance of the body, the food-particles being lodged in vacuoles formed at its extremity, as in the Ciliata. No other mode of multiplication than that by fission has vet been observed in the Peridinece ; but this fission is sometimes preceded by the inclosure of the animal in an elongated, crescent-shaped cyst. (b.) The TEN-XACULiFER-i. — The Acinetce (Fig. 9, D, E, F^ G) have no oral aperture of the ordinary kind, but filiform processes or tentacula, which are usually slender, simple, and more or less ri2:id, radiate from the surface cf the bodv gen- erally, or from one or more regions of that surface. At first sight, these tentacula resemble the radiating pseudopodia of A.oti)iophrys, but, on closer inspection, they are seen to have a different character. Eich, in fact, is a delicate tube, pre- senting a structureless external wall, with a semi-fluid granu- lar axis, and usually ends in a slight enlargement or knob. It may be slowly pushed out or retracted, or diversely bent. But, instead of playing the part of mere prehensile organs, these tentacles act, in addition, as suckers; the Acineta ap- plying one or more of these organs to the body of its prey ^ — » Stein ("Der Organismus der Infusionsthiere," i., VC) thus describes the method by which an Acineta seizes its prey : " If an Infusorium swims within reach of the Acineta^ the nearest tentacles are swiftly thrown toward it, and, at the same time, often become much elongated, bent, or irregularly twisted about. The knob-like ends of these tentacle's, which come into immediate contact with the surface of the entangled prey, spread out into disks, and adhere iixedly to it. When many of the tentacles' have thus attached themselves, the im- prisoned animal is no longer able to escape, its movements become slower, and at length cease. Those tentacles which have fixed themselves most firmly shorten and thicken, and draw the prev nearer to the body. . . . Suddenly, as 94 THE ANATOMY OF IXVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. usually some other species of Infusorium — when the substance of the latter travels along the interior of the sucker into the Fio. 9.—^, Yorticella, active ; B, C, encysted ; Z>, E, F, G, Acinetoe (after Stein). body of the Acineta. Solid food is not ingested through these tentacles, so that the Acinetce cannot be fed with indigo or carmine. In the interior of the body there is an endoplast * with one or more contractile vacuoles, and it may be either fixed by a stalk or free. The Acinetce multiply by several methods. One of these is simple longitudinal fission, which appears to be rare among them. Another method consists in the development of ciliated embryos in the interior of the body. These embr^^os result from a separation of a portion of the endoplast, and its con- soon as the suc'kinor (5isk has bored throncrli the cuticula of the prey, a very- rapid stream, indicated by the fattv particles which it carries, sets along the axis of the tentacle, and, at its base, pours into the rxcighboring part, of the body of the Acineta. . . . The cause of the movement is unknown. It is not, accompanied bv any discernible movement of the walls of the tentacle." ' No endoplastule, such as exists in other Infusoria^ has been observed as yet in the Acivdoe. Under some circumstances, tlie Acinetm draw in their radiating processes, and surround themselves with a structureless cyst; but this process does not appear to have any relation to either mode of multiplica- tion. In Acineta mystacina and Porlopliryafixa, a peculiar mode of multiplication bv division occurs. At the free end of the body a portion becomes constricted off, together with part of the endoplast, from the remaining stalked part. The tentacula are drawn in, and the segment becoming elongated, develops cilia over its whole surface and swims away. THE INFUSORIA. 95 version into a globular or oval germ, which, in some species, is wholly covered with vibratile cilia, while, in others, the cilia are confined to a zone around the middle of the embryo. The germ makes its escape by bursting through the body-wall of its parent. After a short existence (sometimes limited to a few minutes) in the condition of a free-swimming animal- cule, provided with an endoplast and a contractile vacuole, but devoid of a mouth, the characteristic knobbed radiating- processes make their appearance, the cilia vanish, and the ani- mal passes into the Acineta state. The Acinetce have frequently been observed to conju- gate, the separate individuals becoming completely fused into one and their endoplasts coalescing into the single endoplast of the resultant Achieta y but it is not certainly made out whether this process has, or has not, anything to do with the process of the development of ciliated embryos just described. (c.) The Ciliata. — The characteristic feature of the Ciliata is, that the outer surface of the body is provided with numer- ous vibratile cilia, which are the organs of prehension and loco- motion. According to the distribution of the cilia, Stein has divided them into the Holotricha^ in which the cilia are scat- tered over the whole body, and are of one kind ; the Hetero- tricha, in v/hich the widely-diffused cilia are of different kinds, some larger and some smaller ; the Ilypotricha^ in which the cilia are confined to the under or oral side of the body; and the JPeritricha^ in which they form a zone round the body. The great majority of these anim.als are asymmetrical. In the simplest and smallest Ciliata^ the body resembles that of one of the Flagellata in being differentiated merely into an ectosarc and endosarc, with an endoplast and a con- tractile vacuole. In most, if not all cases, however, there is not only an oral region, through which the ingestion of food takes place, but an oesophageal depression leads from this into the endosarc ; and it m.ay be doubted whether, even in the simplest Ciliata, there is not an anal area through which the undigested parts of the food are thrown out. The genus Colpoda, which is very common in infusions of hay, is a good example of this low form of ciliated Infuso- rium. It has somewhat the form of a bean flattened on one side, and moves actively about by means of numerous cilia, the longest of which are situated at the interior end of the body. At i\\Q posterior end is the contractile vacuole, while a large endoplast lies in the middle, as Stein originally dis- covered. Colpodm frequently become quiescent, retract their 96 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. cilia, and surround themselves with a structureless cyst. Each encysted Colpoda then divides into two, four, or more por- tions, ^yhich assume the adult form and escape from the cysts to resume an active existence. Allman has described the encystment of a Vorticellidan, followed by division of the nucleus into many germs, with- out any antecedent process of conjugation ; and Everts has observed that the progeny of an encysted Yorticella take on the form of Trichodina grandinella. The Trichodi7ice mul- tiply by transverse divisions, and then grow into Vb'rti- cellce.^ Encystment, whether followed or not by division, is very common among all the Cillata^ and a species of Amphilep- tus has been seen to swallow — or rather envelop — a stalked bell-animalcule (Vorticella), and then become encysted upon the stalk of its prey, just as Vam^yi/rella becomes perched upon the stalk of the devoured Gomphonema. In the higher Clliata^ the protoplasm of the body becomes directly differentiated into various structures, in the same way as has already been seen to be the case in Gregarina gigantea^ but to a much greater degree. Thus, in the Peritricha, of which the bell-animalcules, or Vortieellce (Fig. 9, A^ B, (7), are the commonest examples, the oral region presents a depression, the vestibule (Fig. 9, a) from which a permanent oesophageal canal leads into the soft and semi-fluid endosarc, where it terminates abruptly ; and immediately beneath the mouth, in the vestibule, there is an anal region which gives exit to the refuse of digestion, but presents an opening only when fecal matters are passing out. Except where the ciliated circlet, or rather spiral, is situated, the outer wall of the body gives rise to a relatively dense cuiicula^ and not unfrequently secretes a transparent cup or case, foreshadowing the theca of hydrozoal polyps. Moreover, in the permanently fixed Vorticelkr, the stalk of attachment may present a central muscular fibre (Fig. 9,/"), by the sudden contraction of which the body is retracted, the stalk being at the same time throwm into a spiral. In the holotrichous Paramcecium (Fig. 10) beneath the thin su- perficial transparent cuticle from which the cilia proceed, there is a very distinct cortical layer, fibrillated in a direc- tion perpendicular to the surface, and, in some species of this or other genera, as StromhkUuni and Polykricos (Biitschli), beset with minute rod-like bodies similarly disposed, w^hich, Allman, " Presidential Address to the Linnsean Societv," 1875, THE INFUSORIA. 97 under some circumstances, shoot out into long filaments, and have been termed trlchocysts. In I*, bursariay minute WWW Fi». 10. — Paramecium bursaria (after Stein).— ^, the animal viewed from the dorsal side : a, cortical layer of the body ; b, endoplast ; c, contractile space ; d d', mat- ters taken in as food ; e, chlorophyl granules. JB, the animal viewed from the ventral side: a, depression leading to 5, mouth ; c, gullet ; d, euJoplast; rf', endoplastule ; e. central protoplasm. In both these figures the arrowi? indicate the direction of the circulation. C, ParamcRcimn dividing trausvere-ly : a a\ contractile spaces ; b b, endoplast divid- ing ; c c\ endoplastules. green granules of chlorophyl are dispersed tlirough this layer, and Cohn demonstrated, in 1851, that these yield the same reactions as the chlorophyl grains of the Algae. In Salanti- dium^ N^yctotherus^ Spirostomum^ and many others, the cor- tical layer is divided bv linear markino^s into bands, which there is reason to believe are rudimentary muscular fibres. In many ClUata, the endosarc appears to be almost fluid. The food, which is driven into the mouth and down the oesoph- agus by the constant action of the cilia, accumulates at the bottom of the oesophagus ; and then, with the water which surrounds it, is passed, at intervals, with a sort of jerk, into the endosarc, where it lies close to the end of the oesophagus, as a food-vacuole, for a short time. But it soon begins to move, and, along with other such vacuoles formed before and after it, circulates in a definite course up one side of the body and down the other, between the cortical layer and the endo- plast. This movement is particularly free and unrestricted in Salantidmmfi • in Parcnnoechim, the tract through which the food- vacuoles move is more definitely limited,* while in iVyc- 1 In Faramczcium hursaria Colin observed that the circulation was completed in Isf to 2 minutes, which gives a rate of rotation of ^oW to fj^oo oi' an inch in a second. 98 THE ANATOMY OF INYERTEBRATED ANIMALS. totherus it appears to be confined to a part of the body be- tween the end of the gullet and the anal region, which in this Infusorium is seated at one end of the body. In fact, the finely granular endosarc of Nyctotherus so limits the passage of the food-vacuoles that the tract along which they pass might properly be described as a rudimentary intestinal canal. The oral cavity is usually ciliated : sometimes, as in ChilO' don, it has a chitinous armature, which becomes somewhat complicated in Ermlia {Dysteria ^) and the Didinium de- scribed by Balbiani. Torquatella (Lankester) has a plicated membrane around the mouth in the place of cilia. The contractile vacuoles attain their greatest complexity in the Paramoecia, in which there are two — one toward each end of the body. They are lodged in the cortical layer, and, in diastole, a portion of their outer periphery is bounded only by the cuticle, through which it is very probable that they communicate with the exterior. When the systole takes place, a number of fine canals, which radiate from each vac- uole, are seen to become distended with clear, watery fiuid. These canals are constant in their position, and some of them may be traced nearly as far as the mouth ; so that the canals and vacuoles form a permanent water-vascular system. The endoplast is finely granular, like the substance of the endosarc. It is frequently said to be enveloped in a distinct membrane, but I am disposed to think that this is always a product of reagents. Attached to one part of it there is very generally (but not in the Vorticellce) a small oval or rounded body, the so-called "nucleolus" or e?z^op?as^w?e. The endo- plast is commonly said to be imbededd in the cortical layer, but this is certainly not the case in Colpoda, Paramoecium^ Palantidium, or Kyctotherus, The outermost, or cuticular, layer of a large portion of the body becomes hardened and forms a sort of shell, in many of the free Infusoria. In the free marine Pictyocystida and Codonellida of Haeckel, the body has a bell-shaped enve- lope, which in the Pictyocystida {see Fig. 1) is strengthened by a siliceous skeleton like that of a Radiolarian. In both genera the circular lip which surrounds the oral end is pro- vided with numerous long flagelliform cilia." Most of the Ciliata, while in full activity, multiply by di- ^ Huxley, "On Dysteria." ( Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science^ 1857.) 3 Haeckel, " Zur Morphologic der lufusorien," 1873. THE INFUSORIA. 99 vision ; this is generally effected by the formation of a more or less transverse constriction, whereby the body becomes divided into two parts, which separate, each developing those structures which are needed for its completion. The endo- plast, however, always elongates and divides, one portion going along with each product of fission. Neither budding nor longitudinal fission occurs among the free Infusora, the appearances which have been regarded as evidence of these processes being due to the opposite operation of conjugation. M. Balbiani,' its discoverer, thus describes the process of conju- gation in Paramoecium hursaria : *' The Paramoecia assemble in great numbers either tow- ard the bottom or on the sides of the vessel in which they are contained. They then conjugate in pairs, their anterior ends being closely united ; and they remain in this state for five or six days or more. During this period the nucleus and nucleolus become transformed into sexual organs. " The nucleolus is changed into an oval capsule, marked superficially by longitudinal striag. Sooner or later, it usually becomes divided into two or four portions, which grow inde- pendently, and form many separate capsules. About the time of separation, each of these is found to be a capsule containing a bundle of curved rods {baguettes), enlarged in the middle, and thinner at the ends. " The nucleus also becomes enlarged, and gives rise — in a manner not clearly explained — to small spherical bodies anal- ogous to ovules. " It is usually about the fifth or sixth day after conjuga- tion that the first germs appear, as little rounded bodies formed of a membrane which is rendered visible by acetic acid, and of grayish pale homogeneous or almost imperceptibly granu- lar contents, in which, as yet, neither nucleus nor contractile vacuole is distinguishable. It is only later that these organs appear. The observations of Stein and of F. Cohn have shown how these embryos leave the body of the mother un- der the form of Acinetce, provided with knobbed tentacles and true suckers, by means of which they remain for some time adherent to her, and nourish themselves from her substance. But their investigations have not disclosed the ultimate fate of the vouno;. " I have been able to follow them for a long period after » Balbiani, " Note relative a I'Existence d'une Generation Sexuelle chez les Infusoires." {Journal de la Physiologic^ tome i., 1858.) 100 THE ANATOMY OF IXVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. their detachment from the maternal organism ; and I have been able to assure myself that, after having lost their ten- tacles, becoming clothed with vibratile cilia, and acquiring a mouth, which makes its appearance as a longitudinal groove, they return definitely to the parental form, developing in their interior the green granules which are characteristic of this Pararaoecium^ without undergoing any more extensive metamorphosis." In Figs. 19-22 of Plate IV., which accompanies his paper, Balbiani figures all the stages by which the acinetiform em- brj'o becomes a Faramoecium. So far as the fact of conjugation, the changes in the " nu- cleolus," and the development of filaments in it, with the subsequent detachment, by division, of masses from the " nu- cleus," are concerned, these statements have not been modi- fied by M. Balbiani, while they are fully confirmed by the ob- servations made by himself, Claparede and Lachmann, Stein, Kolliker, and others, in Paramoecium bursaria, P. aurelia, and other ciliated Pnfusoria. In the closely allied Paramoeciuni aiirelia, the occurrence of the various stages of conjugation, conversion of the " nu- cleolus " into bundles of spermatozoa, and subsequent division of the " nucleus," is also established by the coincident testi- mony of Balbiani and Stein. Balbiani affirms that, in this spe- cies, the clear globular bodies which result from the division of the " nucleus " pass out of the body without undergoing any further modification, and he considers them to be ovules. Stein also admits that he has never seen acinetiform embryos in this species. But, as it would seem, on the strength of these negative observations in Paramoechnn aurelia^ Balbiani, in his later publications, asserts that the " acinetiform embryos " observed not only in Paramoecium^ but in Styloi^ychia, Stentor, and many other ciliated Infusoria^ are not embryos at all, but parasitic Acinetm / and he makes this assertion without ex- plicitly withdrawing the statement given above of his own ob- servation of the passage of the acinetiform embryo of Para- moecium hursaria into the parental form. Engelmann and Stein, on the other hand, hold by Balbiani's original doctrine, and ffive stronfj reasons for so doing". Amonof- the most for- cible analogical arguments are those afforded by the process of sexual reproduction observed by Stein in the peritrichous In- fusoria. In the Perltrlcha ( VorticelUdce^ Ophrydidce^ TrlchodidcB) THE INFUSORIA. lOl conjugation takes place by the complete and permanent fusion of two individuals, which are sometimes of equal dimensions ; though, in other cases, one is much smaller than the other, and, while it is in course of absorption, looks like a bud, and was formerly taken for such (Fig. 9, A, g^ h). Ihe small individuals usually take their origin from a group of small stalked VorticellGe^ which are produced by the repeat- ed longitudinal division of a Vorticella of the ordinary size. The result of the conjugative act is that the " nuclei " of the two individuals, either before or after their coalescence, break up into a number of segments. The segments may remain separate, or coalesce into a single mass, called by ^tQm. i^lacenta. In the former case, some of the segments become germ-masses, while the others reunite to form a new "nucleus ;" in the latter, the placenta throws out a number of germ-masses, and then assumes the form of an ordinary " nucleus." The germ-masses give oft' portions of their sub- stance, including part of their " nucleus," and these become converted into ciliated embrj^os, which escajDe by a special opening. Knobbed tentacles, like those of the Acinetcp, have not been observed in the embryos of the Peritricha^ nor has their development been traced out. If the bodies regarded as acinetiform embryos of the Ciliata are really such, they may be taken to represent the myxopod stage of the Catallacta, and the relations of the Acinitm to the Ciliata would appear to be that they arc modifications of a common type, differing from the Catal- lacta in having tentacula instead of ordinary pseudopodia. In the Acinetce^ the tentaculate stage is the more permanent, the ciliated stage transitory ; while, in the Ciliata, the cili- ated stage is the more permanent, and the tentaculate stage transitory. CHAPTER III. THE PORIFERA A]S"D THE CCELENTEKATA. 1. The Porifera or Spoxgida. — It has been seen that, in the Protozoa^ the germ undergoes no process of division analogous to the " yelk division " of the higher animals, and to the corresponding process by which the embryo cell of every plant but the very lowest becomes converted into a cellular embryo. Consequently, there is no blastoderm ; the body of the adult Protozoon is not resolvable into morpho- logical units, or cells, more or less modified ; and the aliment- ary cavity, when it exists, has no special lining. Moreover, the occurrence of sexual reproduction in most of the Proto- zoa is doubtful, and there is, at present, no evidence of the existence of male elements, in the form of filamentous sper- matozoa, in any group but the Infusoria / and even here the real nature of these bodies is still a matter of doubt. In all the Metazoa^ the germ has the form of a nucleated cell. The first step in the process of development is the production of a blastoderm by the subdivision of that cell and the cells of the blastoderm give rise to the histoloo-ical elements of the adult body. With the exception of certain parasites, and the extremely modified males of a few species, all these animals possess a permanent alimentary cavity, lined by a special layer of cells. Sexual reproduction always occurs ; and, very generally, though by no means invariably, the male element has the form of filiform spermatozoa. The lowest term in the series of the Metazoa is un- doubtedly represented by the Porifera or Sponges, which, after oscillating between the vegetable and the animal king- doms, have, in recent times, been recognized as animals by all who have sufficiently studied their structure and the manner in which their functions are performed. But the place in the Animal Kingdom which is to be as- signed to the sponges has been, and still is, a matter of de- THE PORIFERA. 103 bale. It is certain tliat an ordinary sponge is made up of an aggregation of corpuscles, some of which have all the charac- ters of ji)noebce, while others are no less similar to Monads ; and therefore, taking adult structure only into account, the comparison of a sponge to a sort of compound Protozoon is perfectly admissible, and, in the absence of other evidence, would justify the location of the sponges among the Protozoa, But, within the last few years, the development of the sponges has been carefully investigated ; and, as in so many other cases, a knowledge of that process necessitates a recon- sideration of the views suggested by adult structure. The impregnated ovum undergoes regular division ; a blas- toderm is formed, consisting of two layers of cells — an epiblast and a hypoblast — and the young animal has the form of a deep cup, the w^all of which is composed of two layers, an ec- toderm and an endoderm^ which proceed respectively from the epiblast and hypoblast. The embryo sponge is, in fact, simi- lar to the corresponding stage of a hj'drozcon, and is totally unlike any known condition of a protozoon. Beyond this early stage, however, the sponge-embryo takes a line of its own, and its subsequent condition differs altogether from anj^thing known among the Ccelenterata j all of which, on the other hand, present close and intimate resem- blances in their future development, as in their adult structure. It is not long since the only sponge of the structure and development of w^hich we were accurately informed was the Spongilla jfuviatilis^ or fresh-water sponge, the subject of the elaborate researches of Lieberkuhn and Cai'ter. But, recently, a flood of light has been thrown upon the morphology and phys- iology of the marine sponges, particularly of those sponges with calcareous skeletons, which are termed Ccdcispongic^^ bv Lieberkuhn, Oscar Schmidt, and especially Haeckel. It has become clear that Spongilla is a somewhat aberrant form, and that the fundamental type of Poriferal organization is to be sought among the Calcispongice. In the least com- plicated of the calcareous sponges, the body has the form of a cup, and is attached bv its closed extremity. The open ex- tremity is the osculum^ and leads directly into the spacious ventricidus^ or cavity of the cup. The comparatively thin wall of the cup is composed of two layers, readily distinguish- able by their structure — the outer is the ectoderm^ the in- ner the endodertn. The ectoderm is a transparent, slightly granular, gelatinous mass in which the nuclei are scattered, but which, in the unaltered state, shows no trace of the primitive 104 THE iiNATOMT OF IXVERTEBRATED AmifALS. Fio. 'il.—Ascfiffa vrimorcUalis (after Ilaecke]). I. A mature Asceffa, Tpart of one side of the body of which i? removed: o, the exhal- ei)t aperture ; p. inhnleut pore? in the wall of the body ; i, endoderm ; ^ the Calcisponguje^ and the Fibrospongloe — the 1 " Ncsseizellen und Saamen bei See-Schwdmincn." (ArcJtiv far Mikro- skovische Anatomies viii., 1872.) 110 THE ANATOMY OF IXYERTEBRATED ANIMALS. Myxospongim being altogether devoid of skeleton ; the Cal- cispongice possessing calcareous spicula, but no fibrous kera- tose skeleton ; and the Fihrospongim having a fibrous skele- ton, and (usually) spicula of a silicious nature. To these it is probable that the Clionid(J& must be added, as a fourth type, devoid of a fibrous skeleton, but possessing silicious spicula of a very peculiar kind, by the help of which they are able to burrow parasitically in the shells of mollusks. Finally, Haliphysema and Gastrophyseina appear to be even simpler than the Myxosponglm. The division of the Myxospongice contains only the ge- latinous Halisarca, The Calcispo?igiCB, in addition to the two families of Asco7tes and Leiicones^ already referred to, include a third — the Sycones^ which are essentially composite As- coyies. The I^ibrospongice present a great diversity of form and structure. They may have the form of flattened or glob- ular masses, arborescent, tree-like growths, flagellate expan- sions, or wide or deep cups. The sponge of commerce de- rives its value from the fact that its richly-developed fibrous skeleton is devoid of spicula. On the other hand, in such sponges as Hyalonema and Euplectella^ the silicious spicula attain a marvelous development and complexit}^ of arrange- ment. In the latter genus, they form a fibrous network with regular polygonal meshes. These appear to be the repre- sentatives of the Ventriculites^ which were so common in the seas of the Cretaceous epoch. Sponges abound in the waters of all seas, but Spongilla is the sole fresh-water form. Clionidm existed in the Silu- rian epoch, but the most plentiful remains of sponges have been yielded by the chalk. The CoELE^'TERATA. — This group of the Metazoa contains those animals which are commonly known as Polyps, Jelly- fishes, or Medusce^ Sea-anemones, and Corals. They exhibit two well-marked series of modifications, termed the Hydrozoa and the Actmozoa, The Hydrozoa. — The fundamental element in the^ struct- ure of this group is the Hydranth., or Polypite. ^ This is es- sentially a sac having at one end an ingestive or oral open- ing, which leads into a digestive cavity. The wall of the sac is composed of two cellular membranes, the outer of which is termed the ectoderm^ and the inner the endoderm^ the former having the morphological value of the epidermis of the higher THE PORIFERA. Ill '"''m^m^^'"' Fig. 12. — A. Hypothetical section of a SpongiTIa: a. superficial layer; b, fnhnlent apertures ; c, ciliated chambers ; d, an esh^lent aperture ; e, deeper substance of the sponge. The arrows indicate the direction of t'le currents. B. Kf>^msiWSpon- qilla with a single exhalent aperture, seen from above (after Lieberkiihn) : a. in- nalent apertures ; c, ciliated chambers ; d, exhalent aperture, C. A ciliated chamber. D. A free-swimming ciliated embryo. 112 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBnATED ANIMALS. animals, and the latter that of the epithelium of the aliment- ary canal/ Between these two layers, a third layer — the Fis. 13. — Diasrramp illustrative of the mutnal relations! of the HijrTrozon : 1. Hydra. 2. Sertularian. 3. Calvcophoridati. 4. Physuphoriclan. 5. Lucernariati. a. Ectoderm, b. Endoderm. c. The digestive and somatic cavity. P. Tentacles. N. Nectoialyx. T. Coeno?arc. B. Hydrophyllium. C. Hydrothoca. S. Hydranth. Q Gonophore, A. Air- Vesicle contained in F. Pneumatophore. c, Digective and somatic cavity. I., II., III., I v\, represent the successive stages of development of a Medusiform gonophore. mesoderm — which represents the structures which lie between * " The body of every Hydrozoon is essentially a sac composed of two mem- branes, an external and an internal, which have been conveniently denomi- nated by the terms ectoderm and endoderm. The cavity of the sac, which will be called the somatic cavity ^ contains a fluid, charged with nutritive matter in THE HYDROZOA. 113 the epidermis and the epithelium in more complex animals, may be developed, and sometimes attains a great thickness, solution, and sometimes, if not always, with suspended solid particles, which perform the functions of the blood in animals of higher organization, and may he termedihe S07natic fluid. . . . Notwithstanding the extreme variety of form exhibited by the Hydrozoa, and the multiplicity and complexity of the organs which some of them possess, they never lose the traces of this primitive sun- plicity of organization ; and it is but rarely that it is even disguised to any con- siderable extent. . . . This important and obvious structural peculiarity could hardly escape notice, and I find it to have been observed by Trembley, Baker and Laurent, Corda and Ecker in Hydra ; by Eathke, in Coryne ; by Frey and Leuckart, in Lucernaria ; and it is given as a character of the hydroid po- lyps in general {Hydrce^ CorynidcB^ and ISertularidce)^ in the second edition of Ouvier's ' Legons.' I pointed it out as the general law of structure of the hy- droid polyps, Biphydoi and PhysopJioridcc^ in a paper ^ sent to the Linna^an So- ciety, from Australia, in 1847, but not read before tbat body till January, 1849 ; and I extended the generalization to the whole of the Hydrozoa^ in a ' Memoir on the Anatomy and Affinities of the Meduscx,^ read before the Koyal Society in June, 1849. " Prof. Allman, in his valuable memoir ' On Cordylophora ' ('Philosophical Transactions,' 1855), has adopted and confirmed this moi-phological law, intro- ducing the convenient terms ' ectoderm ' and ' endoderm,' to denote the imier and outer membranes ; and Gegenbaur (' Beitriige zur niiheren Kenntniss der Schwimmpolypen; 1854, p. 42) has partially noticed its exemplification in Apolemia and Bkizophysa; but it seems singularly enough to have failed to attract the attention of other excellent German observers, to whose late im- portation investigations I shall so often have occasion to advert. The pecu- liarity in the structure of the body walls of the Hydrozoa^ to which 1 have just referred, possesses a singular interest in its bearing upon the truth (for, with due limitation, it is a great truth) that there is a certain similarity between the adult states of the lower animals and the embryonic conditions of those of higher organization. " For it is well known that, in a very early state, the germ, even of the highest animals, is a more or less complete sac, whose thin wall is divisible into two membranes, an inner and an outer ; the latter turned toward the external world ; the former, in relation with the nutritive liquid, the yelk. The inner layer, as Eemak has more particularly shown, undergoes but little histological change, and throughout life remains "more particularly devoted to the functions of alimentation, T\^iile the outer gives rise, by manifold differentiations of its tissue, to those complex structures which we know as integument, bones, mus- cles, nerves, and sensory apparatus, and which especially subserve the func- tions of relation. At the same time, the various orofans are produced by a process of budding from one or other, or both, of these primary layers of the germ. " Just so in the Hydrozoon : the ectoderm gives rise to the hard tegument- ary tissues, to the more important masses of muscular fibres, and to those organs which we have every reason to believe are sensory, while the endoderm undergoes but very little modification. And every organ of a Hydrozoon is produced by budding from one, or other, or both, of these primitive membranes ; the ordinary case being that the new part commences its existence as a papillary process of both membranes, including, of coui-se, a diverticulum of the somatic cavity. " Thus there is a very real and genuine analogy between the adult Hydro- zoon and the embryonic vertebrate animal ; but I need hardly say it \)\ no means justifies the' assumption that the Hydrozoa are in any sense 'arrested developments ' of higher organisms. All thiit can justly be affirmed is, that the » "Observations upon the Anatomy of the Diphydje and the UnUy of Orgnnizi- tion of the DipJiydse and Physophoridfp." An abstract of this essay "was published in the '• Proceedings of the Linnsean Society " for 1849. U4 THE ANATOMY OF INYERTEBRATED ANIMALS. but it is a secondary and, in the lower Sydrozoa^ inconspicu- ous production. All the Hydrozoa are provided Avith tentactda' These are elongated and sometimes filiform organs of prehension, which are generally diverticula of both ectoderm and endo- derm, but may be outgrowths of only one of them. Thread-cells, or nematocysts, are very generally distributed through the tissues of the (Joelenterata. In its most perfect form, a nematocyst is an elastic, thick-walled sac, coiled up in the interior of which is a long filament, often serrated or pro- vided with spines. The filament is hollow, and is continuous with the wall of the sac at its thicker or basal end, while its other pointed end is free. Very slight pressure causes the Fig. 14— Sacculus of a tent-icle with nematocvsta of Athorybia: J., peduncle or stalk, and 5, involucrum of the sacculus C; A filaments; 4, 5, DiphyzoOid (Sphe7ioides),\SLtGT^\ and front views. ^, DiphvzoCid of Abyla {Cuboides). cr, e. gonoijhore or reproductive oriran ; b, hvdranth; c, phyl- locyst or cavity of hydrophyllium, with its process {d). D, free gonophore, its manubrium (a) containing ova. * The species of Cephea., the anatomy of which is here given, was obtained in the South Pacific, near the LouLsiade Archipelago, on the 11th of July, 1849. THE SIPHONOPHORA. 127 3. The Siphonophora. — In this group the hydrosoma is always free and flexible, the ectoderm developing no hard chitinous exoskeleton, save in the case of the pneumatophores of some species. In most, the hydranths are of equal size ; but in Velella and JPorpita, the hydranth situated in the centre of the discoidal body is very much larger than the rest, which occupy a circumferential zone around it ; and the Fig. 2i.~A(horybia rosacea.— A, lateral view ; B. from above; C, 2), detached hydro- phyllia ; a, polypites ; 6, tentacles ; c, sacculi of the tentacles ; d, hydropbyilia ; /, pneumatophoie. principal function of which is to develop the gonophores from their pedicles. In these two genera the tentacula are separate from the hydranths, and form the outermost circle of appendages. The hydranths of the Siphonophora (Fig. 25, A) never possess a circlet of tentacula round the mouth, which, when expanded, is trumpet-shaperl. The endoderm of the hydranth is ciliated, and villus-like prominences project into its cavity. The aboral surface of the umbrella was of a brownish-srrav color, variesrated with oval white spots ; the oral surface, liorht brown with eisrht bluish-green lines radiating toward the lithocvsts ; the brachia, gray with brown dpts.^ The brachia divide into two at their origin, and then subdivide into an infinity of small branches. The general color of the smaller branches is light brown, the small interspersed clavate tentacles being white. The long tentacles which terminate each brachium are blue and cylindrical at their origin, but become trigonal farther on, where they are shaded with brown and green. Is it identi- calwith the Cephea ocellata of Peron and Lesueur? The individual figured was a young male. 128 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. The interior of these frequently contains vacuolar spaces (Fig. 24, B^ C). A valvular "pylorus" separates the gastric from the somatic cavity in the Calycophoridm. Long tenta- cles, frequently provided with unilateral series of branches, are developed, either one from the base of each hydranth, or, independently of the hydranths, from the coenosarc. In the Calycophoridm and many Fhysophoridce, complex Tig. 25.— AfhoryMa rosacea.— A. a hydranth with villi (a). B, one of the rilli in its elongated state, enlargeii, C, a small retracted villus, still more magnified, with its vacuolar epaces and ciliated surface. organs, containing a sort of battery of thread-cells, terminate each lateral branch of a tentacle (Figs. 24 and 26). Each consists of an elongated saccidvs, terminated by two fila- mentous appendages, and capable of being spirally coiled up. In this state it is invested by an involucrum, which surrounds its base. Tlie somatic cavity is continued through the branch, v/hich constitutes the peduncle of this organ, into the saccu- lus and its terminal filaments. In the latter it is narrow, and their thick walls contain numerous small spherical nemato- cysts. In the sacculus the cavity is wider. One wall is very thick, and multitudes of elongated nematocysts, the lateral series of which are sometimes larger than the rest, are dis- posed parallel with one another, and perpendicular to the surface of the sac. Like the other organs, each of these tentacular appendages commences as a simple diverticulum of the ectoderm and endoderm, and passes through the stages represented in Fig. 26. In Physalia the tentacula may be several feet long. They have no lateral branches, but the large nematocysts are situ- THE SIPflONOPHORA. 129 ated in transverse reniform thickenings of the wall of the ten- tacle, which occur at regular intervals. FiQ. 26. — Athorybia rosacea.— The ends of the tentacnlar branches in varioas stages of developmeut. A, lateral branch, commeucin^ as a bud from the tentacle. In B, terminal papillaa, the rudiments of ihe filaments, are developed at the extremi- ty of the branch ; and, in (7, the sacculus is beginning to be marked off, and thread- cells have appeared in its walls ; in Z>, the division into involucrum and sacculus is apparent; in £", the involucrum has inve!*ted the sacculus, the extremity of which is straight, while the lateral processes have curled round it. Hydrophyllia are generally present, and, like the tentacu- la, are developed either from the pedicle of a hydranth, in which case they inclose the hydranth with its tentacle and a group of gonophores (GalycopJioridoe)^ or, independently of the hydranths, from the coenosarc (many Physophoridce). The hydrophyllia are transparent, and often present very beautifully defined forms, so that they resemble pieces of cut glass. They are composed chiefly of the ectoderm (and meso- derm), but contain a prolongation of the endoderm, with a corresponding diverticulum of the somatic cavity. They are, in fact, developed as ccecal processes of the endoderm and ectoderm ; but the latter, with the mesodermal layer, rapidly predominates. The gonophores of the Slphonophora present every varie- ty, from a simple form, in which the medusoid remains in a state of incomplete development, to free medusoids of the Gymnophthalmatous type. As an example of the former 130 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. condition the gonophores of Atkoryhia may be cited (Fig*. 27) ; of the latter, the gonophores of Physalla^ Porpita^ and Velella. In Athoryhia, groups of gonophores, together with pyri- form sacs, which resemble incompletely develoj^ed hydranths (hydrocysts — Fig. 27, -4, a), are borne upon a common stem, and constitute a gonohlastidium, (Fig. 27, A), The groups of male and female gonophores (Fig. 27, A^ h^ c) are borne upon separate branches of the gonohlastidium (androphores Fig. Vl.—Athoryhia rosacea.— A, gonoblastidium bearincr three hydrocysts, a ; gyno- phore, b ; and two androphores, c. B, female gonophores on their common i, female gonophores enlarged ; a, germinal vehicle ; b, vifellua; c, radial canals of the imperfect nectocalyx ; d, canals ol the manubrial cavity. E, male gouophore, and gyjiojihores). Each female gonophore contains only a single ovum, which projects into the cavity of the imperfectly THE STPHOXOPHORA. 131 differentiated manubrium, and narrowing its cavity at differ- ent points gives rise to the irregular canals (Fig. 27, D^ d). In the male gonophore the nectocal3'^x is more distinct from the manubrium, and its extremity has a rounded aperture (Fig. 27, E). In the Calycoplioridoe^ as in the elongated Physophoridoe,^ the development of new hydranths and their appendages, which is constantly occurring, takes place at that end of the hydrosoma which corresponds to the fixed extremity of one of the Hydrophora / and, if we consider this to be the proxi- mal end, new buds are developed on the proximal side of those already formed. Moreover, these buds are formed on one side only of the hydrosoma. Hence the appendages are strictly unilateral, though they may change their position so as eventually to appear bilateral or even whorled. In the Calycopjhoridct^^ the saccular proximal end of the coenosarc (Fig. 22, A^ d) is inclosed within the anterior nectocalyx, at the posterior end of which is a chamber, the hydroechctn (Fig. ^'i^ A, c). The second, or posterior, nectocalyx is at- tached in such a way that its anterior end is inclosed within the hydroecium of the anterior nectocalyx, while its contrac- tile chamber lies on the opposite side of the axis to that on which the anterior nectocalyx is placed (Fig. 22, A). Sets of appendages (Fig. 22, A, a ; Fig. 23), each consisting of a hydrophyllium, a hydranth with its tentacle, and gonophores, which last bud out from the pedicle of the hydranth — are developed at regular intervals on the coenosarc, and the long chain trails behind as the animal swims with a darting mo- tion, caused by the simultaneous rhythmical contraction of its nectocalyces, through the water (Fig. 22). From what has been said, it follows that the distal set of appendages is the oldest, and, as they attain their full de- velopment, each set becomes detached, as a free-swimming, complex Dlphyzooid (Fig. 23). In this condition they grow and alter their form and size so much, that they were for- merly regarded as distinct genera of what were termed mono- gastric Diphydce. The gonophores, with which these are provided, in their turn become detached, increase in size, become modified in form, and are set free as a third series of independent zooids (Fig. 23, D), But their manubrium does not develop a mouth and become a functional hydranth ; on the contrary, the generative elements are developed in its wall, and are set free by its dehiscence. In the Physophoridce, ithe proximal end of the hydrosoma 133 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. is provided with a pneumatophore. This is a dilatation, into which the ectoderm is invaginated, so as to form a receptacle, which becomes filled with air and sometimes has a terminal opening, through which the air can be expelled (Fig. 13, 4). Tt is sometimes small, relatively to the hydrosoma (Agalma, Physojyhora) ; sometimes so large {Athorybia, Fig. 24 ; Phy- salia, Forpita, Velella), that the whole hydrosoma becomes the investment of the pyriform or discoidal air-sac ; while the latter is sometimes converted into a sort of harl inner shell, its cavity being subdivided by septa into numerous chambers (Porpita, Velella). Nectocalyces may be present or absent in the Fhysojyho- ridce. When present, their number varies, but they are con- fined to the region of the hydrosoma which lies nearest to the pneumatophore. In the great majority of the Hydrozoa, the ovum under- goes cleavage and conversion into a morula, and subsequently into a planula, possessing a central cavity inclosed in a double cellular wall, the inner layer of which constitutes the hypo- blast, and the outer the epiblast. In most S'jdrophora the ciliated, looomodve, planula be- com3s elongated and fixed by its aboral pole. At the oppo- site end, the mouth appears and the embryo passes into the gastrula stage. Tentacles next bud out round the mouth, and to this larval condition, common to all the Sydrophora, AUman has sriven the name of Actinida. Generally, the embryo fixes itself by its aboral extremity at the end of tlie planula stage ; but, in certain Tubularidce^ while the embryo is still free, a circlet of tentacles is devel- oped close to the aboral end ; and this form of larva differs but very slightly from that w^iich is observed in the Disco- 'pJiora. In the genus Pelagia, for example, the tentacles are de- veloped from the circumference of the embryo, midway be- tween the oral and aboral poles ; but it neither fixes itself nor elongates into the ordinary actinula-form. On the con- trary, it remains a free-swimming organism, and, by degrees, ' that moiety of the body which lies on the aboral side of the tentacular circlet widens and is converted into the umbrella, the other moiety becoming the hydranth, or " stomach," of the Medusa. In Lucernaria^ it is probable that the larva fixes itself be- fore or during the development of the umbrella, and passes THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HYDROZOA. 133 directly into the adult condition. But, in most Discopliora^ tlie embryo becomes a fixed actinula (the so-called Hydra tuba OT jScyj^histoma, Fig. 28, 1.), multiplies agamogenetically by budding, and gives rise to permanent colonies of Hydri- form polyps. At certain seasons of the year, some of these enlarge and undergo a farther agamogenetic multiplication by fission (Fig. 28, II.). In fact, each divides transversely into a number of eight-iobed discoidal medusoids i^'' Ephyr(B " or '■' 3Ieduscje bijidce,''^ Fig. 28, II. and III.), and thus passes into what has been termed the Strohlla stage. The Ephyrm^ becoming detached from one another and from the stalk of the Strobila, are set free, and, undergoing a great increase in size, take on the form of the adult Discophore, and acquire reproductive organs. The base of the Strobila may develop tentacles (Fig. 28, II.) and resume the Scyphlstoma condition. Metschnikofi"^ has recently traced out the development of Geryonia ( Carmarina)^ Polyxenia^^glnopsis^ and other i>?5- cophora^ which diflfer from the foregoing in possessing a velum ; and in these, as in the Trachynema ciliatum^ observed by Gegenbaur,' the process appears to be of essentially the same nature as in Pelagia, The Scyi^histoma of Aurelia, Cyanoea^ and their allies, is probably to be regarded, like the larva of Pelagia^ as a Discophore with a rudimentary disk ; in which case the reproduction of the Ephyra-ioiWi^ of young Disco- phora will not be comparable to the development of medusoid gonophores among the Hydrophora^ but will merely be a pro- cess of multiplication, by transverse fission, of a true, though undeveloped, Discophore. In the Siphonoijhora^ the result of yelk division Is the formation of a ciliated body consisting of a small-celled ectoderm investing a solid mass of large blastomeres, which eventually pass into the cells of the endoderm. This body does not take the form of an actinula. On the contrary, it appears to be the rule that buds from w^hich a hydroph3dlium, a nectocalyx, a tentacle, or pneumatophore, or even all of them, will be developed, take their origin antecedently to the formation of the first polypite and of the gastric cavity. As Metschnikoff well remarks, the m.ode of development of the Siplionopliora is wholly inconsistent with the doctrine that the various appendages of the hydrosoma in these ani- ^ " Studien uber die Entwickelung der Medusen und Siplionoplioren." {Zeitschrift fur wiss. Zool., xxiv.) a " Zur Lehre der Generationsvrechsel." 1854. 3 See especially tlie late observations of AletschnikofF, he. cit. 134 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBEATED ANIMALS. li liiKij i i li^if iiniil I I i\ \ ' '. ' '.\ : ' ' ■ ! ' ? ?•• • ! !: ■ :'■ ;: ; •' • ii!\iiiiin iinUniHlnlin J riiiill nniirin \\\\\ I iiiliUililiihUy lii \ il i UU \iUn i \ liu uM \ I Fro. 28.— I. and II.— Cyanoea capillata (after Van Beneden^). I. Two Hydrce tubce (Scyphistoma stage), exhibiting their ordinary character?, and between them two (a, b) which are undergoing fission (Sii^obila ?tage). n. The two StrobUm, a and ft, three day? later. In a. tentacles are developed be- neath the lowest of the Ephyrae, from the stalk of the Strobila, which will persist as a Hydra tuba. III. Hair the disk of an Ephyra of Aurelia aurita, seen from the oral face. The Bmall tentacles which lie between the mouth and the band of circular muscular fibres are inside the somatic cavity, whence sixteen short and wide radial canala extend to the periphery, where they are united by transverse branches. Eight of the radial canals enter the corresponding lobes, and finally divide into three branches: one which enters the peduncle of the lithocyst. and two lateral caeca. Radiating bands of muscular fibres accompany these canals. rV". Side view of one of the lithocysts with its peduncle. The arrow indicates the direction in which the cilia of the exterior work. ' "Eecherches sur la Faune littorale de Belgique. Polypes." 1866. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HYDROZOA. I35 mals represent individuals. The Hydrozoa are not properly- compound organisms, if this phrase implies a coalescence of separate individualities ; but they are organisms, the organs of which tend more or less completely to become independent existences or zooids. A medusoid, though it feeds and main- tains itself, is, in a morphological sense, simply the detached independent generative organ of the hydrosoma on which it was developed ; and what is termed the " alternation of gen- erations," in these and like cases, is the result of the dissocia- tion of those parts of the organism on which the generative function devolves, from the rest/ In certain Z>/5ca;9^ora belonging to the group of Trachy- Jiemata, a method of multiplication by gemmation has been observed, which is unknown among the other Hydrozoa. It mav be termed entogastrio gemmation, the bud growing out from the wall of the gastric cavit}^, into which it eventually passes on its way outward ; while, in all other cases, gemma- tion takes place by the formation of a diverticulum of the whole wall of the gastro-vascular cavity which projects on to the free surface of the body, and is detached thence (if it be- come detached), at once, into the circumjacent water. The de- tails of this process of entogastric gemmation have been traced by Haeckel ^ in Gannirlna hastata, one of the Geryonidm, As in other members of that family, a conical process of the mesoderm, covered by the endoderm, projects from the roof of the gastric cavity and hangs freely down into its interior. Upon the surface of this, minute elevations of -g-Jifth of an inch in diameter make their appearance. The cells of w^hich these outgrowths are composed next become differentiated into two layers — an external clear and transparent layer, which is in contact with the cone, and invests the sides of the elevation ; and an inner darker mass. The external layer is the ectoderm of the young medusoid, the inner its endoderm. A cavity, which is the commencement of the gastric cavity, ap- pears in the endodermal mass, and opens outward on the free side of the bud. The latter, now ^tq-*^ ^^ ^^ ^"^^^^ ^" diameter, has assumed the form of a plano-convex disk, fixed by its flat side to the cone, and having the oral aperture in the centre of its convex free side. The disk next increasing in height, the » I have seen no reason to depart from the opinions on the subject of 'Animal individuality' enunciated in my lecture published in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History for June, 1852. 2 " Beitrage zur Naturgeschi elite der Hy drome dusen," 1865. 136 THE ANATOMY OF IXVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. body acquires the form of a flask with a wide neck. The belly of the flask is the commencement of the umbrella of the bud- ding medusoid ; the neck is its gastric division. The belly of the flask, in fact, continues to widen out until it has the form of a flat cup, from the centre of which the relatively small gastric neck projects, and the bud is converted into an unmis- takable medusoid, attached to the cone by the centre of the aboral face of its umbrella. In the mean while, the gelatinous transparent mesoderm has appeared, and, in the umbrella, has acquired a great relative thickness. Into this, eight prolonga- tions of the gastric cavity extend, and give rise to the radial canals, which become united into a circular canal at the cir- cumference of the disk. The velum, tentacula, and lithocysts are developed, and the bud becomes detached as a free swim- ming medusoid. But this medusoid is very different from the Garmarina from which it has budded. For example, it has eight radial canals, while the Cannarina has only six ; it has solid tentacles, while the adult Cannarina has tubular tenta- cles ; it has no gastric cone, and has differently disposed lith- ocysts. Haeckel, in fact, identifies it with Cunina rhodo- dactyla, a form which had hitherto been considered to be not only specifically and generically different from Carmarina^ but to be a member of a distinct family — that of the uS^ginidm, What makes this process of asexual multiplication more remarkable is, that it takes place in Carmarince which have already attained sexual maturity, and in males as well as in females. There is reason to believe that a similar process of ento- gastric proliferation occurs in several other species of uSiJgi' nidm — ^gineta prolifera (Gegenbaur), Eury stoma ruhigi- nosum (KoUiker), and Cunina Kollikeri (F. Miiller) ; but, in all these cases, the medusoids which result from the gem- mative process closely resemble the stock from which they are produced. As might be expected, the Hydrozoa are extremely rare in the fossil state, and probably the last animal the discovery of fossil remains of which could be anticipated is a jelly-fish. Nevertheless, some impressions of Medusae, in the Solenhofen slates, are sufficiently well preserved to allow of their deter- mination as members of the group of Rhizostomidm^ The * Haeckel, " Ueher zwei neiie fossile Meclnsen aus der Fainilie der BH- zostomiden." (" Jahrbuch fiir Mineralogie," 1866.) THE ACTINOZOA. 137 apparent absence of the remains of Hydrophora in the meso- zoic and newer palaeozoic rocks is very remarkable. Some singular organisms, termed Graptolites^ which abound in the Silurian rocks, may possibly be Hydrozoa, though they present points of resemblance with the Polyzoa. They are simple or branched stems, sometimes slender, sometimes ex- panded or foliaceous ; occasionally the branches are connected at their origin by a membranous expansion. The stems are tubular, and beset on one or both sides with minute cup- shaped prolongations, like the thecse of a Sertularian. A solid thickening of the skeleton may have the appearance of an independent axis. Allman has suggested that the theciform projections of the Graptolite stem may correspond with the mematophores of Sertularians, and that the branches may have been terminated by hydranths. Appendages which ap- pear to be analogous to the gonophores of the Hydrophora have been described in some Graptolites.^ With a very few exceptions {Hydra, CordylopJiora) the Hydrozoa are marine animals ; and a considerable number, like the CalycoplioridcQ and Physoplioridae, are entireh' pe- lagic in their habits. The Actixozoa. — The essential distinctions between the Actinozoa and the Hydrozoa are two. In the first place, the oral aperture of an Actinozoon leads into a sac, which, with- out prejudice to the question of its exact function, may be termed " gastric," and which is not, like the hydranth of the Hydrozoon, free and projecting, but is sunk within the body. From the walls of the latter it is separated by a cavity, the sides of which are divided- by partitions, the tnesenteries, which radiate from the wall of the gastric sac to that of the body, and divide the somatic cavity into a corresponding num- ber of interinesenteric chambers. As the gastric sac is open at its inner end, however, its cavity is in free communication with that of the central space which communicates with the intermesenteric chambers ; and the central space, together with the chambers, which are often collectively termed the *' body cavity " or " perivisceral cavity," are, in reality, one with the digestive cavity, and, as in the Hydrozoa, consti- stute an enter ocode. Thus an Actinozoon might be com- pared to a Lucernarla, or still better to a Carduella, in which the outer face of the hydranth is united with the inner face 1 Hall, " Graptolltes of the Quebec Series of North America," I860. Nichol- son, " Monograph of the British Graptolitidiis," 1872. 138 THE ANATOMY OF INYERTEBRATED ANIMALS. of the umbrella ; under these circumstances the canals of the umbrella in the Hydrozoon would answer to the intermesen- teric chambers in the Actinozoon. Secondly, in the Actmozoa^ the reproductive elements are developed in the walls of the chambers or canals of the en- terocoele, just as they so commonly are in the walls of the gastro-vascular canals of the Hjdrozoa^ but the generative organs thus constituted do not project outwardly, nor dis- charge their contents directly outward. On the contrary, the ova and spermatozoa are shed into the enterocoele, and event- ually make their way out by the mouth. In this respect, again, the Actinozoon is comparable to a Lucernaria modi- fied by the union of the hydranth with the ventral face of the umbrella ; under which circumstances the reproductive ele- ments, which in all Hydrozoa are developed, either in the walls of the hydranth or in those of the oral face of the um- brella, would be precluded from making their exit by any other route than through the gastro-vascular canals and the mouth. In the fundam3ntal composition of the body of an ecto- derm and endoderm, with a more or less largely developed mesoderm, and in the abundance of thread-ceils, the Actino- zoa agree with the Hydrozoa. In most of the Actinozoa, the simple polyp, into which the embryo is converted, gives rise by budding to many zooids which form a coherent whole, termed by Lacaze-Du- thiers a zoanthodeme. The C0RA.LLIGEXA. — The Actinozoa comprehend two groups — the Goralligena and the Ctenophora — which are widely different in appearance though fund amen tall}^ similar in structure. In the former, the mouth is always surrounded by one or more circlets of tentacles, which may be slender and conical, or short, broad, and fimbriated. The mouth is usually elongated in one direction, and, at the extremities of the long diameter, presents folds which are continued into the gastric cavity. The arrangement of the parts of the body is therefore not so completely radiate as it appears to be. The enterocoele is divided into six, eight, or more wide inter- mesenteric chambers, which communicate with the cavities of the tentacles, and sometimes directly with the exterior, by apertures in the parietes of the body. The mesenteries which separate these wide chambers are thin and membranous. Two of them, at opposite ends of a transverse diameter of the Ac- THE CORALLIGENA. 139 tinozo(3n, are often different from the rest. Each mesentery ends, at its aboral extremity, in a free edge, often provided Fig. 29.— Perpendicular section of Actinia holsatica (after Frey and Leuckart).— a, mouth; 6, j^astric cavity; c, common cavity, iuto wliich the gastric cavity and the intermesenteric chambers open; c?, intermesenteric chambers; e, thickened free margin, containing thread-cells of, /, a mesentery; g^ reproductive organ ; A, tentacle. with a thickened and folded margin ; and these free edges look toward the centre of an axial cavity,^ into which the gas- tric sac and all the intermesenteric chambers open. In the Coralligena., the outer wall of the body is not pro- vided with bands of large paddle-like cilia. Most of them are fixed temporarily or permanently, and many give rise by gemmation to turf-like, or arborescent, zoanthodemes. The great majority possess a hard skeleton, composed principally of carbonate of lime, which may be deposited in permanently disconnected spicula in the walls of the body ; or the spicula may run into one another, and form solid networks, or dense plates, of calcareous matter. When the latter is the case, the calcareous deposit may invade the base and lateral walls of the body of the Actinozoon, thus giving rise to a simple cup, or theca. The skeleton thus formed, freed of its soft parts, is a " cup-coral," and receives the name of a corallite. In a zoanthodeme, the various polyps (anthozooids) formed by gemmation may be distinct, or their several enter- ocoeles may communicate ; in which last case, the common connecting mass of the body, or ccenosarc, may be traversed by a regular S3'stem of canals. And, when such compound » Partially-digested substances are often found in this axial space, and it is not improbable that it may functionally represent the stomach or the com- mencement of the intestine in higher animals. 140 THE ANATOMY OF INVEKTEBRATED ANIMALS. Actinozoa develop skeletons, tLe corallites may be distinct, and connected only by a substance formed by the calcifica- tion of the coenosarc, which is termed coenenchyma j or the thecas may be imperfectly developed, and the septa of adja- cent corallites run into one another. There are cases, again, in which the calcareous deposit in the several polyps of a compound Actinozoon, and in the superficial parts of the coe- nenchyma, remains loose and spicular, wiiile the axial por- tion of the coenosarc is converted into a dense chitincus cr cal- cified mass — the so-called sclerohase. The mesoderm contains abundantly developed muscular fibres. The question whether the Coralligena possess a ner- vous system and organs of sense, hardly admits of a definite answer at present. It is only in the Actinidce that the ex- istence of such organs has been asserted ; and the nervous circlet of Actinia^ described by Spix, has been seen by no later investigator, and may be safely assumed to be non-exist- ent. Prof. P. M. Duncan, F. R. S.,^ however, has recently described a nervous apparatus, consisting of fusiform gan- glionic cells, united by nerve-fibres, which resemble the sym- pathetic nerve-fibrils of the Yertehrata^ and form a plexus, which appears to extend throughout the pedal disk, and very probably into other parts of the body. In some of the ActmidcB (e. g.-, Actinia mesembryantliemwni)^ brightly-col- ored bead-like bodies are situated in the oral disk outside the tentacles. The structure of these "chromatcphores," or " bourses calicinales," has been carefully investigated by Schneider and Rotteken, and by Prof. Duncan. They are diverticula of the body wall, the surface of which is com- posed of close-set " bacilli," beneath w^iich lies a layer of strongly-refracting spherules, followed by another layer of no less strongly-refracting cones. Subjacent to these, Prof. Duncan finds ganglion cells and nervous plexuses. It would seem, therefore, that these bodies are rudimentary eyes. The sexes are united or distinct, and the ovum is ordina- rily, if not always, provided with a vitelline membrane. The impregnated ovum gives rise to a ciliated morula, which may either be discharged or undergo further development within the somatic cavity of the parent. The morula becomes a gas- trula, but whether by true invagination or by delamination, as in most of the Ilydrozoa^ is not quite clear. The gastrula usually fixes itself by its closed end, while tentacles are de- » " On the Nervous System of Actinia." (" Proceedings of the Eoyal Socie- ty," October 9, 1873.) THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CORALLIGENA, 141 veloped from its oral end. It can hardly be doubted that the intermesenterio chambers are diverticula of the primitive en- terocoele ; but the exact mode of their origin needs further elucidation. Lacaze-Duthiers ^ has recently thrown a new light upon the development of the Coralligena^ and particularly of the Acthiim {Actinia, Sagartia, Bimodes). These animals are generally hermaphrodite, testes and ovaria being usually found in the same animal, and even in the same mesenteries ; but it may happen that the organs of one or the other sex are, at any given time, exclusively developed. The ova undergo the early stages of their development within the body of the parent. The process of yelk division was not observed, and in the earliest condition described the embryo was an oval planula-like body, composed of an inner colored substance and an outer colorless layer. The outer layer (epiblast = ec- toderm) soon becomes ciliated. An oval depression appears at one end, and becomes the mouth ^ and gastric sac, while, at the opposite extremity, the cilia elongate into a tuft. The ectoderm extends into and lines the gastric sac, while the in- terior of the colored hypoblast becomes excavated by a cav- ity, the enterocoele, which communicates with the gastric sac. In this condition the embryo swims about with its oral pole directed backward. The oral aperture changes its form and becomes elongated in one direction, which may be termed the oral axis. The mesenteries are paired processes of the transparent outer layer (probably of that part which constitutes the mesoderm) which mark off corresponding segments of the enterocoele. The first which make their appearance are directed nearly at right angles to the oral axis near, but not exactly in, the centre of its length. Hence they divide the enterocoele into two primitive chambers, a smaller (A) at one end of the oral axis, and a larger (A') at the other. This condition may be represented by A-4-A'; the dots indicating the position of the primitive mesenteries, and the hyphen that of the oral axis. It is interesting to remark that, in this state, the em- 1 " Developpement, des CoralUaircs." {ArcMves de Zoologie experim^ntale^ 1872.)^ 2 Kowalewsky describes the formation of a ffastrula by invagination in a spe- cies of Actinia and in Cereanthus^ the aperture of invacfination becoming the mouth (llofmann and Schwalbe, " Jahresbericht," Bd. II., p. 269). In other species of Actinia and in Alcijonium^ the planuhx seems to delamiuate. Ordi- nary yelk division occurs in some Anthozoa^ while in others {Alcyonium) the process rather resembles that which occurs in most Arthropods. 142 THE ANATOMY OF INYERTEBRATED ANIMALS. bryo is a bilaterally symmetrical cylindrical body, with a cen- tral canal, the future gastric sac ; and, communicating there- with, a bilobed enterocoele, which separates the central canal from the body- wall. In fact, in principle, it resembles the early condition of the embryo of a Ctenophore, a Brachiopod, or a Sag lit a. Another pair of mesenteric processes now makes its ap- pearance in the larger chamber A', and cuts off two lateral chambers, B, B, which lie between these secondary mesenteries and the primary ones. In this state the enterocoele or somat- ic cavity is four-chambered f A-f-r? AM. Next a third pair of mesenteries appear in the smaller chamber (A), and divide it into three portions, one at the end of the oral axis (A), and two lateral (C, C). In this stage there are therefore six A p-^-T) A' ) ; but almost immediately the number is increased to eight, by the development of a fourth pair of mesenteries in the chambers B, B, which thus give rise to the chambers D, D, between the primitive mesenteries and them- selves. The embryo remains in the eight-chambered condition (a p/-T-yA -D AM for some time, until all the chambers and their dividing mesenteries become equal. Then a fifth and a sixth pair of mesenteries are formed in the chambers C, C, and D, D ; two pairs of new chambers, E and F, are produced, and thus the Actinia acquires twelve chambers (A p p^^T^ t) "r -^ /> ^^^ of which result from the subdivision of the smaller primary chamber, and seven from that of the larger primary chamber. The various chambers now acquire equal dimensions, and the tentacles begin to bud out from each. The appearance of the tentacles, however, is not simultaneous. That which pro- ceeds from the chamber A' is earliest to appear, and for some time is largest, and, at first, eight of the tentacles are larger than the other four. The coiled marginal ends of the mesenteries appear at first upon the edges of the two primary mesenteries ; then upon the edge of the fourth pair, and afterward upon those of the other pairs. For tb.e further chan2:es of the young Actioiia, I must refer to the work cited. Sufficient has been said to show that the development of the ActinicB follows a law of bilateral symmetry, and to bring out the important fact that, in the THE OCTOCORALLA. 143 course of its development, the finally hexamerous Antho- zoon passes through a tetramerous and an octomerous stage. Phenomena analogous to the " alternation of generations," which is so common among the Hydrozoa^ are unknown among the great majority of the Actinozoa. But Semper ^ has recently described a process of agamogenesis in two spe- cies of Fungice, which he ranks under this head. The Fungim bud out from a branched stem, and then become detached and free, as is the habit of the genus. To make the parallel with the production of a medusoid from a hydroid polyp complete, however, the stem should be nourished by a sexless anthozooid of a different character from the forms of Fimgice which are produced by gemmation. And this does not appear to be the case. In one division of the Coralligena — the Octocoralla — eight enterocoele chambers are developed, and as many ten- tacles. Moreover, these tentacles are relatively broad, flat- tened, and serrated at the edges, or even pinnatifid. The Actinozoun developed from the e^g wi^^y remain simple (Haimea^ Milne-Edwards), but usually gives rise to a zoan- thodeme. The coenosarc of the zoanthodeme in the Octocoralla is a substance of fleshy consistence, which is formed chiefly of a peculiar kind of connective tissue, containing many muscular fibres developed in the thickened mesoderm. The axial cavity of each anthozooid is in communication with a system of large canals. In Alcyonixtm^ a single large canal descends from each anthozooid into the interior of the zoanthodeme, and the eight mesenteries are continued as so man}' ridges throughout its entire length,'' so that these tubes have been compared to the thecal canals of the Millepores. In the red coral of commerce ( Corallium ruhruin^ Fig. 30), the large canals run parallel with the axial skeleton. A delicate net- work, which traverses the rest of the substance of the coeno- sarc, appears to be sometimes solid and sometimes to form a system of fine canals opening into the larger ones. The anthozooids possess numerous muscles by which their move- ments are effected. The fibres are delicate, pale, and not striated. Nerves have not been certainly made out. It is in these Octocoralla that the form of skeleton which is termed a sclerobase, which is formed by cornification or 1 " Ueber Generations-Wechsel bei Steinkorallen." Leipsic, 1872. 2 Pouchet and Myevre, " Contribution a I'Auatomie des Alcyonaires." {Journal d' Anatomie et de la Physiologie^ 1870.) 144 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. Fig. 30. — Corallium rubrum (after Lacaze-Duthiers ^). I. The end of a branch with A, B, C, three anthozoSids in different desrees of ex- pansion ; k, the mouth ; a, that part of the coenosarc which rises into a cup around the base of each anthozoOid. II. Portion of a branch, the coenosarc of which has been divided longitudinallj' and partially removed; B, B\ B'\ anthozooids in section; B^ anthozoOid with ex- panded tentacles; k, mouth ; m, gastric sac ; e, its inferior edge; j^ mesenteries. J?', anthozoOid retracted, with the tentacles {d) drawn back into the intermesenteric chambers; c, oriftcea of the cavities of the invaginated tentacles ; e, circum-oral cavity ; 6, the part of the body which forms the projecting tube when the antho- zoOid is expanded ; a, festooned edges of the cup. B" ^ antliozoOid, showing the transverse sections of the mesenteries. -4, A, coenosarc, with its deep longitudinal canals (/'), and superficial, irregular, reticulated canals (A). P, the hard axis of the coral, with longitudinal grooves fj7) answering to the longitudinal vessels. III., IV. Free ciliated embryos. 1 " Ilistoire Naturelle du Corail," 1864. THE ACTiNOZOA. 145 calcification of the axial connective tissue of the zoantho- deme, occurs. It is an unattached simple rod in Pennatula and Veretilluin^ but fixed, tree-like, branched, and even retic- ulated, in the Gorgonim and the red coral of commerce ( Co- rallium). In the Alci/o?iia, or " Dead-men's-fingers," of our own shores, there is no sclerobase, nor is there any in Tuhi- pova^ the organ-coral. But, whereas in all the other Octoco- ralla the bodies of the polyps and the coenosarc are beset with loose spicula of carbonate of lime, Tuhipora is provided with solid tubiform thecse, in which, however, there are no septa. Dimorphism has been observed by Kolliker to occur exten- sively among the Pennatulidce. Each zoanthodeme presents at least two different sets of zooids, some being fully devel- oped, and provided with sexual organs, while the others have neither tentacles nor generative organs, and exhibit some other peculiarities.* These abortive zooids are either scat- tered irregularly among the others (e. g., S>arcophyton^ Fere- tilliwi)^ or may occupy a definite position (e. g., Virgularia), In the other chief division of the Coralligena — the Hexa- eoralla — the fundamental number of enterocoele chambers and of tentacles is six," and the tentacles are, as a rule, rounded and conical, or filiform. The Actinozoon developed from the ^gg in some of the Hexacoralla remains simple, and attains a considerable size. Of these — the Actinidce — many are to some extent locomo- tive, and some {Minyas) float freely by the help of their contractile pedal region. The most remarkable form of this group is the genus Cereanthiis, which has two circlets, each composed of numerous tentacles, one immediately around the oral aperture, the other at the margin of the disk. The foot is elongated, subcorneal, and generally presents a pore at its apex. Of the diametral folds of the oral aperture, one pair is much longer than the other, and is produced as far as the pedal pore. The larva is curiously like a young hydrozoon with four tentacles, and, at one time, possesses four mesen- teries. The ZoanthidcB differ from the Actmidce in little more than their multiplication by buds, which remain adherent, either by a common connecting expansion or by stolons ; and in the possession of a rudimentary, spicular skeleton. In the Antlpathidm there is a sclerobasic skeleton. The proper 1 " Abhandlungen der Senkenberffischen naturforschenden Gesellscliaft," isd. vu., vui. 2 That is to say, in the adult, they are either six or some multiple of six. 7 146 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. stone-corals are essentially Actinice, which become converted into zoanthodemes by gemmation or fission, and develop a continuous skeleton. The skeletal parts ^ of all the Acti7iozoa, consist either of a substance of a horny character ; or of an organic basis im- pregnated with earthy salts (chiefly of lime and magnesia), but which can be isolated by the action of dilute acids ; or, finally, of calcareous salts in an almost crystalline state, form- ing rods or corpuscles, which, when treated with acids, leave only an inappreciable and structureless film of organic matter. The hard parts of all the Aporosa, Perforata^ and Tcibulata of Milne-Edwards are in the last-mentioned condition ; while, in the Octocoralla^ except Tuhipora, and in the Antipathidc^^ andZoa^z^A/f^tf, among the Hexacoralla, the skeleton is either horny ; or consists, at any rate, to begin with, of definitely formed spicula, which contain an organic basis, and frequently present a laminated structure. In the organ-coral [Tuhi2:)ora), the skeleton has the character of that of the ordinary stone- corals, except that it is perforated by numerous minute canals. The skeleton appears, in all cases, to be deposited within the mesoderm, and in the intercellular substance of that layer of the body. Even the definitely shaped spicula of the Octo- coralla seem not to result from the metamorphosis of cells. In the simple aporose corals the calcification of the base and side walls of the body gives rise to the cup or theca / from the base the calcification extends upward in lamelhe, which correspond with the interspaces between the mesenteries, and gives rise to as many vertical septa^ the spaces between which are termed loculi ; while, in the centre, either by union of the septa or independently, a column, the columella^ grows up. Small separate pillars between the columella and the septa are termed p)aluli. From the sides of adjacent septa scattered processes of calcified substance, or synapticnlw, may grow out toward one another, as in the Fimgidm ; or the interrup- tion of the cavities of the loculi may be more complete in consequence of the formation of shelves stretching from sep- tum to septum, but lying at different heights in adjacent loculi. These are interseptal dissephnents. Finally, in the Tahidata, horizontal plates, which stretch completely across tlie cavity of the thcca, are formed one above the other and constitute tahidar dissejnments. 1 See Kolliker, " Icones ITistolosricoe," 1860. 2 Lacaze-Duthiers's investifxations on Astr(xa cali/cularis i>TO\'e that the septa begin to be fonnecl before the theca. THE "TABULATA." 147 In the Aj^orosa the theca and septa are almost invariably imperforate; but, in the Perforata^ they present apertures, and, in some Madrepores, the whole skeleton is reduced to a mere network of dense calcareous substance. When the Hexacoralla multiply by gemmation or fission, and thus give rise to compound massive or arborescent aggregations, each newly-formed coral polyp develops a skeleton of its own, which is either confluent with that of the others, or is united with them by calcification of the connecting substance of the com- mon body. Tliis intermediate skeletal layer is then termed coenenchyma. The septa in the adult Hexacoralla are often very numer- ous and of different lengths, some approaching the centre more closely than others do. Those of the same lengths are members of one " cycle ; " and the cycles are numbered ac- cording to the lengths of the septa, the longest being counted as the first. In the young, six equal septa constitute the first cycle. As the coral grows, another cycle of six septa arises by the development of a new septum between each pair of the first cycle ; and then a third cycle of twelve septa^ di- vides the previously existing twelve interseptal chambers into twenty-four. If we mark the septa of the first cycle A, those of the second B, and those of the third C, then the space be- tween any two septa (A A) of the first cycle will be thus rep- resented when the third cycle is formed — A C B C A. When additional septa are developed, the fourth and fol- lowing cycles do not consist of more than twelve septa each ; hence the septa of each new cycle appear in twelve of the previously existing interseptal spaces, and not in all of them; and the order of their appearance follows a definite law, which has been worked out by Milne-Edwards and Haime. Thus, the septa of the fourth cycle of twelve (d) bisect the inter- septal space A C ; and those of the fifth cycle (e) the inter- septal space B C ; the septa of the sixth cycle (f), A d and d A ; those of thes eventh cycle (g), e B and B e ; those of the eighth cycle (h), d C and C d; and those of the ninth cycle (i), C e and e C. Hence, after the formation of nine cycles, the septa added between every pair of primary septa (A, A) will be thus ar- ranged — A fdhCiegBgeiChdf A.^ The stone-corals ordinaril}'^ known as Mlllepores are char- 1 That the order of oceurreTice of the septa of various lensfths, at the differ- ent stagfes of growth of a corallite, is that indicated, seems to be clear, whatever may be the exact mode of development of the septa in each cycle. 148 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. acterized by being traversed by numerous tubular cavities, which open at the surface, and the deeper parts of which are divided by numerous close-set transverse partitions, or tabular cUsse2nments, while vertical septa are rudimentary or alto- gether absent. These were regarded as Anthozoa, and classed together in the division of Tabidata^ until the elder Agassiz * published his observations on the living Millepora alcicornis, which led him to the conclusion that the Tabulata are Hydrozoa allied to Hydractinia, and that the extinct Mu- gosa were probably of the same nature. The evidence adduced by Agassiz, however, was insuffi- cient to prove his conclusions ; and the subsequent discovery by Verrill that another tabulate coral, Pocillopora, is a true Hexacorallan, while Moseley ^ has proved that Heliopora coeridea is an Octocorallan, gave further justification to those who hesitated to accept Agassiz's views. The recent very thorough and careful investigation of a species of Millepora occurring at Tahiti,^ by Mr. Moseley, although it still leaves us in ignorance of one important point, namely, the characters of the reproductive organs, yet permits no doubt that Millepora is a true Hydrozoon allied to Hydractinia^ as Agassiz maintained. The surface of the living Millepora presents short, broad hydranths, the mouth of which is surrounded by four short tentacles. Around each of these alimentary zooids is disposed a zone of from five to twenty or more, much longer, mouthless zooids, over the bod- ies of which numerous short tentacles are scattered. Each of these zooids expands at its base into a dilatation, whence tubular processes proceed, which ramify and anastomose, giv- ing rise to a thin expanded hydrosoma. The calcareous mat- ter (composed as usual of carbonate, with a small proportion of phosphate of lime) forms a dense continuous crust upon the ectoderm of the ramifications of the hydrosoma, that part of it which underlies the dilatations of the zooids constituting the septa. As the first formed hydrosomal expansion is com- pleted, another is formed on its outer surface, and it dies. The " thecal " canals of the coral arise from the correspond- ence in position of the dilatations of the zooids of successive hydrosomal layers, and the tabulte are their supporting plates. Thus the grou|) of the Tabulata ceases to exist, and its » " Natural History of the United States," vols. iii. and iv., 1860-'62. 2 Moseley, " The Structure and Relations of the Alcyonaruxn, Heliopora, carulea^'' etc. (" Proceedinijs of the Roval Society," November, 1875.) 8 " Proceedin^rs of the Pvoval Societv," 1876. THE REEF-BUILDIXG CORALS. 149 members must be grouped either with the Scxacoralla^ the Octocoralla, or the Hydrozoa. The Hugosa constitute a group of extinct and mainl^r Palaeozoic stone-corals, the thecae of which are provided with tabular dissepiments, and generally have the septa less de- veloped than those of the ordinary stone-corals. The arrange- ment of the parts of the adult Hugosa in fours, and the bilateral symmetry which they sometimes exhibit, are inter- esting peculiarities when taken in connection with the te- tramerous and asymmetrical states of the embryonic Hexaco- ralla. On the other hand, some of the Hugosa possess oper- cula, which are comparable to the skeletal appendages of the Alcyonarian Prlmnoa observed by LindstrOm, and the te- tramerous arrangement of their parts suggests affinity with the Octocoralla. It seems not improbable tiiat these ancient corals represent an intercalary type between the Hexccoralla and the Octocoralla. All the Actbiozoa are marine animals. The Actinice, among the Hexacoralla^ and various forms of Gctocoralla^ have an exceedingly wide distribution, while the latter are found at very great depths. The stone-corals, again, have a wide range, both as respects depth and temperature, but they are most abundant in hot seas, and many are confined to such regions. Some of these stone-corals are solitary in habit, while others are social, grow- ing together in great fields, and forming what are called " coral reefs." The latter are restricted within that compara- tively narow zone of the earth's surface which lies between the isotherms of 60°, or, in other words, they do not extend for more than about 30° on either side of the equator. It is not conditions of temperature alone, however, which limit their distribution ; for, within this zone, the reef-builders are not found alive at a greater depth than from fifteen to twenty fathoms, while at the equator, an average temperature of 68° is not reached within a depth of 100 fathoms. Not only heat, then, but light, and probably rapid and effectual aeration, are essential conditions for the activity of the reef-building Actinozoa. But, even within the coral zone, the distribution of the reef-builders appears to be singularly capricious. None are found on the west coast of Africa, very few on the east coast of South America, none on the west coast of North America ; while in the Indian Ocean, the Pa- cific, and the Caribbean Sea, they cover thousands of square 150 THE ANATOMY OF IXVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. miles. It is by no means certain, however, that any one species of West India reef-coral is identical with any East Indian species, and the corals of the central Paciiic differ very considerably from those of the Indian Ocean. Different species of corals exhibit great differences as to the rapidity of their growth, and the depth at which they flourish best ; and no one must be taken as evidence for anoth- er in these respects. Certain species of Perforata {Madre- poridce and Foritidce) appear to be at once the fastest grow- ers, and those which delight in the shallowest waters. The AstrceidcB among the Aporosa, and Seriatopora among the Tahulata^ live at greater depths, and are probably slower of increase. Under the peculiar conditions of existence winch have just been described, it would seem easy enough to compre- hend, a priori^ the necessary arrangement of coral-reefs. As the reef-building Actinozoa cannot live at greater depths than » twenty fathoms, or thereabouts, it is clear that no reef can be originally formed at a greater depth below the surface, and such a depih usually implies no very great distance from land. Furthermore, we should expect that the growth of the coral would fill up all the space between the shore and this farthest limit of its growth ; so that the shores of coral seas would be fringed by a sort of flat terrace of coral, covered, at most, by a very few feet of water ; that this terrace would extend out until the shelving land upon which it had grown descended to a depth of some twenty fathoms ; and that then it would suddenly end in a steep wall, the summit and upper parts of which would be crowned with overhann^inof ledges of livina: coral, while its base would be hidden by a talus of dead fragments, torn off and accumulated by the waves. Such a "fringing reef" as this, in fact, surrounds the island of Mauritius. The beach here does not gradually shelve down into the depths of the sea, but passes into a flat, irregular bank, covered by a few feet of water, and terminating at a greater or less distance from the shore in a ridge, over which the sea constantly breaks, and the seaward face of which slopes at once sheer down into fifteen or twenty fathoms of water. The structure of a frino-ingr reef varies at different dis- tances from the land, and at different depths in its seaward face. The edge beaten by the surf is composed of living masses of Porites, and of the coral-like plant, the Nulllpore ; deeper than this is a zone of Aporosa (Astrceidce), and of FRINGING REEFS.— ATOLLS. 151 Millepores {Seriato2^ora) ; while, deeper still, all living coral ceases ; the lead bringing up either dead branches, or show- ing the existence of a flat, gently-sloping floor, the true sea- bottom, covered with fine coral sand and mud. Passing from the edge of the reef landward, the Poritldm cease, and are replaced by a ridge of agglomerated dead branches and sand, coated with Nullipore ; the floor of th3 shallow basin, or " lagoon," inclosed between the reef and the land, is formed by a conglomerate, composed of fragments of coral cemented by mud ; and, on this, Meandrmce and FungicB rest and flourish, exhibiting the most gaudy coloration, and sometimes attaining a great size. During storms, masses of coral are hurled on to the floor of the lagoon, and there gradually in- crease the accumulation of rocky conglomerate ; but in no other way can a frin-jino: reef, which has once attained its limit in depth, increase in size, unless, indeed, the talus ac- cumulatins: at the foot of its outer wall should ever rise sufti- ciently high to aff'ord a footing for the corals within their pre- scribed limits of depth. Such is the structure of a fringing reef ; but the great majority of reefs in the Pacific are very different in their character. Along the northeastern coasts of New Holland, for instance, a vast aggregation of reefs lies at a distance from the shore which varies from a hundred to ten miles ; forming a mighty wall or barrier against the waves of the Pacific. At a few hundred yards outside this " barrier reef " no bottom can be obtained with a sounding-line of a thousand fathoms ; between the reef and the mainland, on the con- trary, the sea is hardly ever more than thirty fathoms deep. Many of the islands of the Pacific, again, are encircled with reefs corresponding exactly in their character with the barrier reef ; separated, that is, by a relatively shallow channel from the land, but facing the sea with an almost perpendicular wall which rises from a very great depth. Finally, in many cases, especially among the single reefs, which taken together constitute the great Australian barrier, there is no trace of any central island ; but a circular reef, usually having an opening on its leeward side, stands out in the midst of the sea. These reefs, apparently unconnected with other land, are what are called " Atolls." How have these barrier reefs, encircling reefs, and atolls, been formed ? It is certain that the fabricators of these reefs cannot live at a greater depth than in the fringing reefs. How can they have grown up, then, from a thousand fathoms 152 THE ANATOMY OF INYERTEBRATED ANIMALS. or more ? Why do they take so generally tbe circular form ? What is the connection, finally, between fringing reefs and atolls ? The only thoroughly satisfactory answer to these questions has been given by Mr. Darwin, from whose beauti- ful work on " Coral Reefs " I have borrowed most of the fore- going details. Consider for a moment what would be the effect of a slow and gradual submergence of the island of Mauritius — a submergence, perhaps, of a few feet in a century (at any rate, not greater than the rate of upward growth of coral), continued for age after age. As the edge of the fring- ing reef sank, new coral would grow up from it to the sur- face ; and, as the most active and important of the reef- build- ers flourish best in the very surf of the breakers, so the margin of the reef would grow faster than its inner portion, and the discrepancy would increase as the latter, sinking deeper and deeper, became farther removed from the region of active growth. Nevertheless, the sea-bottom within the reef w^ould constantly tend to be raised by the accumulation of frag- ments, and by the deposit of fine mud, in its sheltered and comparatively calm waters. On the other hand, on the sea- ward face of the reef, no possible extension could take place by direct growth; and that by accumulation must be exceed- ingly slow, the incessant wash of tides, waves, and currents, tending incessantly to spread any talus over a wider and wider area. Thus, then, the edge of the reef unceasingly compensates itself for the depression which it undergoes, while, inside the reef, only a partial compensation takes place, and, outside, hardly any at all. Continue the sinking process until its highest peak was but a few hundred feet above the surface, and all that would be left of Mauritius would be an island surrounded by an encircling reef ; carry on the depression further still, and a circular reef, or atoll, alone would remain. But the region of the coral-reefs is, for the most part, that of constant winds. During the whole process of growth of the reef, therefore, one of its sides — that to windward — has been exposed to more surf than that to leeward. Not only will the greater quantity of debris, therefore, have been heaped up by storms upon the windward side, but the coral-builders themselves will here have been better fed, better aerated, and consequently more active. Hence it is that, other things being alike, there is a probability that the leeward side of the reef will grow more slowly, and repair any damages less easily, than the windward side ; and hence, again, as a result, ANCIENT REEFS. 153 the known fact that the practicable channels of entrance into encircling reefs or atolls are usually to leeward. The winds and waves are singularly aided in grinding down the corals into mud and fragments by the Scari and Holothurim which haunt the reefs ; the former browsing upon the living polyps, with their hard and parrot-like jaws, and passing a fine calcareous mud in their excrements ; the latter, more probably, swallowing only the smaller fragments and mud, and, having extracted from them such nourishment as they may contain, casting out a similar product. It is curious to reflect upon the similarity of action of these worm- like Holothurlw upon the sea-meadows of coral, to that which the Earthworms, as Darwin has shown, exert upon our land-meadows ! In the Palaeozoic period reefs like those which have just been described appear to have abounded in our own latitudes ; and there is the most striking superficial resemblance be- tween the ancient beds of calcareous rock which record their existence, and the masses of coral limestone, hard enough to clink with a hammer, which are now being formed in the Pacific, by the processes of accumulation of coral mud and fragments, and their consolidation by percolating water. Closer examination, however, shows an important difi'erence in the nature of the corals which compose the two reefs. The modern limestones are made up of Perforata, Millepores, and Aporos'i. The ancient ones contain Millepores, but usu- ally neither Perforata nor Aporosa — both these groups being replaced by the Hiigosa, none of whose members (with some doubtful exceptions) have survived the Palaeozoic period. On the other hand, Palmocyclus and Pleurodictyon are the only genera belonging to the Aporosa or Perforata, which have yet been discovered in strata of greater than mesozoic age. The Ctexophora.' — These are freely-swimming marine animals, which never give rise by gemmation to compound organisms, and are always of a soft and gelatinous consist- ence, their chief bulk being made up by the greatly -devel- oped mesoderm. Many are oval or rounded {Beroe, Pleuro- 1 Allman (" Monograpli of the Tubularian HydrolcU," 1871, pagre 3) consid- ers that the CUnophora are more properly arranfjed amonsj the Hydrozoa. I confess, however, that I see no reason to depart irom the conclusion to which I was led by the study of the structure of Pleurobrachia^ many years ago, that the Ctenophora are peculiarly modified Actinozoa. 154 THE ANATOMY OF INYERTEBRATED ANIMALS. hrachia^ Fig. 31), while in others the body is produced into lobes {Callianh'a), or may even be ribbon-shaped (Cestwn) ; but, whatever their form, they present a distinct bilateral symmetry, similar parts being disposed upon opposite sides of a median plane, which is traversed by the axis of the body. The mouth is situated at one end of this axis, which may be termed the oral pole. At the opposite, or aboral pole, there is no median aperture, but usually, if not inva- riably, a pair of apertures a short distance apart. The faces of the halves of the body present four longitudinal bands of long and strong cilia, disposed in transverse rows, like so many paddles ; these constitute the chief organs of locomo- tion. Each half is also often provided with a long retractile tentacle ; and lobed processes of the body, or non-retractile tentacula, may be developed on its oral face. The mouth leads into a wide, but flattened, gastric sac, the aboral end of which is perforated, and leads into a chamber termed the infundibuluin. From the aboral face of this, a canal which bifurcates, or two canals, lead to the aboral apertures. On opposite sides of the infundibulum a canal is given off toward the middle of each half of the body, which sooner or later divides into two, and these two again subdivide, so that four canals, which diverge and radiate toward the inner faces of the rows of paddles, are eventually formed. Having reached the surface, each radiating canal enters a longitudinal canal, which underlies the row of paddles, and may give off branches, or unite with the other longitudinal canals in a circular canal at the aboral end of the body. In addition, two other canals, which run parallel with each flat face of the gastric sac, open into the infundibulum. And, w^hen retractile tentacula are present, their cavities also communicate with the same cham- ber. The entire system of canals is in free communication with the gastric cavity, and corresponds Avith the enterocoele of an JLctinia. Indeed, an Actinia with only eight mesenter- ies, and these exceedingly thick, whereby the intermesenteric chambers would be reduced to canals ; with two aboral pores instead of the one pore, which exists in Cereanthus j and with eight bands of cilia corresponding with the reduced intermesenteric chambers, would have all the essential pecu- liarities of a Ctenophoran. The question whether the Ctenopliora possess a nervous system or not is still under debate. Between the aboral aper- tures there is a rounded cellular body, on which there is THE CTENOPHORA. 155 seated, in many cases, a sac containing solid particles, like one of the lithocysts of the medusiform Hydrozoa, I see no reason to doubt that the rounded body is a ganglion and the sac a rudimentary auditory organ. Bands which radiate from the ganglion to the rows of paddles may be regarded as nerves ; though they may contain other than nervous structures.^ The ova and spermatozoa are developed in the lateral walls of the longitudinal canals, which correspond with the faces of the mesenteries in the CoralUgena^ and the sexes are usually united in the same individual. Fig. 31.— Dia;r'am of Ple>jrdbrachia.—a. month ; 6, stomach ; r, inftindlbulam ; d, hoilzontal canal; «, one of its branches dividini; ajjain at / into two branches which open Into the longitudinal canals, g g, parallel with which the ciliated area runs ; h, sac of the tentacle, 2, with one of its branches, Jc ; I, canal run- n ins; by the side of the stomach; m, tentaculigeroas canal; n n, canals opening at tbe'aboral apertures, o, on each side of j3, the ganglion and lithocyst. 1 Grant originally described a nervous ganglionated ring, whence longitu- dinal cords proceeded in Cydippe {PleurobracJiia)^ but Ms observation has not been veritied by subsequent investigators. According to Milne-Edwards, fol- lowed by others (among whom I must include myself), the nervous system consists of a ganglion, situated at the aboral pole of the body, "whence nerves radiate, the most conspicuous of which are eight cords which run down the corresponding series of paddles ; and a sensor}' organ, having the characters of an otolithic sac, is seated upon the ganglion. Agassiz and Kolliker, on the other hand, have denied that the appearances described (though they really exist) are justly interpreted. And again, though the body, described as an otolithic sac, undoubtedly exists in the position indicated in all or most of the Cterwphora^ the question has been raised whether it is an auditory or visual organ. These problems have been recently reinvestigated with great care, and by the aid of the refined methods of modern histology, by Dr. Eimer, whose de- scription of the nervous system has already been quoted {supra, p. 63). 156 THE ANATOMY OF INYERTEBRATED ANIMALS. The development of the Ctenophora has recently been thoroughly investigated by Kowalewsky and by A. Agassiz (" Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences," 1874). The laid egg is contained in a spacious capsule, and con- sists of an external thin layer of protoplasm, which, in some cases, is contractile, investing an inner vesicular substance. After fecundation, the vitellus thus constituted divides into two, four, and finally eight masses ; on one face of each of these the protoplasmic layer accumulates, and is divided oif as a blastomere of much smaller size than that from which it arises. By repeated division, each of these gives rise to still smaller blastomeres, which become distinctly nucleated wdien the}'' have reached the number of thirty-two, and form a layer of cells, which gradually spreads round the large blas- tomeres, and invests them in a complete blastodermic sac. At the pole of this sac, on the face opposite to that on which these blastoderm-cells begin to make their appearance, an ingrowth or involution of the blastoderm takes place, which, extending: throiio'h the middle of the laro-e velk-masses tow- ard the opposite pole, gives rise to the alimentary canal. This, at first, ends by a rounded blind termination ; but from it, at} a later period, prolongations are given off which be- come the canals of the enterocoele. At the opposite pole, in the centre of the region corre- spondino: with that in which the cells of the blastoderm first make their appearance, the nervous ganglion is developed by metamorphosis of some of these cells. The invaginated portion of the blastoderm, which gives rise to the alimentary canal, appears to answer to the hypo- blast, while the rest corresponds w^th the epiblast. The large blastomeres which become inclosed between the epi- blast and hypoblast in the manner described seem to serve the purpose of a food-yelk ; and the space which they origi- nally occupied is eventually filled by a gelatinous connective tissue, which possibly derives its origin from wandering cells of the epiblast. In those Ctenophora the bodies of which depart widely from the globular form in the adult state, the young undergo a sort of metamorphosis after they leave the Qgg, and have acquired all the essential characters of the group to which they belong. As might be expected from their extreme softness and perishable nature, no fossil Ctenophora are known. CHAPTER IV. THE TURBELLAEIA, THE ROTIFERA, THE TREMATODA, AND THE CESTOIDEA. The TtTRBELLAKiA. — The animals which constitute this group inhabit fresh and salt water and damp localities on land. The smallest are not larger than some of the Infusoria, which they approach very closely in appearance, while the largest may attain a length of many feet. Some are broad, flattened, and discoidal, while others are extremely elongated and relatively narrow. None are divided into distinct seg- ments, except the genus Alaurina, in which there are four ; and the ectoderm, which constitutes the outer surface of the body, is everywhere beset wi1?h vibratile cilia. Rod-like bodies, similiar to those met with in some Infusoria and in many Annelida, are often imbedded in its substance, and in some genera (e. g., Microstomum, Thysanozoon) true thread- cells occur. Stiff setae project from the ectoderm in some species. The aperture of the mouth is sometimes situated at the anterior end of the body, sometimes in the middle, or toward the posterior end, of its ventral face. In many, the oral aperture is surrounded by a flexible muscular lip, which some- times takes on the form of a protrusible proboscis. A definite digestive cavity can hardly be said to exist in the lowest Tarbellaria (e. g., Convoluta) in which the endo- dermal cells are not arranged in such a manner as to bound a central alimentary cavity, and the food finds its way through the interstices of an endodermal parenchyma. In the higher forms, the alimentary cavity, which may be simple or rami- fied, provided with an anal aperture or without one, is lined by the endoderm, between which and the ectoderm is an in- terspace more or less completely occupied by the connective and muscular tissues of the mesoderm. Hence there is no definite perivisceral cavity. 153 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. The Turhellaria possess vessels of two kinds : 1. Water- vessels, which open externally by one or more pores, and are ciliated. When these vessels are present, there are usually two chief lateral trunks, from which many branches are given off. It is probable that the ultimate ends of these branches open into lacunar interspaces between the elements of the tissues of the mesoderm. 2. JPsend-hcemal vessels, which ap- pear to form a closed system, usually consisting of one median dorsal and two lateral trunks, which anastomose anteriorly and posteriorly. The walls of these vessels are contractile and not ciliated, and their contents are clear, and may be colored. These two systems of vessels have been shown by Schulze to coexist in Tetrastemma, The nervous system con- sists of two ganglia placed in the anterior end of the body, from which, in addition to other branches, a longitudinal cord extends backward on each side of the body. In some cases, these lateral trunks exhibit ganglionic enlargements, from which nerves are given off; and they may become approxi- mated on the ventral side of the body, thereby showing a tendency to the formation of the double ganglionated chain characteristic of higher worms. Most possess eyes, and some have auditory sacs. The Turhellaria are both monoecious and dioecious, and the reproductive organs vary from the utmost simplicity of structure to considerable complexity. In most, the embryo passes by insensible gradations into the form of the adult, but some undergo a remarkable metamor- phosis. The Turhellaria are divisible into two groups. In the one, the Aprocta, the digestive cavity is caecal, having no anal aperture ; in the other, the Proctucha, it is provided with an anal opening. The two groups form parallel series, in each of which organization advances, from forms w^iich are little more than gastrulse provided with reproductive organs, to animals of relatively high organization. In the simplest of the Aprocta, such as Macrostomum^ the oral opening is devoid of any protrusible muscular proboscis, and the aliment- ary sac is a simple straight bag. The male and female gen- erative organs are united in the same individual, and each consists of an aggregation of cells; w^hich, in the former case, gradually enlarge, fill with yelk-granules, and become ova; while, in the latter, thc}^ are converted into spermatozoa. The generative cells are contained within a sac, which opens 1 E. Van Beneden, " Eecherclies sur la Composition ct la Signification de rCEuf," 1S70, p. 64. THE TURBELLARIA. 159 externally by a median pore on the oral face of the body, the male aperture being posterior to the female. The margins of the male aperture are produced into a curved prominence, the penis. Those Tarhellaria which resemble 3facrostommn in having a straight, simple digestive cavity, are termed Ukabdocoela. They, for the most part, possess a buccal proboscis, which is capable of being protruded from, or retracted into a chamber §^^^ s-^: Fig. S2.—Opisthomum (aftp.r Schulze).— a, central nerrous system ; ramifications of the water- vessels are seen close to it; b, mouth; c, proboscis; d, testes; e, vasa deferentia; /, vesicula seminalis ; g, penis ; A, sexual aperture ; i, vatrina ; k, sper- raatheca ; L germarium; m, vitellarium ; n, uterus with two ova inclosed within^ their hard shells. formed by the walls of the circum-oral region of the body (Fig. 32, c). In some (e. g., Prostomum) the anterior end of the body is 160 THi: ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. provided with a second hollow muscular proboscidiform organ, which may be termed the frontal proboscis. In all the higher rhabdocoelous Turhellaria^ the female generative apparatus becomes complicated by the presence of a special gland, the vitellariuin (Fig. 32, m), in which an accessory vitelline substance is formed. There is a single or double germariuin (Fig. 32, I), having nearly the same struct- ure as the ovary of Macrostonium^ and the ova are formed in it in the same w^ay. When detached, how^ever, they con- tain no vitelline granules ; but the two vitellaria, which are long and simple or branched tubes, open into the oviduct ; and the vitelline matter which they secrete envelops the proper ovum, and becomes more or less fused w^ith it, as it passes into the uterine continuation of the oviduct connected with the outer, or vaginal, end of the uterus. There is usually a spermatheca, or receptacle for the seminal fluid (Fig. 32, k), and the eggs, after impregnation, are inclosed within a hard shell (Fig. 32, oi). The testes and vasa deferentia (Fig. 32, d, e) generally have the form of two long tubes. The penis is often eversible and covered with spines (Fig. 32, g). In some genera a difference is observed between the eggs produced in summer, which have a soft vitelline membrane, and those produced later. These so-called winter ova have hard shells. The water-vascular system consists of lateral trunks, which open hy a terminal pore, or by many pores, and give off numerous ramifications. They are not contractile, but their inner surface is ciliated. Many of the Ilhabdocoela multiply by transverse fission ; and, in the genus Catenula, the incompletely separated ani- mals produced in this way swim about in long chains. The vitellus of the impregnated ovum undergoes complete yelk-divison, and the embryos pass directly into the form of the parent ; but the precise nature of the steps of the devel- opmental process requires further investigation. How^ever, there seems little reason to doubt that the ectoderm and en- doderm are formed by delamination. In the remaining Ajyrocta^ termed Dendroccela^ the diges- tive cavity gives off many csecal, frequently branched, pro- cesses into the mesoderm, one of which is always median and anterior (Fig. 33) ; and the mouth is always provided with a proboscis. Some {Procotyla) have a frontal proboscis, and others {JBdellura) a posterior sucker. The animals commonly THE DENDKOCCELA. 161 known as Planarice belong to this division. Some are ma- rine, some fresh-water, and some terrestrial. In the fresh-water forms, the female reproductive appa- ratus has a distinct vitellarium, as in the higher Hhahdocoela, and there is only one common genital aperture. But, in the marine Planar ioe (Fig. 33), there is no vitellarium ; the ova- ries and testes are numerous, and scattered through the meso- derm, being connected with the exterior by ramifications of the oviducts and of the vasa deferentia. A ramified gland, which secretes a viscid albumen or envelope for the eggs, Fig. Zi.—Polycdis (Leptoplana) IcBvigata (after Quatrcfast^p)-— o, mouth; ft, buccal cavity; c, (Esophageal orifice ; d, stomach ; e, ramifications of gastric caeca; f, ganglia ; g, testes ; h, vesiculiB seminales ; i, male genital canal and peuis ; k, ovi- dacts ; /, spermathecal dilatation at their junction ; m, vulva. opens into the vagina, and the female is distinct from the male aperture. Planaria dioica is unisexual. In some of the Planarice there are distinct water-vascular 162 THE ANATOMY OF INYERTEBRATED ANIMALS. canals of the ordinary kind ; but in the land Planarians ^ two nearly simple canals, occupied by a spongy tissue, and the connection of which with the exterior has not been observed, occupy the place of the water-vessels. The fresh-water Planarke, like the Rkahdocoela^ undergo no metamorphosis in the course of their development ; and the like is true of some of the marine Dendroccela. Kefer- stein ' has carefully worked out the development of Lepto- plana [Polycells). The vitellus undergoes division first into two and then into four equal blastomeres ; next, from one surface of these four blastomeres, four small segments are, as it were, pinched off. These divide rapidly, and form a blas- toderm, which grows over the more slowly dividing large seg- ments, and eventually incloses them. So far, the process is very similar to that which has been described in the Cteno- phora. But though Keferstem describes and figures the various stages by which the globular ciliated embryo attains the form of the adult, neither his description nor the figures enable one to say whether the alimentary cavity arises by de- lamination or by invagination, nor to trace the mode of origi- nation of the buccal proboscisough, th this organ is one of the first to make its appearance, and its aperture becomes the future mouth. In some of the marine Planarim, however, the embryo, wlien it leaves the Qg^, differs very widely from the adult. Johannes Miiller described such a larva, in which the body is provided with eight lobes or processes, one ventral and median in front of the mouth, three lateral, and one dorso-median. The edges of these processes are fringed by a continuous series of cilia, which pass from one process on to another, so as to form a complete circlet round the body. The successive working of the cilia forming this lobed transverse girdle of the body produces the appearance of a rotating wheel, as in the RotAfera. The eyes are situated on the aboral face of the embryo, in front of the ciliated circlet, while the mouth opens immediately behind it. As development proceeds, tlie lobes disappear, and the body takes on the ordinary Planarian character. As will be seen, some of the Proctucha have larvae simi- larly provided with a pra3-oral ciliated zone ; and larvae of * Moseley, " On the Anatomy and Histology of the Land Planarians of Cey- lon." (" Philosophical Transactions," 1873.) "^ "Beitrilge zur Anatomie und Entwickelungsgeschichte ciniger See-Plana- rien," 1868. THE PROCTUCnA. 1G3 the same fundamental type abound among tlie polycbastous Annelida, the Uchinodermata, and the Mollusca, mm' Fig. 34.—^, young Tetrastemma.—aa, central ^nglia of the nervous system; 55, cil- iated fossae ; c, aperture through which the proboscis is protrude!; d, anterior portion of proboscis ; e, posterior muscular part, fixed to ttie parietes at/; g, in- testine; h, anal aperture: i, water- vessels; k, rhythmically contracting vessels. (After Schulze.) B, anterior extremity of the everted proboscis of letrastemmay exhibiting the principal and the reserve stilets. (After Schulze.) The lowest Proctucha^ such as 3Iicrostomiim^ have no frontal proboscis (whence they are termed Arhynchid)^ and they differ very little from the lowest Rhahdocoela., save in the fact that there is an anus, and that the sexes are distinct. But all the other Proctucha [Rhynchoccela., or Nemerteans) are provided with a frontal proboscis, which sometimes oc- cupies the greater part of the length of the body (Fig. 34). It has special retractor muscles, and its internal surface is either merely papillose, or may possess a peculiar armature, 164 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. consisting of a sharp cLitinous style (Fig. 34, J3). There is no buccal proboscis, but the mouth leads into a long, straight intestine, with short, lateral, caecal dilatations.^ The Proctucha usually present only the pseud-htemal ves- sels, though, as has been mentioned above, Schulze found water- vessels coexisting with them in Tetrastemma (Fig. 34). The nervous system of the Proctucha is like that of the Aprocta ; but, in correspondence with the often extreme elon- gation of the body, the backwardly- prolonged cords are very stout. Moreover, the ganglia are united by an additional commissure over the proboscis, which thus traverses a ner- vous ring. In some, the lateral cords approach one another on the ventral aspect of the body, and ganglionic enlarge- ments appear where the nerves are given otr, thus present- ing an approximation to the double ganglionated chain of higher forms. In addition to eyes, almost all the Proctucha possess two ciliated foss?e, one on each side of the head (Fig. 34, bh)^ which receive nerves from the ganglia. Occasionally two otolithic vesicles are attached to the cerebral ganglia. The Proctucha are almost alw^ays dioecious. The simple reproductive glands are lodged in the intervals between the saccular dilatations of the intestine, and the ova and sper- matozoa usually make their way out by the dehiscence of the integument. In some, however, the embryos are devel- oped in the ovarian sacs, or in the cavity of the body. In most of the Proctucha, the egg, after passing through the morula stage, acquires an alimentary cavity, apparently by delamination, and passes, without other metamorphosis than the shedding of a ciliated outer investment, into the form of the adult. Prof. A. Agassiz'' has described a free-swimming larva, the broad anterior end of the body of which is surrounded by a zone of cilia, immediately behind which the mouth opens ; while around the anal aperture, at the narrow posterior end, is a second circlet of cilia. This larva exactly resembles those forms of polj'chffitous Annelidan larvre which are called Telotrocha. As in these Annelids, the region of the body which lies between the two ciliated rings elongates and be- comes segmented, while a pair of eyes and two short tenta- 1 For the orsranization of the Rhynchocoele Tvrhdlaria, or Nemerteans, see Dr. C. Mcintosh's elaborate monof?raph lately published by the Ray Society. 3 " On the Young Stages of a few Annelids." (Annals of the Lyceum of New York, 1864.) THE PROCTUCHA. 165 cles are developed on the head in front of the prae-oral ciliated band. But, as development advances, the segmentation be- comes obliterated, the ciliated bands and the feelers vanish, and the worm assumes the characters of a Nemertean/ Fig. 35. Fig. 37. Fig. 36. Fig. ZS-Zl.—Pllidhim gyrans (after Leuckart and Pagenstecher). 85. YoTing PUidium : a, alimentary canal; 6, radimeut of the Nemertean. 36. Pilidium with a more advanced Nemertean. 37. Newly -freed Nemertean. In species of the genus Lineus^ the ciliated embr^'O which leaves the egg is speedily converted into a body like a helmet with ear-lappets, and having a tuft of cilia in place of a plume 1 It is very probable, however, that this larva belongs to the genus Poh/qor- dius, which appears to be an annectent form between the Turbellaria and other groups. See Schneider, " Ueber Bau und Entwickelung von Polygordius." C' Archiv fur Anatomie und Physiologic," 1808.) 166 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED AMMALS. (Fig. 35). The lappets are fringed with long cilia, and be- tween them, where the head would fit into a helmet, is the aperture of a mouth, which leads into a csecal pouch-like ali- mentary cavity. This larv^a w'as named by MuUer, w^ho dis- covered it, Pllidmin gyra7is. On each side of the ventral face of the Pllidimn^ two involutions of the integument take place. Aggregations of cells in relation with these, and probably forming part of the mesoblast, appear, eventually in- close the alimentary canal of the Pllidium, and give rise to an elongated vermiform body, in which the characteristic feat- ures of a Nemertean soon become discernible (Fig, 36). The worm thus developed becomes detached (Fig. 37) and falls to the bottom, carrying with it the alimentary canal of the Pi- lidliDn, and leaving the ciliated integument to perish. In this remarkable process of development the formation of the Nemertean body may be compared, on the one hand, to that of the segmented mesoblast in Aniielida and Arthro- poda^ and, on the other, to that of an Echinoderm (especially Echinus), within its larva. Tpie Rotifera. — The " wheel-animalcules," as they were termed by the older observers, on account of the appearance of rotation produced, as in many Annelid larvae, by the work- ing of the vibratile cilia with which the oral end of the body is provided, were formerly included among the Infusoria, However, they are true Metazoa^ as their vitellus undergoes division into blastomeres, and the tissues of the body are pro- duced by the metamorphosis of the cells into which the blas- tomeres are converted. They are free or adherent, but never absolutely fixed animals, and they do not multiply by gem- mation or fission. The oral end of the body is usually broader than the opposite extremity, and presents the form of a disk, sometimes produced into tentacle-like prolongations (Fig. 39), The edges of this trochcd disk are fringed with long cilia, but the general surface of the body, instead of being ciliated, as in the Turhellaria^ is formed by a dense, generally chiti- nous, cuticular layer, which is sometimes converted into a kind of shell and variously sculptured. Transverse constrictions, which are slight in the anterior part of the body, but may become more marked toward its posterior end, give rise to an imperfect segmentation. The segments do not appear to ex- ceed six, and the divisions are less marked in the tubicolous than in the free Motifera. The mouth is a funnel-shaped cavity, situated in the middle, or on one side, of the trochal THE ROTIFERA. 167 disk. The walls of this cavitv are abundantly ciliated, and at the bottom is a muscular pharynx, or mastax^ provided with a peculiar armature. Sometimes, as in Stephanoceros, a large crop-like cavity lies between the mouth and the mastax, and the aperture of communication between this crop and the mouth is guarded by a valve formed by two broad mem- branous folds which project into the cavity of the crop. The armature of the mastax generally consists of four pieces — two lateral, the mallei^ and two central, constituting the mens. The contraction of the muscular masses, to which the mallei are attached, causes the free ends of the latter to work back- ward and forward upon the incus, and crush the prey which is taken into the mouth.* A short oesophagus, provided with cilia or vibratile mem- branes, leads into a digestive cavity bounded by the endo- derm. The anterior or gastric part of this cavity is usually dilated, and gives ofif a large caecum on each side. The pos- terior, narrower, intestinal part usually opens externally by a cloacal chamber ; but, in some Rotifers (e. g., Kotommatd)^ the alimentary cavity is a blind sac, devoid of intestine or anus ; and in the males, so far as they are known, the whole alimentary canal is aborted and represented by a solid cord. A spacious perivisceral cavity occupies the interval be- tween the walls of the alimentary canal and the parietes of the body. The latter contains circular and longitudinal mus- cular fibres, which may be smooth or striated. Opening into the cloaca there is usually a large thin-walled vesicle with rhythmically contractile walls ; and, in connection with this, are two delicate water-vessels, which pass forward, often giving off short lateral branches, and eventually break up into numerous ramifications in the trochal disk. The branches are open at the ends, wherel^y the cavities of the water-vessels are in communication with the perivisceral cav- ity on the one side, and with the surrounding water on the other. Here and there, in the course of the main trunks and at the ends of the branches, long cilia, which, by their con- stant undulation, give rise to a flickering motion, are situated. The nervous system is represented by a relatively large single ganglion placed on one side of the body, near the tro- chal disk. One or more eye-spots are sometimes seated on the ganglion, and there are other organs which appear to be 1 i've^, for the various forms of this apparatus, Gosse, "On the Structure, Functions, and Tlomolosrues of the Manducating Apparatus in the Botifera,^'* (rhilosophical Transactions, 1855.) 168 THE ANATOMY OF IXVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. sensory. Such are the ciliated pit and the spur-like process (calcar) or processes, provided at the end with a tuft of setae, which occur in many Rotifers, and are more or less closely connected with the ganglion. In some there is a sac filled with calcareous matter (otocyst ?) attached to the ganglion. Fig. 2S.—n ydalina senta (after Cohn).— ^, female : a, anas ; b, contractile vesicle ; c, water-vessels ; g. ovary ; f. <,'anii:lion. B, male : a, peuis ; 6, coutractile vesicle ; c, testis ; /, ganglion ; g, setigerous pit. The ovarium and the testis are simple glands which open into the cloaca, and are always placed in distinct individuals. All the males at present known differ from the females in be- ing much smaller, and in their digestive canal being arrested in its development. The males copulate with the females, and the eggs are sometimes attached to, and carried about by, the latter — e.g., Brachionus. In some Rotifers, the eggs are distinguishable, as in cer- tain Turhellaria, into summer and winter ova. The latter are inclosed in a peculiar shell. In Lacimilaria, it appeared to me that the winter ova were segregated portions of the ovarium, and that they were probably developed without im- pregnation. Cohn, on the contrary, has given reasons for be- THE ROTIFERA. 169 lieving that the summer ova are occasionally, if not alwaj-s, developed without fecundation, and that it is the winter ova which are fecundated. The egg undergoes complete yelk-division, and the em- brj'O gradually passes into the adult form. The blastomeres are soon of unequal sizes, and the smaller, as an epiblast, in- vest the larger, which form the hypoblast. Salensky's ^ recent observations on jB}'achionus urceolaris show that a depression arises on one face of the epiblast and that the antero-lateral parts of this depression are converted into the trochal disk, while its median posterior part grows out into the "foot; " and he points out the resemblance of the embryo in its early stages to that of some Gasteropods. An involution of the epiblast at the bottom of the depres- sion gives rise not only to the oral chamber, but also to the mastax ; eventually communicating with the gastro-intestinal division, w^hich is developed out of the hypoblast. The gan- glion is a product of the epiblast. Some of the modifications of the general structure thus described, which occur in the different groups of the Hotife- ra, are of considerable interest. Thus, in the tubicolous forms, the body is elongated and terminated posteriorly by a discoidal surface of adhesion. The animals (of which a number are often associated together), fixed by this disk, inclose themselves in cases, the foundation of which is a gelatinous secretion. The intestine is bent upon itself {Lacinularia, Fig. 39, II.), and opens upon the face of the body opposite to that upon which the ganglion is placed. The peduncle of attachment is therefore a process of the neural face of the body. In these Jiotifera the trochal disk is sometimes produced into long ciliated tentacula, which surround the mouth symmetrically i^Stephanoceros^ Fig. 39, v.), or its edges may be provided with two circlets of cilia, one in front of, and the other behind, the oral aperture ; and it may be bilobed or horseshoe-shaped, as in Melicerta^ and Lacinularia ' (Fig. 39, I., II.). In the free Rotifers, the body may be rounded, sac-like, and devoid of appendages, as in the genus Asplanchiia, which has neither anus nor intestine. In Albertia and Lindia^ on the other hand, the body is elongated and vermiform. Most of the free JRotifera (Fig. 38) are provided with a segmented 1 ZdUchHft fTir wiss. Zoologie^ 18T2. 2 Huxley, Lacinutaria socialis. (Transactions of the Microscopical Society, 8 170 THE ANATOMY OF INYERTEBRATED ANIMALS. and sometimes telescopically-jointed " foot," usually termi- nated by two styles, which can be approximated or divari- FiG. 39.— Diagrams showing the arrangement of the cilia of the trochal diek in the jRotifera. I. Larval Lacinularia. If. Adult Lacinularia. III. Philodina. IV. Brachionus. V. StephanocerOH. M, mouth ; G, gan^ilion ; J., anus. cated like pincers, and serve to anchor the body. This foot is a median process of that face of the body which is opposite to that on which the ganglion is placed, so that it is not the homologue of the peduncle of the tubicolous forms. Polyarthra and Iriarthra possess long, symmetrically ar- ranged, movably articulated setas ; and Pedalion has median appendages proceeding from both the neural and the opposite faces of the body, as well as lateral appendages. In most of the free Rotifers the trochal disk is large ; it may be bilobed or folded upon itself (Fig. 39, III.), or its sur- face may give rise to ciliated processes (Fig. 39, IV.). In Alhertia and Notomynata tardigrada^ however, the trochal disk is reduced to a small ciliated lip around the oral aper- ture ; and there is no trochal disk in Apsilus, Lindia, Ta- phrocampa, and Balatro. Some few Rotifera are parasitic. Thus Alhertia is an entoparasite, and Bcdatro an ectopara- site, upon oligochaetous Annelids. Under the name of Gasterotricha^ Metschnikoff and Cla- parede * include the curious aquatic genera ChcBtonotus, Ich- thydiwin^ Choetura^ Cephalidium^ Dasydltis, Turhanella^ and Ilernidasys^ the last of which alone is marine. These animals have been united with the Motifera, but they differ from them in the absence of a mastax and in the disposition of the cilia, which are restricted to the ventral surface of the body. It * Olaparede and Metschnilcoff, "Beitriige zur Kenntniss der Entwickelungs- geschichte der Chaetopoden," 1868. THE TREMATODA. 171 appears probable that tliey form an annectent group between the Rotifera and the Turbellaria, which last approach the Eo- tlfera by such forms as Dinophilus, The free Rotifers present marked resemblances to the telotrochous larvae of Annelids. The young Lacinularia, for example, has a circular prae-oral disk provided with two eye- spots and a second circle of cilia behind the mouth, and is wonderfully like an Annelid larva (Fig. 39, I.). The append- ages of Triarthra and Polyarthra may be compared to the lateral bundles of long setae of the larvae of Spio and Nerine, and the pharyngeal armature is essentially Annelidan. On the other hand, in the sessile tubicolous Rotifera, the trcchal disk assumes the characters of the lophophore in the Polyzoa, and of the tentacular circlet of the Gephyrean Phoronis, Many years ago I drew attention to the points of resem- blance between the Rotifera and the larvae of Echinoderms C' Oa Zctcmularia socialis,'" I. c). Of any such close and direct relations with the Crustacea, I see no evidence ; but Pedalion,^ with its jointed setose appendages and curious likeness to some J^aupUus conditions of the lower Crustacea, suggests that connecting links in this direction may be found.* In fact, the Rotifera, as low 3Ietazoa with nascent segmenta- tion, naturally present resemblances to all those groups which, in their simpler forms, converge toward the lower Metazoa. The TREiiATODA. — These are all parasitic, either upon the exterior (ectoparasites) or in the internal organs (endopara- sites) of other animals. Many are microscopic, and none attain a length of more than an inch or two. Most have a broad and flattened form, one face being ventral and tlie other dorsal, and the hody is never segmented. In the adult, the ectoderm is not ciliated, but its outer- most layer is a chitinous cuticula. In most Trematoda, one or more suckers are developed upon the ventral surface of the body, behind the mouth. These are sometimes armed with chitinous spines or hooks ; and setae of the same character 1 Hudson, " On a New Rotifer." {Montlily Microscopical Journal^ 1871.) 3 The singular marine genus EcTiinoderes (Dujardin) is perhaps such a link. These are minute worm like animals, with a rounded head, followed by a num- ber (ten or eleven) of distinct ses^raents, the last of which is bifurcated. There are no litnbs, but the head is provided with recurved hooks, and the body seg- ments with paired setae. The nervous system appears to be represented by a single ganglion, which lies in the head and presents eye-spots. The develop- ment or Echiiioderes is unknown. (See Greef, " Arcbiv flir Naturgeschichte," 1869.) 172 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. ma}' be developed in other parts of the body, especially in the region of the head. The mouth is usually terminal, but is sometimes ventral and sub-central ; it is ordinarily placed in the centre of a muscular sucker, rarely [)roboscidiform. The alimentary canal is never provided with an anus. Sometimes a simple sac, it is often bifurcated, and occasionally branched, like that of the dendrocoele Turbellaria, Sometimes (Amphilina, Amphipty- ches) the alimentary canal is absent ; and, according to Van Beneden, it becomes aborted in the adult Distoma filicolle. The interval between the endoderm and the ectoderm is oc- cupied by a cellular or reticulated mesoderm, in which abun- dant muscular fibres are developed. The peripheral muscular fibres form an external circular and an internal longitudinal layer. The water-vascular system is well developed, and may consist of — (1) a contractile sac, which opens externally and communicates with (2) longitudinal vessels with contractile non-cihated walls, from which proceed (3) non-contractile and ciliated branches which ramify through the bodj'', and the ultimate ramifications of which probably end by open mouths, as in the Rotifera. There is no pseud-hcemal system. The nervous S3"stem has not been discovered in all ; but, when it exists, it has the same arrangement as in the aproctous Turbellaria. Eye- spots have been observed, but no other sense-organs. With rare exceptions, the Trematoda are hermaphrodite, and the reproductive organs are constructed upon the same type as in the rhabdocoele Turbellaria , a large vitellarium being al- ways present. The accessory vitellus is included, in the form of numerous pellets, along with the primitive ovum, and is absorbed pari passu with the development of the embryo. Asjndogaster concliioola (Fig. 40) inhabits the pericardial cavity of the fresh-water muscle ; it is a very convenient sub- ject for examination on account of its small size, and the ease with which it can be rendered sufficiently transparent for the displa}^ of the arrangement of its internal organs, by the judicious use of the compressorium. The flat oval bod}'", rounded posteriorly, is produced in front into a truncated cone, on the face of which the mouth opens. The ventral sucker is very large, and its surface is subdivided into rectan- gular areas. There is no perivisceral cavitj'-, its place being occupied by a mass of spongy cellular tissue. The oral cavity leads into an oval, thick-walled, muscular pharyngeal bulb. ASPIDOGASTER COXCHICOLA. 173 "whence an elongated pyriform sac, which constitutes the rest of the alimentary canal, is continued. This occupies a great part of the body, and extends nearly to its posterior end ; but there is no anus. A contractile vacuole placed at the hinder extremity of the body opens outward by a small pore (Fig. 41, a), and gives off two lateral contractile non-ciliated canals (b), which pass to the anterior end of the central sucker and there end blindly ; but before reaching this termination each gives off a non-contractile ciliated vessel (Fig. 41, c), which, on arriving at the pharynx, turns backward and ramifies through the body. The cilia diminish toward the extremi- ties of these vessels, the terminations of the corresponding canals in the Motife^'a being, on the contrary, richly ciliated. No nerves have as yet been found in Asjndogaster, Fio. ^(i.—Aspidogaster concMcola.—A, arransement of the alimentary and reproduc- tive organs ; profile of the animal in outline : a, mouth ; 6. mufecular pharynx ; c, stomach; rf, germarium ; e, internal vas deferens;/, common vitellarian duct ; <7, vitellarium ; ;^,one of itp ducts ; i, k, oviduct ; L uterns; m, testis ; o. vagina; p, penis, continuous posteriorly with the external vas deferens ; B, one of the lateral contractile vessels ; (7, ramifications of the ciliated vessels. As in most Trematoda, the genitalia (Figs. 40 and 42) form a large part of the viscera, and the structure of the com- plex hermaphrodite apparatus is in some respects so peculiar that it is needful to describe it in detail. It consists of — 1. The germarium. 2. The vitellarium. 3. The oviduct. 4. The uterus and vagina. 5. The common vestibule. 6. The testi?. 7. The vasa deferentia, internal and external. 8. The penis and its sac. The ovary {cT) is the anterior of two round- 174 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. ed masses lying* in the sucker. At first sight it appears to be oval, but it is, in fact, pyriform, the larger end being anterior, while the posterior narrower extremity is bent backward be- FiG. 41. — A, water- vascular system of Aspidogaster conchicola: a, terminal pore; 6, lateral contractile vessels ; 6% lateral ciliated trunks, that of the left side shaded : d, dilatation of this trunk ; B, one of larger, and C, one of the smaller, ciliated vessels. neath the anterior end. Before it reaches the anterior ex- tremity of the mass, however, it is bent sharply back again, parallel with itself, and so passes into the oviduct (Fig. 40, ^). The ovary is surrounded by a delicate, but strong coat, inclos- ing a mass of transparent protoplasm. At the anterior end of the ovary minute granules are scattered through this sub- stance, and are occasionally surrounded by a faint, clear area (Fig. 43, A 1). These are the rudimentary germinal spots and vesicles of the future ova, the course of whose develop- ment may be readily traced by working from the anterior to the posterior extremity of the ovary. The germinal spots become larger, and gradually assume the appearance of vesic- ular nuclei ; while the clear area around them in like manner becomes larger, and acquires more and more the appearance of a cavity. While this cavity is small, it has no distinct wall, but, as it enlarges, the contour of the wall becomes dis- tinctly marked (Fig. 43, A 2, 3, 4). On examining the ovary close to the commencement of the oviduct, a division of the homogeneous protoplasmic basis or matrix of the ovary into areas surrounding each germinal vesicle becomes obvious. On the application of pressure, the matrix breaks up into masses corresponding with these areas in size, which are very flexible, but when left to themselves assume a rounded or oval form, and have all the appearance of perfect ova, except that they possess no vitelline membrane, and that the yelk, instead of being granular, is clear, and comparatively small. These ASPIDOGASTER CONCHICOLA. 175 'primary ova^ as they may be termed, become detached, and pass into the oviduct. Here they are fecundated, and, be- coming surrounded by a great mass of accessory yelk, and a shell, gradually acquire the appearance of the complete ova. The accessory yelk is the product of the vitellarium — a large double gland consisting of a number of oval, pyriform, or irregular granular masses placed on each side, at the junc- tion of the sucker with the body (Fig. 40, g). These masses appear to be quite independent of one an- other; nor do they at first present any obvious communication with the genitalia ; but if the oviduct, just after it becomes free from tlie ovarium, be examined, it will be found to re- ceive a short duct (Fig. 42,/"), filled with strongly retracting granules of the same nature as those in the vitellarium. This duct is enlarged posteriorly, and then divides into two ducts filled with the same matter, which take a direction toward the vitellarium, but can be traced no further than they contain granules (Fig. 42). By the careful application of pressure, however, the granules may be forced from the vitellarium, through an anterior and posterior branch upon each side, into these ducts. Fig. 42. — Aspidogaster concMcnla. — Reproductive onrans on a larger scale. Letters as in Fis:. 40. The commeucemeut of the external vas deferena'ia seen behind the vitellarian ducts. The oviduct (Fig. 42, %) is richly ciliated internally ; it is at first applied to the under surface of the ovarium, and when it becomes free it receives a canal (e), which may be traced 176 THE ANATOMY OF IXYERTEBRATED ANIMALS. back to the testis, and which would appear to correspond with the internal vas deferens of other Trematoda described by Von Siebold/ This canal, however, presents no dilatation, or internal vesicula seminalis. The oviduct next receives the duct of the vitellarium, and then becoming much convoluted (y^), and rapidly widening, passes into the uterus (/), a wide tube, which runs forward, disposed in many undulating curves (Fig. 40, ^), to terminate on the left side of the anterior part of the body, close to the male organs. Posteriorly, the walls of the uterus are thin ; but in its anterior, or vaginal, part they become thick and muscular. The genital vestibule into which the vagina opens is very small. The testis (m) is an oval body of the same size as the ovarium, and situated just behind it. Minute water-vessels ramify upon it, as upon the ovarium ; and it contains a gran- ular and cellular mass, but no spermatozoa. The external vas deferens (Figs. 40 and 42) is a delicate duct, which passes forward and comes into contact with the ovarium, without, however, so far as I could observe, communicating u'ith it or with the oviduct ; it then bends backward and up- ward, passing between the anterior vitellarian masses into the fore part of the body. Here it suddenly becomes about twice as wide as before, and runs forward, as an undulating thick tube, to the penis (Fig. 40, jo), a short and conical body, occupying the bottom of a large pyriform sac, which opens in common with the uterus. The spermatozoa are linear. The development of the ova presents many very interest- ing peculiarities (Fig. 43). Above the junction of the duct of the vitellarium with the oviduct the contents of the latter were pale and clear, and presented no formed particles beside the primary ova which had just been detached from the ova- rium (Fig, 43, C). Below the insertion of the vitellarian duct, however, the oviduct was full of granules like those in the vitellarium, mixed up with ova in a more advanced state. In the smallest of these (Fig. 43, D), the shell of the ovum had commenced, but was incomplete at one end. At the op- posite extremity, it inclosed a mass of irregularly aggregated vitelline granules, which covered almost one-half of a round pale mass, not larger than one of the primary ova ; in which, however, three nuclei (two of which were very close together, ^ The connection of this duct with the testis \\\ the Trematoda has recently been denied by Stieda (" Miiller's Arcliiv," 1871). I had no doubt of its exist- ence in Aspidogaster^ but I have had no opportunity of reexamining this ani- mal since the publication of Stieda' s paper. THE DEVELOPMENT OF ASPIDOGASTER. 177 as if they had just divided) were to be distinguished. In more advanced ova the shell was complete, but either color- less or of a very pale-brown hue. In some of these the pri- mary ova contained many nuclei and were imbedded in and surrounded by a confused mass of accessory yelk-granules ; while in others these granules were aggregated into a num- ber of regular spheroidal masses (Fig. 43, £). As dev:elopment proceeds, the accessory j'elk-masses grad- ually disappear ; the primitive ovum, now become the homo- losrue of the blastodermic disk or vesicle in other animals, to all appearance increasing at their expense. At the same time, clear rounded vacuoles in various numbers appear in its substance ; but the nuclei of the germ, though very minute, can, with proper care, be readily detected between these. In the final stages the shell becomes browner, the vacuoles and granules disappear, and the substance of the embryo appears homogeneous. Bat, if carefully examined, the minute nuclei become visible, especially if water be allowed to act on the ¥iG. i^.—A^pidogaster concMcola.—A, section of the ovary: 1, its anterior end: 2, germinal spot surrounded by a distinct wall ; 3. 4, a complete germinal vesicle and spot ; C, a primary ovum ; Z), voune: state of a complete ovum ; the primary ovum partially surrounded by yelk-granules and a shell ; B, complete ovum, with the accessory yelk aggregated into spheroids ; E, vacuolated embryonic mass ; F, embryo. tissue, and, if the shell be burst, and its contents poured out, they readily break up into small but well-marked cells, each with its nucleus. ^ At the same time, the embryo takes on a form not very distantly resembling that possessed by the 178 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. adult; into which it eventually passes without any metamor- phosis.^ Thus it appears that, in Aspidogaster, the ovarium gives rise to primary ova, which pass down the oviduct and become fecundated, either by the spermatozoa conveyed by the inter- nal vas deferens, or by those received by the vagina when copulation with another individual, or, possibly, self-impreg- nation, occurs ; that, next, the essential part of the process of "yelk-division" takes place, the germinal spot dividing and subdividing, and the primary ovum becoming in this way con- verted into the spheroidal blastoderm ; that, contemporane- ously, the blastoderm becomes invested by the accessory yelk- granules poured in by the vitellarian duct, and by a shell ; that the accessory yelk arranges itself into spheroidal masses, which probably supply the blastoderm with the means of its constant enlargement ; and that, finally, the accessory yelk disappears, and the blastoderm becomes converted into the embryo. The modifications exhibited by other Trematoda concern the number of the suckers, of which there are usually several in the ectoparasites, but not more than one in the endopara- sites ; their support on a chitinous framework, or the addition to them of spines or booklets, similar to those of Cestoidea or Acanthocephala : the bifurcation of the intestinal canal, and the ramification of its branches, so that the forms of the alimentary apparatus repeat the two extremes observed in the aproctous Turhellaria ; the existence of two nervous ganglia with a single transverse commissure in many ; and the occasional presence of sensory organs (ej^e-spots). The non-contractile canals of some genera are destitute of cilia, except at their inner terminations. The variations of the reproductive organs are rather of position than of structure. Dioecious Trematodes are very rare, the most important being the formidable Silha/rzia, the male of which is the larger and retains the female in a gynm- cophore^ or canal, which is formed by the infolding of the margins of the concave side of the body. Bllharzia has neither intromittent organ nor seminal pouch, and the history of its development has not been traced beyond the escape of 1 The substance of this account of the structure and development of A'>pido- aaster, with the illustrative fisrures, was published in IBS') in The Medical 'Times and (razeite. M. E. Van Beneden has recently thrown much light on the mode in which the ova of the Trematoda are formed and developed, in his "Eechcrches surla Composition et la Signification de l'(Euf." THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TREMATODA. 179 a ciliated embryo from the ovum. This parasite is found in the blood-vessels of man, chiefly in those of the urinary or- gans, the ova escaping from the body through the ulcerated surfaces to which the parent gives rise. In the ectoparasites, Fig. 44.— a. B, Mnnostomnm mntabile.—A. the ciliated emhryo (a) inclosinsr the zooid, {b.) represented free in B (after Siebold) : C, Redia, or kine's yellow worm of Distnma pacificum, containine grerms of other Redice ; D. Redia containine CercaricE (a): E, Cercaria; F, Distoma, which results from the metamorphosis of the Cercaria. (After Steenstrup.) the embryo passes into a form identical with or closely resem- bling that of the parent while still within the egg, as in As- pidogaster. When this happens (e. g., Distoma variegatiim, D. tereticolle), the one end of the embryo is often provided with spines, and it is capable of slow creeping movements. But, in most of the endoparasites, the embryo leaves the parent as a morula, which is usually ciliated. Thus, in Disto- ma lanceolatum^ D. hepaticimi, and 3Io7iosto7ni(m mutabiley the embryo which escapes from the egg has a ciliated invCwSt- ment, which propels it rapidly through the water, and may be provided with eyespots and water-vessels (Fig. 44, A). On becoming attached to the animal upon which it is parasit- ic, the embryo of 3fonost07nu7n gives exit to a larva, having the form of a cylindrical sac with two lateral prolongations and a tapering tail. The Jiedia, as this form is called (Fig. 44, j&, (7), has a mouth and a simple c^ecal intestine, but no other organs. In its cavity a process of internal gemmation takes place, giving rise to bodies resembling the parent in shape, but destitute of reproductive organs, and furnished 180 THE ANATOMY OF INYERTEBRATED ANIMALS. with long tails, by which they are propelled. These creatures, called Cercarice (Fig. 44, E)^ escape by bursting through the Hedia, and, after a free-swimraing existence, penetrate the body of some other animal, their tails dropping oif. They then become encysted, and, under suitable conditions, assume the adult form, and develop reproductive organs (Fig. 44, F). The cycle of forms through which Distoma milltare passes has been nearly completely traced, and may be briefly stated as follows : 1. The parent form, whose habitat is the in- testines of water-birds, bears on its anterior extremity two alternating circles of larger and smaller booklets, and a few others, irregularly disposed. Rings of papillie give the cen- tre of the body an annulated aspect. The mouth, almost terminal, leads into the lono*, straight diofestive csecum. The generative organs are similar to those of Asjndogaster / the testes are, however, double, and lack the internal vas deferens. The ova are few, eight or ten in number. 2. From each ovum issues a ciliated larva, showing the rudiments of — 3. A Media, but the mode of development of the latter has not been fully traced. The perfect Media is found attached to the body of a water-snail (Maludi?ia), the ciliated investment having disappeared. It consists of a sac, within which is suspended a tubular bag, containing colored masses, probably alimentary. Anteriorly, the head is represented by a kind of crown, in which no oesophagus exists as yet, and not far from the posterior extremity the two lateral projections, character- istic of Distomatous Mediae, appear. Daring the rapid growth of the zooid, the head becomes marked off by a constriction, and a mouth and gullet, with a pharyngeal dilatation, admit aliment to the digestive sac. In the body cavity, external to this sac, vesicles appear, rapidly increase, and take the form of Cercarice ; the Media bursts, and these new zooids are set free. 4. The Cercaria has a long tail with lateral mem- branous expansions, by means of which it swims after the fashion of a tadpole. The pharyngeal bulb is followed by an oesophagus, which, opposite the ventral sucker, divides ; the two branches ending in a csecum on either side of the <;on- tractile vacuoles of the water-vascular sj'stem. These are median, the terminal quadrate chamber opening into an an- terior circular one, whence are given off the two main canals which traverse the body longitudinally, and are then lost. 5. After swimming about freely for a while, the Cercaria fixes itself upon, or bores its way into, a Paludina ; the tail drop- ping off, and the body coating itself with a structureless cyst, THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TREMATODA. 181 in which it remains quiescent, but undergoes some further advances in development, the coronal hooklets making their appearance. 6. When a Paludina, thus infested, is swal- lowed by a w^ater-bird and digested, the cj'sts are set free in the alimentary canal of the bird ; sexual organs appear within the included Distoma / the body elongates and narrows an- teriorly ; the sucker moves nearer the head, and the coronal circlets reach their full development. The Distoma gradually assumes the form of the parent, attaches itself by its hooklets to the intestinal walls, and acquires complete sexual organs.* Thus the developmental stages of Distoma militare may be summed up, as : 1. Ciliated larva. 2. liedia. 3. Cercaria, 4. Cercaria^ tailless and encysted, or incomplete Distoma, 5. Perfect Distoma, The stages of transition vary in different genera. Thus, several generations of Hedioe may intervene between the Fig. 45.— Bucephalus polymorphus of the fresh-water muscle.— J, ramified sporocyst ; ^, portion of the same more man^nified: a, outer coar, 6, inner; c, rcestomii(m^ appears in front of and above the mouth, and bears eyes and tentacles ; while those parapodia which lie in the vicinity of the mouth may be specially modified in form and direction, foreshadowing the jaws of the Arthropoda. Ciliated, som,e- times plumose, processes of the dorsal walls of more or fewer of the segments may perform the office of external hrancldoe j and, occasionally, the dorsal surface gives rise to flat shield- like processes, the so-called elytra. The following detailed description of a very com.mon species of Polynoe will give a fair conception of a pol3'ch8e- tous Annelid, in which the highest degree of comj^lexity of organization known in the group is attained : Polynoe sqiiamata is an elongated vermiform animal, about an inch long, the body of which is divided into a suc- cession of portions, for the most part similar and equivalent to one another, but presenting peculiar modifications at the anterior and posterior extremities. Each such portion is properly termed a somite j while the term "segment" may be retained to indicate generally a portion of the body, with- out implying its precise equivalency to one somite or to many. Thus, then, the body of the Polynoe is composed of a series of twenty-six "somites," terminated anteriorly by a "segment," the prcestoynium ("Kopf-lappen," Grube), and posteriorly by another, the pygidium^ which may or may not represent single somites. If one of the somites from the middle of thp body (Fig. 51, <7, Z>) be examined separatel}^ it will be found to be transversely elongated, so as to be about three times as broad as it is long, and to be slightly convex above and below, presenting a deep, median, longitudinal groove inferiorly. Laterally the somite is produced into two thick processes, the '•'' parapodia, ^"^ Each parapodium divides at its extremity into two por- tions, a superior and an inferior, which may be denominated respectively the notopodium (Fig. 51, ^) and the neuropodiiim (Jc)^ the one occupying the " ha?mal " or dorsal, the other the "neural" or ventral aspect. The latter is, in this species POLYNOE SQUAMATA. 201 so much the larger, that the notopodium appears like a mere tubercle projecting from its upper surface. In other A?i?ie' lida, however, and in the young state of Polynoe^ the notopo- FiQ. hl.—Polynde squamata. A. Viewed from above and enlarged : a. b, c, etc., as in Fi^. 53, 5; e, elytra ; /, space left between the two posterior elytra ; g, sets and fimbriag oftlie elytra. B. Po!?terior extremity, inferior view: (?, pygidial cirri; h, inferior tubercle; c,c^, notopodial and neuropodial cirri. O. Section of half a somite with elytron: i, notopodium; k, ncuropodium. I). Section of half a somite with cirrus. dium is as large as the neuropodium. Both divisions of the parapodia are armed with peculiar stiff, hair-like appendages {g)y composed of chitin, and developed within diverticula of the integment, or trichophores^ in which their bases always remain inclosed. These can be protruded and retracted by muscles attached to their sacs, and they vary exceedingly in form. Three distinct kinds are observable in Polynoe alone. The notopodium and the neuropodium carry each a single, sharp, style-like aciculum, the greater part of the length of which is imbedded in the parapodium and its divisions, while the point just projects at about the centre of the latter. The neuropodial is very much longer than the notopodial aciculum. 202 THE ANATOMY OF IXVERTEBIUTED ANIMALS. Superiorly, the notopodium carries two transverse rows of more slender organs of a similar nature, the setoe : the proxi- mal set are much shorter than the distal, but even the latter do not attain a length of more than y^g of an inch (Fig. 52, The proximal set are somewhat knife-like in shape if viewed in profile, consisting of a comparativeh" short, straight "han- dle," by which they are imbedded in their sacs, and of a thick, rounded, curved blade, tapering to a fine point at its extrem- ity. Close-set transverse ridges, finely serrated at their edges, and inclined obliquely to the surface of the blade, traverse its convex anterior circumference, leaving the back free. The distal setae (Fig. 52, G) have a very similar structure, but they are much elongated and very slender. The handle is longer; and the blade, little curved and simply set on an angle with f'?^3>^^ Fig. 5Z.—Po!ynoe sqnamata. A, elvtron viewed from above. B. a tooth. C. D, nenropodial setae. F, F, part? of the blade of the same, more highly ma;?nified. O, free extremity of a uotopodial peta. the handle, is produced at the end into a long and delicate filament. The base of the blade {£J) is beset with incomplete polynOe SQUAMATA. 203 ridges, like those of the short setse, but toward the middle (I^) these ridges appear to encircle the blade completely, as- suming the aspect of so many closely-imbricated concentric scales, before finally becoming obsolete upon the extremity of the seta. The neuropodial aciculum needs no special notice, except that the extremity of its trichophore projects as a sort of papilla, less obvious in full-grown specimens, which divides the neuropodium into an upper and a lower portion, the for- mer containing about half as many setas as the latter. The apertures of the trichophores are placed between lobe-like prolongations of the neuropodium, to which the special term of labia (Grube) may be applied. In this species they pre- sent no remarkable peculiarity bej^ond their inequality. The neuropodial set^e (Fig. 52, C, jD), although at first sight very different from the notopodial setfB, are, in truth, constructed on essentially the same plan, the blade being short, while the handle is proportionally elongated. The blade is subcylindrical at its base, pointed and slightly curved. Eight or nine transverse ridges extend around about two-thirds of the circumference of its proximal half ; the basal ridges are narrow, and merely serrated, but toward the apex the ridges become deeper, and the serrations pass into strong teeth ; at the same time, one side of the ridge is elongated into a strong point. Attached to the under surface of the parapodium by a somewhat enlarged base, with which it is articulated, is a smooth, conical, very flexible filament — the neuropodial ciV' rus (Fig. 51, c') ; it hardly reaches to the end of the neuro- podium. Again, springing from the neural surface of the somite, close to the parapodium, there is a small pyriform tubercle (A), divided by longitudinal grooves into about eight segments. This is possibly connected with the reproductive function. The appendage of the notopodium, or rather of the noto- podial side of the parapodium and somite, varies according to the particular somite which may be examined. In some somites this appendage is a cirrus (Fig. 51, 7), c) similar to the neuropodial cirrus, but much larger, equaling the semi- diameter of the body in length, and presenting an enlarged pigmented bulb of attachment to which the filament of the cirrus, which is cylindrical for about two-thirds of its length, and then becomes enlarged and suddenly tapers to its extrem- ity, is articulated. 304 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. la the other somites the notopodial appendage is a large, thin, oval plate — the elytron (Fig. 51, O, c). It is attached by a thick peduncle, and has its long axis directed obliquely outward and backward. The surface of the elytron (Fig. 52, A) is covered with an ornamentation of larger or smaller tubercular prominences, granulated and ridged upon their surface. A part of the inner and anterior edge of each ely- tron overlaps or is overlapped by its fellows for a certain ex- tent of its circumference, which is so far smooth, but in the rest of its extent it is fringed with coarse brownish filaments ov Jimbrice, which arise from the upper surface just within the edge, and are obviously outgrowths of the same order as the tubercles. Such is the structure of one of the middle somites of Polynoe squamata. The anterior and posterior somites, with the exception of the first and second, present only minor dif- ferences, as in the proportion of the setse, or in the figure of the elytra. The first somite, which contains the mouth, is the peristomiwn (" Mund-Ssgment " of Grube). The parapodia of this somite are narrow and elongated (Fig. 53, J3, (7, m) ; they are obscurely divided at their extremity into a rudimen- tary neuropodium and notopodium, and give attachment to a pair of large peristomial cirri (c' c) (" cirrhes tentaculaires," Audouin and Milne-Edwards ; " Fiihler-cirren," Grube), of the same structure as the notopodial cirri, which stretch for- ward by the sides of the mouth. Tiie apex of a single small aciculum issues rather above the point of division of the peristomial parapodium, and two minute curved setae accompany it. These have been generally overlooked ; ^ but they seem to demonstrate, in a very inter- esting manner, the nature of the appendages of the peristo- mial searment. The second somite differs from the rest only in the great elongation of its neuropodial cirrus, which is directed forward and applied against the mouth. The peristomium and the prsestomium together are ordi* narily confounded under the common term of " head." The latter (Fig. 53, ^, C, I) is an oval segment flattened superior- ly, placed altogether in front of and above the mouth, pre- senting on its post ero -lateral edges four dark spots, the eyes, and possessing five cirriform appendages, two pairs and a * At least, in the descriptions of the adult Poli/noe. They are particularly mentioned, however, by Max Miiller in his valuable paper, " Ueber die Ent- wickelung und Metamorphose der Polynoen." {MuUer^s Archiv^ 1841.) POLYNOE SQUAMATA. 205 single median one. The latter (a), or the 2:)rce^tomial tentacle (" antenne mediane," Milne-Edwards), is similar in structure to an ordinary cirrus. Of the other appendages, the upper one upon each side (supero-lateral prsestomial cirrus, " an- tenne mitoyenne ") also resembles an ordinary cirrus (b) ; but the lower (infero-lateral prsestomial cirrus, " antenne ex- terne ") (b') is much larger, and is capable of extreme elon- FiG. 5S.—Pol7jnoe sqnamafa. A. Posterior extremity from above : c, notopodial cirrus of last somite; d, pygidial cirri ; x, anus. B. Anterior extremity from above : a, prsestomial tentacle ; b, superior and b' .inferior prasstomial cirrus ; c, c', notopodial and neuropudial cirri ; e, peduncle of first elytron ; L prsestomium ; /«, parapodium of pcrlstomium. C. Inferior view of anierior extremity, letters as before. gation and contraction,* while the ordinary cirri are merely flexible. Altliough at first sight probable, yet it would ap- pear, from Max Muller's account of the development of Poly- noe^ that these two appendages do not, like the two peristo- mial cirri which they essentially resemble, correspond with the notopodial and neuropodial cirri of a single parapodium, inasmuch as they arise from perfectly distinct portions of the pra^stomium. It is very possible that each represents the appendage of a somite, and in this case the praestomium w^ould be composed of at least two somites. Whether the prsestomial tentacle indicates another, or w'hether it is merely * I have never o"b*;er\-ed any invagination such as is stated to occur bv Audouin and Milne-Edwards, 1834. (" Histoire Naturelle du Littoral de la France," p. 10.) 206 THE ANATOMY OF IXVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. an appendage of such a nature as the labrum or the rostrnm of a Crustacean, there is no evidence at present to show. It is highly interesting to remark that thus, in the Poly- noe, as in the Arthropoda^ the *'head " results from the modi- fication of a number of somites, some of which lie in front of, and others behind, the mouth. The movements and evident extreme sensitiveness of the inferior praestomial cirri during life indicate that they perform the functions, as well as occupy the position, of antennae. The hindermost segment of the body, or pygidimn (Fig. 51, -S, Fig. 53, A)^ is narrow, and divided at the end into two supports for the pygidial (d) cirri which are as long as the three last somites, and resemble the notopodial cirri in form and structure. They extend directly backward, almost paral- lel with one another, and with the notopodial cirri of the last somite, which are thrown backward and downward (Fig. 53, A^ c). It seems probable that the pygidium represents only a siuQ-le somite. The anus is not terminal, as in many Annelids, but is seated in the middle of a strongly-raised papilla (Fig. 53, A^ cc), which projects from the dorsal surface of the penulti- mate somite ; its sides are produced into about fourteen folds. The two last elytra have their edges excavated, so as to leave a space over the anus (Fig. 51, A^f). The notopodial cirri and the elytra do not coexist upon the same somites ; and the order of arrangement of the ely- trigerous and cirrigerous somites is very curious. The 1st or peristomial somite is cerrigerous, and so are the 3d, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 14th, 16th, 18th, 20th, 22d, 24th, 25th, and 26th ; while the 2d, 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 13th, loth, 17th, 19lh, 21st, and 23d, somites bear elytra, making twelve pairs in all. In no polychaetous Annelid is the structure of a somite more complex than in Polynoe / and there are but very few parts not found in Polynoe to be met with in other Annelida, The careful study of this species, therefore, furnishes us with an almost complete nomenclature for the external organs of the whole group ; and it will be found that the other forms of Annelida differ mainly in the greater or less development and modification of the organs which have just been de- scribed. A large proportion of the Polychata are like Poly- noe, free and actively locomotive animals, which rarely fabri- cate tubular habitations, and are therefore termed Errantia ^ they possess a praestomium, usually provided with eyes and feelers, and have many parapodia, which are not confined to THE POLYCHJ^TA. 207 the anterior region of the bod}-. They very generally have a proboscis, provided with chitinous teeth. The singular genus, Tomopteris, is a transparent pelagic Annelid, with numerous parapodia, each terminated by two lobes representing the neuropodium and notopodium, but with setae, two of w^hich are very long, only in the cephalic region. The sedentary Annelids [Tuhicola) fabricate tubes, either by gluing together particles of sand and shells, or by secret- ing a chitinous or calcified shelly substance, in which they remain (e. g., Protula^ Fig. 54). The praestomium is small or wanting ; none have a proboscis ; there are no cirri ; and the parapodia are short or rudimentary. The branchiae are devel- oped only on the anterior somites, and the latter are often markedly diflferent from those which constitute the posterior part of the body. In some (/Serpuliclce) a tentacle is enlarged and its end secretes a shelly plate which serves as an operculum, and shuts down over the mouth of the calcareous tube inhabited by the animal, when it is retracted. The dilated end of the opercular tentacle sometimes serves as a chamber in which the young undergo their development (species of Spirorhis), The alimentary canal of the polychaetous An7ielida rarely presents any marked distinction between stomach and intes- tine, and is almost always of the same length as the body, ex- tending, without folds or convolutions, from its anterior to its posterior extremity; but in Siphonostomum (Chloroemd)^ Pectlnaria and others, it is more or less convoluted. It is attached by membranous bands, or more complete mesenteries, to the walls of each somite, and very commonly presents a dila- tation between every pair of mesenteries. In most Polychceta, the intestine acquires in this wav merely a moniliform appear- ance, but in Polynoe^ Aphrodite^ Sigaliony and their allies, long cpeca are given off upon each side of the alimentary canal, and, sometimes becoming more or less convoluted, ter- minate at the upper part of each segment (Fig. 51, D) close beneath, or in the branchiae, w^iere such organs exist. The anterior portion of the alimentary canal is, in a great number of the Polychceta^ in fact in all the typical Errantia,, so modified as to constitute a distinct muscular pharynx, the anterior portion of the wall of which can be everted like the finger of a glove, from the aperture of the mouth, and the posterior portion protruded, so as to form a proboscis. In Polynoe squamata, the proboscis is one-fourth as long as the 208 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED AKIMALS. Fig. bi—Protida Thjsteri. A, the Bexual. mature animal, extracted from its calca- reous tube : a, branchial plumes ; b, hood-like expansion of the anterior end of the bofly : c, the mouth ; c?, the stomach ; e, the anu^ ;/, the testos ; g^ the ova. B^ a Protula in course of proliferation ; &, the branchiae of the zo5id, bod}', and its walls are very thick and muscular. At its an- terior extremity it is surrounded with a circle of small papil- lae, immediately behind which are four strong, pointed and curved horny teeth, implanted in the muscular wall (Fig. 52, THE POLYCHiETA. 209 S). Each tooth has a little projection upon its convex edge, which is connected by a short strong ligament with the cor- responding projection of another tooth ; and the one pair of teeth, thus connected, works vertically against the opposite pair. In JSTereis, there are two powerful teeth which work horizontally, besides minute accessory denticles. In Syllis, the chitinous lining of the pharj'nx is produced into a circle of sharp teeth anteriorly, and there is, in addition, a much stronger triangular median tooth. In Glycera, which pos- sesses a pair of teeth, the extremity of the protruded pro- boscis is covered with very remarkable papillae. The most complex arrangement of teeth, however, is that presented by the EunicidiB. In Eunice^ there are altogether nine distinct pieces : two large, flat, more or less calcified portions united together below, and three cutting and tearing teeth on the right side working against four on the left. As has has been already stated, the tubicolar Annelids possess neither probos- cis nor teeth. No special hepatic gland appears to exist in the Annelida^ unless the intestinal ca?ca perform that function, and the secretion of the bile is doubtless effected by the glandular tract, which extends for a greater or less distance in the walls of the alimentary canal. A pair of glandular CtBca, the func- tion of which is not known, is appended to the base of the proboscis in Nereis. The general cavity of the body, or perivisceral cavity, which is included between the parietes of the alimentary canal and those of the body, is filled with a fluid which con- tains corpuscles, which are usually, as in the Invertebrata in general, colorless. They are red, however, in Glycera, and in a species of Apneumea (De Quatrefages). The parapodia, the cirri, the branchiae, and all the other important appendages of the PolycJiceta^ contain a cavity continuous with the peri- visceral cavity, and are therefore equally filled with the blood. The circulation of this fluid is effected partly by the contrac- tion of the body and its appendages, partly by the vibratile cilia, with which a greater or less extent of the walls of the perivisceral cavity is covered. In a great number of the FolychfMa no part of the body is specially adapted to perform the function of respiration, the aeration of the blood probably taking place w^ierever the inteofument is sufficientlv thin ; and, even when distinct branchiae ordinarily exist, members of the same family may be deprived of them. In Polynoe squamata, ciliated spots 210 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. which appear to represent branchiae, may be discovered on the dorsal side of the bases of the parapodia, at any rate, in youno- specimens. In some species of Pohjnoe the parapodia ffive °ise, at corresponding points, to large, richly cihated, malleiform tubercles, in which the caeca of the ahraentary canal terminate. In Slgalion, a filiform, cihated brancbia depends from the upper part of the somite, beneath the ely- tron • and, besides this, curious little ciliated palettes are arrano-ed upon the dorsal surface of the parapodia, and upon th- sfd-s of the anterior somites. But the best-developed brinchiie among these Annelids are possessed by the Anqylii- nomldx, and the JEimicld'B among the Errant la; the 'Jere- hdUd%, and the Sirpulid:^ among the Tuhicola. In the three former families the branchiae are ciliated branched plumes, or tufts, attached to the dorsal surface of more or fewer of the somites. In the last (Fig. 54) they are exclu- sively attached to the anterior segment of the body, and present the form of two large plumes, each consisting of a principal stem, with many lateral branches. The stem is supported by a kind of internal skeleton, of cartilaginous consistence, which sends off processes into the lateral branches. I have been unable to find any pseud-haemal vessels in Polynoe squam'-xta, and, as Claparede ' could discover none in the transparent P. litmdata, it is safe to assume their non- existence. Claparede, in fact, denies them to the whole of the Aohrodltldoe. When it is present, the pseud-haemal system varies very much in the arrangement of its great trunks ; but they com- monly consist of one or two principal longitudinal dorsal and ventral vessels, which are connected in each somite by trans- verse branches. Where branchise exist, loops or processes of one or other of the great trunks enter them. The dorsal and the ventral trunks are usually rhythmically contractile, and contractile dilatations at the bases of the branchiae (Eunice), in portions of the lateral trunks {Are?iicola), or in those which supply the proboscis (Eunice, Nereis), have received the name of " hearts." The direction of the contractions is usually such that the blood is propelled from behind forward in the dorsal vessel, and in the opposite direction in the ven- tral vessel ; but the course which it pursues in the lateral trunks is probably very irregular. In Chlorcema, in which even the smallest ramifications of the vessels are contractile, I » "Annelides Ch^topodes du Golfe de Naples," 1868, p. 65. THE POLYCH^TA. 211 have observed c.'ecal branches depending into the perivisceral cavity in which the contained fluid underwent merely an alter- nate flux and reflux. Ramified caeca of a similar kind appear to exist in the oligochsetous genera, Euaxes and Lumbriculus. The principal trunks give otf a great number of branches, which ramify very minutely in some Annelids [Euyiice) and may give rise to retia mirabilia {Nereis) ; but in many (e. g., Protula) there are hardly any branches and no minute capil- lary ramifications. In many Folychmta no segmental organs have yet been discovered, and in others they appear to be represented by mere openings in the parietes of the body. I have observed short ciliated canals opening externally upon the ventral sur- face at the bases of the parapodia in Phyllodoce viridis, and there are indications of the existence of similar organs in Syllis vittata. True segmental organs have, however, been found by Ehlers and Claparede in many JPolychceta. In some cases their walls are thick and glandular, and they probably have a renal function. In addition, they frequently play the part of oviducts and spermiducts. "Whether the ciliated canal extending along the ventral surface of the intestine, which I have described in Protula, is a structure of the same order or not. I am not prepared to say. The nervous system of the Polychceta usually consists of a chain of ganglia — one pair for each somite — connected together by "longitudinal and transverse commissural bands, which diverge between the cerebral ganglia and the succeed- ing pair, to allow of the passage of the oesophagus. The most important diff'erences presented by the nervous systems of the Polychosta result from the varying lenrotosomUes, as these segments might be called, does not occur until some time after the embryo has been hatched. The somites increase in number by the addition of new ones between the last and the penultimate somite. The embryos of the Polychoeta differ from those of the Oli- goch(Bta and Hlrudinea in being ciliated. In some cases, the cilia form a broad zone which encircles the body, leaving at each end an area, which is either devoid of cilia, or, as is fre- quently the case, has a tuft of long cilia at the cephalic end. Such larvre are termed Atrocha. In other embryos the cilia are arranged in one or more 1 Claparede and raetschnikofF, " Beitrage zur Kenntniss der Entwickelungs- geschiclite der Chaetopoden," 18G8. 214 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. narrow bands, which surround the body. A very common arrangement is one in which a band of cilia encircles the body immediately in front of the mouth, the region in front of the band bearing eyes, and becoming the praestomium of the adult (e. g., Polynoe). In such embryos, there is very commonly a second band of cilia around the anal end of the embryo, and a tuft of cilia is attached to the centre of the praestomium. These larvae are called Telotrocha. In other cases, one or many bands of cilia surround the middle of the body, between the mouth and the hinder extremity. These are Mesotrocha. In the telotrochous larva of JPhyllodoce, a shield-shaped, mantle-like elevation of the integument covers the dorsal region of the body behind the prae-oral ciliated ring. In the larvae of the Serjndidce a process of the integument grows out behind the mouth, and surrounds the anterior part of the body of the larva like a turned-back collar. It persists, as a kind of hood, in the adult. Some larvae are provided with setse of a different charac- ter from those which are possessed by the adult, and which are cast off as development advances. Many Polychmta multiply by a process of zooid develop- ment, which, in some cases, appears to be a combination of fission with gemmation ; in others, to approach very nearly to pure fission or pure gemmation. The result is, not infre- quently, the formation of long chains of connected zooids. The method of multiplication which De Quatrefages ob- served in SylUs prollfera., is nearly siniple fission, the animal dividing near its middle, and the posterior division acquiring a new head. In Myrianida., Milne-Edwards has described the occur- rence of a sort of continuous budding between the ultimate and penultimate segments, in which region new segments are formed until the zooid has attained its full length. Frey and Leuckart and Krohn have shown that Autolytus prolifer multiplies in a somewhat similar manner ; but, in- stead of each new zooid being formed at the expense of an entire somite, it is developed from only a portion of one. Finally, I found in Protula Dysteri that, when the Protida had attained a certain lensrth, all the somites behind the six- teenth became eventually separated as a new zooid ; but the development of the latter is not mere fission, inasmuch as one of the earliest steps in the process is the enlargement of the seventeenth somite, and its conversion into the head and AGAMOGENESIS AMONG POLYCH^TA. 215 thorax of the bud (Fig. 54, B). Sars has described a similar mode of multiplication in his iilograna implexa^ a very close- ly allied form. In SylUs and in Protula, the producing and the produced zooids alike develop generative products, but, in Autolyhis^ Krohn has shown that the primary producing zouid remains sexless, the secondary produced zooids having a somewhat different form, and alone giving rise to ova and spermatozoa. In some species of the genus JVereiSy the worm, after the development of its genital organs has taken place, takes on the characters of what was formerly considered a distinct genus, ITeterotiereis ; and the males and the females of the same species of Nereis have even been regarded as different species of Setero nereis.^ The series of forms represented by the Tiirhellaria^ the Jlirudinea, the Oligochceta, and the Polychata^ illustrates the manner in which a type of organization, which, in its simplest condition, exhibits but little advance upon a mere Gastrula, passes into one in which the body is divided into manv segments, each provided with a pair of appendages or rudimentary limbs. The segmentation, or serial repetition of homologous somites, extends to the nervous system, and, more or less, to the vascular and reproductive organs, in the higher forms of these "Annulose" animals; from which a further extension of the same process of segmentation, with a fuller develop- ment of the appendages and a more complete appropriation of some of them to manducatory purposes, leads us to the Arthropoda. The Gephyrea. — These are marine vermiform animals without distinct external segmentation or parapodial append- ages. The ectoderm has a chitinous cuticle, and is often provided with tubercles, hooks, or set^e, of chitin i^EcMurus^ Sternaspis). No calcareous skeleton is found in any of the Gephyrea. The integument frequently contains numerous simple glands, the apertures of wliich perforate the cuticle. In one genus i^Sternaspis)^ two shield-shaped plates, fringed with setae, are developed upon the hinder part of the ventral surface bf the body. There are external circular and internal longitudinal muscular fibres beneath the ectoderm. An inner 1 Ehlers, " Die Gattung Heteronereisy (" GGttlngen Nachrichten," ISCr.) 216 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. layer of circularly disposed muscular fibres may be added. The oral end of the body may have the form of a retractile proboscis (I^riapiilus), or be provided with tentacular append- ages. These may be arranged in a circle round the mouth, and short (Slpicncidus, Fig. 56, L, T), or long (Phorojiis)^ or there may be a single long, sometimes bifurcated and ciliated, tentacular appendage {£onellia). Filamentous appendages, which are probably branchiae, are given off at the hinder end of the body in Sternaspis and JPriapulus. The endoderm is usually ciliated throughout. The intestine is straight in most genera, but is coiled and bent upon itself, so as to terminate in the middle of the body, in Sipunculus (Fig. 56, I.). In Phoronis the anus is close to the mouth. The anal aperture is always situated upon the dorsal aspect of the body. There is a spacious perivisceral cavity, undivided by mesenteries, which in some cases (Priapulus^ Sipunculus) opens externally by a terminal pore. In Echiuriis^ JBonellia, Thalassema^ a pair of tubular, sometimes branched organs, which are ciliated internally, and communicate by ciliated apertures with the perivisceral cavity, open into the rectum. These appear to represent the water-vessels of the Itotifera and the respira- torv tubes of the Holothurioe. A pseud-hsemal system exists in most [SijDunculus^ Sternas- pis, PoneUla, JEJjhiurus, and Phoro7iis), and, when fully devel- oped, consists of two longitudinal trunks — one dorsal, or su- pra-intestinal, the other ventral, with their terminal and lateral communications. The pseud-hremal fluid is colorless, or may have a pale reddish tinge, in most. In Phoro7iis it is said to contain red corpuscles. In Sipunculus, the cavities of the tentacles communicate with a circular vessel provided with cascal appendages ; and this circular vessel is said to open into the pseud-htemal vessels. The nervous system presents a collar, which surrounds the oesophagus, and from which a simple or ganglionated cord proceeds backward in the ventral median line, giving off lat- eral branches. The ventral cord contains a central canal, and the collar usually presents a cerebral ganglionic enlartrement. Rudimentary eyes are sometimes connected with the cerebral ganglion. The sexes are distinct, and the reproductive elements are developed either from the parietes of the perivisceral cavity or in simple ccecal glands. In Sipunculus, the ova and sper- matozoa float freely in the perivisceral cavity. The actively locomotive embryo of Sipunculus (Fig. 56, II.) THE GEPHYREA. 217 is surrounded by a circular band of cilia placed immediately behind the mouth ( W] TF), and resembles a Rotifer or a meso- trochal Annelidan larva. As developuient advances it loses Fig. 5Q.—Sipunculus nudus (after Keferstein and Ehlers).^ I. The animal laid open longitudinally — | n. s. T, tentacles; r, the four retractor muscles of the proboscis; r, the points at which they were*attached to the walls of the body ; te, oesophagus ; i. intestine; a, anu:? ; X J\ loops of the intestine ; «, y, appendages of the rectum; 2, fusiform muscle; w, ciliated groove on the inner side of the intestine ; g, anal muscles ; s, csecal glands ; t. cseca which open on each side of the nervous cord, and are gonerally considered to be testes ; p, pore at the hinder end of the body; ??, nervous cord, which ends in a Inbed gan- glionic mass, close to the mouth, and presents an enlargement, g\ at its poste- rior end ; wi, m', m". muscles associated with the nervous cords. II, A larval Sipunculus about rV of an inch long: 0, mouth ; ce, gnllet ; 8, csecal gland; t. intestine with masses of fatty cells ; a, anus ; w, ciliated groove of the intestine ; g. brain with two pairs of red eye-spots ; », nervous cord, p, pore; t, t, so-called testes ; TF, TF, circlet of cilia. this apparatus, and passes gradually into the adult form. In PJioronis, the embryo is also mesotrochal, but it has two ciliated bands, one circular, round the anus, and the other im- mediately behind the mouth. The post-oral band of cilia is produced into numerous tentaculiform lobes, and fringes the free edge of a broad concave lobe of the dorsal side of the body, vvhich arches over the mouth. In this state the embrj^o 1 " Zoologische Beitrage," 1861. 10 218 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. is the so-called Actinotrocha.^ An invagination of the ven- tral integument of the larva connects itself with the middle of the intestine, and then, becoming evaginated, pulls the in- testine, in the form of a loop, into the ventral process thus formed, which gives rise to the body of the Fhoronis^ while the tentacles of the larva grow into those of the adult. Schneider has suggested that the bell-shaped larva, with long seta3, termed Mitraria by Miiller, is the embryo of Sternaspis. The affinities of the Gephyrea with the Turhellaria^ with the Annelida^ and with the JRotifera^ are unmistakable. In fact, it may be doubted whether Sternaspis should not be associated with the Polychoeta, and £o7iellia is in many re^ spects comparable to a colossal Rotifer. Their usually as- sumed connection with the Echinodermata is more question- able. The circular canal which communicates with the cavi- ties of the tentacles in Sipunculiis has been compared to the ambulacral system of the Echinoderms, but the manner of its development is not yet sufficiently understood to justify the expression of an opinion on this subject. Krohn has de- scribed a bilobed organ on the ventral face of the gullet of the larva of Sipunculus, which opens externally in front of the ciliated band by a narrow ciliated duct ^ (Fig. 56, II., S). It has a striking similarity to the " water-vessel " of the larva of £alanoglossus, which, however, lies on the opposite side of the body. 1" Schneider, "TJeber die Metamorpliose der Aciinotrocha Iranchiata.''^ (" Archiv fur Anatomie," 1862.) " " Ueber die Larve des Si^vnculus nvdusy (" Archiv fiir Anatomic," 1851.) CHAPTER VI. IHE AKTHROPODA. The segmentation of the body, that is, its division into a series of somites, each provided with a pair of lateral ap- pendages, which is so characteristic a feature of the higher Annelids, is exhibited in a still more marked degree by the Arthropoda. In these animals, moreover, the appendages, themselves are usually divided into segments, while one or more pairs of the appendages in the neighborhood of the mouth are modified in form and position to subserve man- ducation. Segmental organs, at least in their Annelidan form, are wanting in the Arthropoda, and neither in the em- bryonic nor the adult condition do they ever possess cilia. The process of yelk-division may be complete or incom- plete, but no known Arthropod ovum gives rise to a vesicular morula, nor is the alimentary cavity ordinarily formed by in- vagination/ The precise mode of origin of the mesoblast has yet to be worked out, but the perivisceral cavity appears always to be developed by its splitting. In other words, it is a schizocoele. As with Annelids, the segmentation of the body results from the subdivision of the mesoblast by transverse constric- tions into 2yrotosomites ; and there is every reason to believe that the ganglionated nervous chain arises from an involution of the epiblast. The neural face of the embryo is fashioned first, and its anterior end terminates in two rounded expansions — the j^ro- cephcdie lobes — which are converted into the sides and front of the head. The appendages are developed as paired out- » The recent observations of Bobretzky on the development of Oniscus and Astacm (Hofmann and Schwalbe, " Jahresberichte," Bd. ii., 1875), however, tend to show that the hypoblast arises by a sort of modified invasrination of the primitive blastoderm. And in other Arthropoda there are indications of a similar process. 220 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. growths from the neural aspect of each somite, and, whatever their ultimate form, they are, at first, simple bud-like pro- cesses. Very generally, a broad median prolongation of the sternum of the somite which lies in front of the mouth gives rise to a labrum ; while a corresponding, but often bifid me- dian elevation, behind the mouth, becomes a metastoma. In many Arthropods, the haemal or tergal face of the body grows out into lateral processes, which may either be fixed, or more or less movable. The lateral prolongations of the carapace in the Critstacea and the wings of J?isecta are structures of this order. In a number of Insects belonging to different orders of the class, an amnionic investment is developed from the extra-neural part of the blastoderm by a method similar to that which gives rise to the amnion in the higher Vertebrata, In all the higher Arthropods, a certain number of the somites which constitute the anterior end of the body coa- lesce and form a head, distinct from the rest of the body ; and the appendages belonging to these confluent somites un- dergo remarkable modifications, whereby they are converted into organs of the higher senses and into jaws. In many cases, the somites of the middle and posterior parts of the body become similarly difi'erentiated into groups of poly- somitic segments, which then receive the name of thorax and abdomen. The somites entering into each of these groups may remain distinct or may coalesce. The tergal expansions of the somites of the head, or of both head and thorax, may take the shape of a broad shield, or carapace. This may con- stitute a continuous whole (e. g., Apus, Astacns) ; or its two halves may be movably connected by a median hinge, like a bivalve shell [Cypris^ Lhnnadia) ; or, finally, the tergal pro- cesses of each side may remain distinct from one another and freely movable on their respective somites (wings of In- sects). Limbs, or appendages capable of effectino;* locomotion, are always attached either to the head or to the thorax,^ or to both. They may be present or absent in the abdominal re- gion. In adnlt Arachnida and Insecta^ there are no abdomi- nal limbs, unless the accessory organs of generation, the stings of some insects, and the peculiar appendages of the abdomen in the Thysaniira and CoUembola, be such. The alimentary apparatus presents very wide diversities 1 The extinct Trilohites possibly form an exception to this rule. THE ARTHROPODA. 221 in form and structure, and in the number and nature of its glands. The anus, which is very rarely absent, is situated in the hindermost somite. In like manner, the blood-vascular system varies from a mere perivisceral cavity without any heart ( Ostracoda, Cirri- pedicC) up to a complete, usually many-chambered heart with well-developed arterial vessels. The venous channels, how- ever, always have the nature of more or less definite lacunae. The blood-corpuscles are colorless, nucleated cells. Special respiratory organs may be absent, or they may take one of the following forms : 1. Branc1iiiata. Aeachnida. Peeipatidea. ///. With Maxilliforni Gnathites. Entomosteaca. Mteiapoda. Malacosteaca. Insecta. Water-breathers. Air-breathers. For the most part. Of the four great groups, the Cnista^iea are those which present the greatest and the most instructive variations upon the fundamental type of structure; while the modifications of the Insecta, Arachnlda, and JSIyriapoda, are less exten- sive, and may be regarded as of secondary morphological im- portance. The Crustacea will, therefore, be treated of at some length, while the other groups will be passed over more lightly. THE CEUSTACEA. The Trilobita. — These ancient Arthropods, which have been extinct since the latter part of the PalfBozoic epoch, oc- cur in the fossil state in great numbers, and in conditions very favorable for their preservation ; but, up to this time, no certain indications of the existence of appendages, nor even of any hard, sternal body-wall, have been discovered, though 2'26 THE AXATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED AXIMALS. a shield-shaped labrum, which lies in front of the mouth, has been preserved in some specimens. Tlie body consists of a cephalic shield (Fig. 57, A) ', oi a, variable number of mov- ably-articulated thoracic somites (Fig. 57, £) ; and of a,py- gidium^ composed of a variable number of the somites which succeed the thorax, united together (Fig. 57, C). Each thoracic somite presents a median portion, convex from side to side, termed the axis or tergnin, and two flat- tened lateral portions, the pleura. The former overlap one another largely when the body is extended, the latter when it is flexed, and the freedom of motion permitted by this ar- rangement is so great that many Trilobites were able to roll themselves up like wood-lice, and are found fossilized in that condition. At the lateral edge of each pleuron, the cuticular substance of which it is composed folds inward, and can be traced on the ventral or sternal side for some distance. But in the middle of the ventral region no indication of a sternum is discoverable. It may, therefore, be concluded that the sternal region of the somite was of a soft and perishable na- ture ; and that the thoracic somite of a Trilobite resembled one of the abdominal somites of a crab in this and in some other respects. The glabellum (Fig. 57, 4), or central raised ridge of the cephalic shield, is a continuation of the thoracic axis^ the lo- cation of its sides perhaps referring to the number of primi- tive somites it represents. The limb, or lateral area on either side, answers to a thoracic pleuron ; its thickened margin (Fig. 57, 1) is produced into two longer or shorter posterior angles {ff) ; inferiorly, the marginal band is reflected inward for a short distance, as the subfrontal fold, the remaining sternal area being incomplete. A median movable plate answers to the labrum of Apiis and Limulus. On the occip- ital or lateral margin of the limb a suture (Fig. 57, 5) com- mences, and, passing between the eye and the glabellum, meets that of the opposite side either in front of the latter, or on the margin of the limb, or on the subfrontal fold, and is connected with the labral suture by one or two sutures. The limb is thus divided into two parts — one fixed (the fixed gena, Fig. 57, «), attached to the glabellum ; the other sep- arable (the movable gena, Fig. 57, h), on which the eye is placed. The eves, are absent in some genera. In others they occur as isolated ocelli ; or in groups, their interspaces being occupied by the common integument ; or they may resemble the compound eyes of other Arthropods, THE TRILOBITA. 227 M. Barrande ^ has succeeded in tracing out the develop- ment of some species of Trilobites. He finds that the small- FiG. 57.— Diacrram of Dalmanites (after Pictet).— ^, head ; l,Tiiarcrinal band ; 2, mar- ginal groove, internal to the band ; 3, occipital segment ; 4, glabellum ; 5, great suture ; 6. eyes ; a, fixed gena ; ^>, separable gena ; g, genal angle ; B, thorax ; 7, axis or terguni ; 8, pleuron ; C, pygidium ; 9, tergal ; 10, pleural portions of the pygidium. est, and therefore the youngest, forms are discoidal bodies, without any clear evidence of segmentation. The division into somites takes place by degrees, the number increasing up to the adult condition. It is possible that still younger conditions may have escaped fossilization, but the analogy of Liinulus suggests that these small discoidal forms really represent the condition in which the Trilobite left the e^g. The Mekostomata.' — The only existing representative^ of this division of the Crustacea is the genus Lirtxulus (the King Crabs or Horseshoe Crabs), the various species of which are ^ " Systeme Silurien du centre de Boheme." tome i. Trilobites. 1852. » H. Wood-n-ard, " A Monosrraph of the British Fossil Crustacea belonging to the Order Merostomata," 1866. 228 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. found in America and in the Moluccas. They are usually- classed as a distinct order of the Crustacea^ termed ^ipho- sura or Poecilopoda. The body of Lhnulus (Fig. 58) is naturally divided into three parts, which are movably articulated together. The most anterior is a shield-shaped portion, curiously similar in form to the head of a Trilobite. Its convex dorsal surface is similarly divided into a median and two lateral regions; its edges are thickened, and its posterior and external angles are produced backward. At the anterior end of the median re- gion two simple eyes are situated, and at its sides are two large compound eyes. The sternal surface presents, ante- riorly, a flattened subfrontal area^ behind which it is deeply excavated, so that the labrum and the appendages are hidden in a deep cavity formed by its shelving walls. The middle division of the body of Lhnulus exhibits markings which in- dicate that it is composed of, at fewest, six coalesced somites; its margins are spinose, and its excavated sternal face lodges the appendages of this region. Fio. 58.—^, Linwlus moluccanus (dorsal view). 5. L. rotundlcauda (ventral view) (after Milne-Edwards): a. anterior; b, mid 11? division of the body ; c, telson , d\ Bubfrontal area; e, anteunules ; f, antennae ; g, operculum; A, branchiferoua ap- pendages. The terminal division is a long, pointed, and laterally ser- rated spine, which is termed the telson. THE MEROSTOMATA. 229 The mouth is placed in the centre of the sternal surface of the anterior division ; the anus opens on the same surface, at the junction between the middle division and the telson. A movable, escutcheon-shaped labrum projects backward in the middle line, immediately behind the subfrontal area (d) ; and on each side of it is a three-jointed appendage, the second joint of which is prolonged in such a manner as to form with the third a pincer or chela. The attachment of this appendage is completely in front of the labrum, which separates it from the mouth. In each of the next five pairs of appendages, the basal joint is enlarged ; and, in the anterior four, its inner edge is beset with numerous movable spines. The attachment of the basal joint of the foremost of these appendages (the second of tlie whole series) is in front of the mouth ; but its pro- longed, spinose, posterior and internal angle may be made to project a little into the oral cavity. The basal joints of the following three appendages are articulated at the sides of the mouth, and the inner angle of each is provided with a spinose process which projects into the oral cavity. The second, third, fourth, and fifth appendages in the females are chelate ; in the males of most species the second, and sometimes the third, are not chelate. The large basal joint of the sixth ap- pendage is almost devoid of spines, and bears a curved, spat- ulate process, which is directed backward between the ante- rior and middle divisions of the body. The fifth joint of this limb carries four oval lamellae. The appendages which form the seventh pair, very unlike the rest, are short, stout, and single-jointed. The eighth pair of appendages, again, are of a totally dif- ferent character from those which precede them. They are united in the middle line into a single broad plate, which forms a sort of cover, or operculum, over the succeeding ap- pendages, when the animal is viewed from the sternal side. On the dorsal face of this plate are seated the two apertures of the reproductive organs. From the inner face of the anterior, or sternal, wall of each half of the operculum a strong process arises, and passes upw^ard to be attached to a corresponding process of the ter- gal wall of the anterior division of the body. By far the greater part of the large levator muscle of the appendage arises from the tergal wall of the anterior division of the body, and the nerve which supplies the limb is derived direct- ly from the posterior part of the multiganglionate cord which 230 THE ANATOMY OF IIs^YERTEBRATED ANIMALS. surrounds the gullet and supplies the appendages which lie in front of the operculum. The five pairs of appendages which remain resemble the operculum in their general form, and have ascending process- es, which are connected with inward prolongations of the ter- gal wall of the middle division of the body. Their nerves are derived from the ganglia which lie in this region of the body. Thus there are altogether thirteen pairs of appendages, eight of which are connected with the anterior, and five with the middle division of the body ; and the appendages in the region of the mouth are essentially ordinary limbs, the basal joints of some of which are so modified as to subserve man- ducation. The determination of the homologies of the parts hither- to spoken of as the anterior and middle divisions of the body, and of their appendages, is a matter of some difficulty ; but, on comparing the disposition of the limbs and their nervous supply with what obtains in the higher Crustacea^ it seems hardly doubtful that the first pair of appendages answer to the antennules ; the second, to the antennae ; the third, to the mandibles ; the fourth and fifth, to the maxilla? ; and the sixth, seventh, and eighth, to the maxillipedes of Astacus or Soinarus y and, in this case, the anterior division is a ceph- alo-thorax. If the position of the genital openings marks the hinder boundary of the thorax, the middle division of the body represents an abdomen, composed cf five somites. But, on the other hand, it may be that the genital organs open in front of the hinder extremity of the thorax, as in female Pod ophthalmia^ and that the five somites which form the middle division correspond with the remaining five somites of the thorax of a Podophthalmian. In this case, the region which corresponds with the abdomen in the higher ciusta- ceans is undeveloped. The alimentary canal of Limiihis is very peculiarly ar- ranged. The gullet passes directly forward and upward, and gradually widens into the stomach, the walls of which are provided with many longitudinal folds. The pylorus is prolonged into a narrow tube which projects into the intes- tine. The two biliary ducts on each side are far apart, and branch out into minute tubules, which form a mass occupying the greater part of the cavity of the body. The rectum, a slender canal with plaited walls, and very short, opens into a sort of cloaca situated between the telson and the sternal wall of the abdomen. THE MEROSTOMATA. 231 The heart, in Limidus polyphemus, is an elongated mus- cular tube, divided into eight chambers, and having as many pairs of lateral valvular apertures. It lies in a large peri- cardial sinus, which, in its abdominal portion, presents on each side five apertures, the terminations of the branchial veins. The branchiae consist of numerous delicate semicir- cular lamellae, attached transversely to the posterior faces of the five post-opercular appendages, and superimposed upon one another like the leaves of a book. The nervous system appears, at first sight, to be very con- centrated, its principal substance being disposed in a ring, embracing the oesophagus ; but, on closer inspection, it is found to consist of an anterior mass, representing the prin- cipal part of the cerebral ganglia in most other Crustacea^ and of two ganglionic cords which proceed from the outer and posterior angles of that mass, and extend as far as the interval between the last and penultimate pairs of append- ages. These cords are thick, and lie on each side of the oesophagus, around which they converge, so as to come into close union and almost confluence, immediately behind it. In front of this point, however, they are connected by three or four transverse commissures, which curve round the poste- rior wall of the oesophagus, and become gradually shorter from before backward. The first of these commissures unites the tw^o cords oppo- site the origin of the nerves to the third pair of appendages, which I reg^ard as the homologues of the mandibles. In front of this point, the cerebral ganglia give ofi', from their ante- rior edges, the nerves to the ocelli, eyes, and frontal region ; and, from their posterior and under surfaces, those to the an- tennules. The nerves to the antennte arise from the cord close to the outer and posterior angles of the cerebral gan- glia, and some distance in front of those to the mandibles. Close behind the latter arise the large nerves to the fifth and sixth cephalo-thoracic appendages. The nerves to the rudimentary seventh pair of append- ages are slender, and arise rather from the under part of the post-oesophageal ganglia ; those which suppl}" the eighth pair of appendages, constituting the operculum, are also slender, and seem to come off from the two longitudinal com- missural cords, which connect the post-oesophngeal ganglia with those which are situated in the second division of the body, though they are, in truth, only united in one sheath with them for a short distance, and can be readily traced to 232 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. the post-oesophageal ganglia, internal to the nerves of the seventh pair of appendages. The longitudinal commissures are very long, and are inclosed in a continuation of the same sheath ; they pass back into the second division of the body, and there present four ganglionic enlargements, whence the nerves of the post-opercular appendages proceed. The last of these ganglia is much larger than the others, and appears to consist of several confluent masses. The nerves diverge from it in such a manner as to resemble a Cauda equina. The reproductive organs of both sexes consist of a mass of glandular ceeca, which ramify through the body amid the hepatic tubules, and eventually open on papiilie situated on the posterior face of the operculum. The males are much smaller than the females, and present, in many species, an external sexual distinction in the peculiarity of their second and third appendages already referred to. The young of Limidus acquires all its cliaracteristic features while still within the Qgg. The interesting obser- vations of A. Dohrn ^ have shown that, in an early stage, the embryo is provided with the nine anterior pairs of append- ages, and is marked out into fourteen somites by transverse grooves upon its sternal face. The body has the form of a thick rounded disk, divided into an anterior shield composed of six somites, and a posterior, likewise shield-shaped region, formed by the union of eight somites. The telson has not made its appearance. In this condition, its resemblance, apart from the limbs, to such a Trilobite as Trinucleiis is, as Dohrn points out, most remarkable. The JCiphosura were represented in the Carboniferous epoch [Belllnurus), Tlie Eicrypterida (Fig. 59) are extinct Crusiacea of Pa- laeozoic (Silurian) age, which sometimes attain a very large size and in many respects resemble Limidus^ while, in others, they present approximations to other Crustacea,, especially the Copepoda. An anterior, eye-bearing, shield-shaped di- vision of the body is succeeded by a number (12 or more) of free somites, and the body is ended by a broad, or narrow and spine-like, telson. Five pairs, at most, of limbs, pro- ^ " Tlntcrsnchungen tiber Bau und Entwiclvclun;^ der Artliropoden." (Jena- iscJie Zeifsclirift^ Bd. vi.) See also the observations of Lockwood and Packard, American Naturalift, vol. iv., 1871, vol. vii., 1873, and " Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural History," 1872 ; with the discussion of the systematic place of Zimulus by E. Van Beneden, Journal de Zoologie^ 1872. THE MERCSTOMATA. 233 vided with toothed basal joints, are attached to the sternal surface of the shield, and the mouth is covered, behind them, by a large oval plate which appears to represent a meta- stoma (Fig-. 59, -S, g). Some of the anterior limbs are fre- quently chelate [Fterygotus) ; the terminal joints of the most Fig. m.—Emimterm rsmims (after Nieszkowpki).i— J, do-sal aspect. B, ventral aspect. Cth, t'le cepTialo-thoracic shield bearing a, the eyes, and 0, c. d, e,/, the locomotive limhs; T, telson ; g, the metastoma; h, the sternal plates of the an- terior free somites. posterior pair are generally expanded and paddle-like. The integument often presents a peculiar sculpture, simulating minute scales. The sternal surface of one or more of the anterior free somites is occupied by a broad plate, with a median lobe, and two laterally-expanded side-lobes (Fig. 59, 1 " Der Enrypterm remipes^ au3 den obersilurisclien Schicliten der Insel Oesel." 1859. 234 THE AXATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. 3, A), having a remote resemblance to the operculum of Limiilus, The Extomostraca. — All the remaining Crustacea have completely specialized jaws; and as many as six pairs of appendages may be converted into gnathites. In the Entomostraca, if the body possesses an abdomen (reckoning as such the somites which lie behind the genital aperture), its somites are devoid of appendages. Moreover, the somites, counting that which bears the eyes as the first, are more or fewer than twenty. There are never more than three pairs of gnathites. The embryo almost always leaves the eg^ in the condition of a Nauplius y that is, an oval body, provided with two or three pairs of appendages, which become converted into antennary organs and gnathites in the adult. The division of the JEntomostraca comprises the Copepoda^ the Epizoa^ the Branchiopoda^ the Ostracoda^ and the Pectostraca, The Copepoda. — Tn these Entomostraca, which come nearest to the Eurypterida^ the cephalic shield, which is dis- coidal and not folded longitudinally, is succeeded by a certain number of free thoracic and abdominal somites. The anten- nules and antennae are large, and, as in the Eurypterida^ are organs o