" > • - < m m VI • r1 fV^-7 A MANUAL OF THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. BY THOMAS H. HUXLEY, LL. D., F. R. S. NEW YORK: D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 1, S, AND 5 BOND STREET. 1888. PREFACE. THE present volume on the Anatomy of Invertebrated Animals fulfills an undertaking to produce a treatise on comparative anatomy for students, into which I entered two-and-twenty years ago. A considerable installment of the work, relating wholly to the Invertebrate,, appeared in the Medical Times and Gazette for the years 1856 and 1857, under the title of " Lectures on General Natural History.'1 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 Verte- 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 our knowledge, respecting the groups treated of in those which have long been printed. When I commenced this work, it was my intention to continue the plan adopted in the " Manual of the Anatomy of Vertebrated Animals," of giving a summary account of what appeared to me to be ascertained morphological facts, without referring to my sources of information. I soon found, however, that it would be inconvenient to carry out this scheme consistently ; and some of my pages are, I am afraid, somewhat burdened with notes and ref- erences. I am the more careful to mention this circumstance as, had it been my purpose to give any adequate Bibliography, the conspicuous absence of the titles of many important books and memoirs might appear unaccountable and in- deed blameworthy. 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 morphol- ogy of the Invertebrata • though I have not avoided the incidental mention of facts connected with their physiol- ogy 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 aetiological 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. r, The dissection of a single representative of each of the principal divisions of the ///>•< rf»hratii will give the btiuli nt a more real acquaintance with their comparator than any amount of reading of this, or any othrr l»u..k. And I have endeavored to facilitate practical study l.v supplying a somewhat full description of individual 1« in the case of the more complicated types. That the power of repeating a " Classification <>l Ani- mals," with all the appropriate definitions, has anything to do with genuine knowledge is one of the comm- 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 tin- last chapter ; and I have thought it unnecessary, either t < • 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 // l/'ttfa further will do well to consult the excellent treatises of Yon Siebold,1 Gegenbaur,9 and Glaus;8 and the elabo- 1 " Lehrbuch der vergleichenden Anatomie der wirbellosen Thiere," 1848. One of the best books on the subject ever writti-n, an.l still indispensable. 2 u Grund/.iitre der vergleichenden Anatomie," 1870 ; and " GrundrUa der vergleichenden Anatomie," 1874. 3 " Grundziige der Zodlogie.'' ntte Auflage, 1876. 6 PREFACE. rate works of Milne-Edwards1 and Bronn,a in which a very full Bibliography will be met with. Dr. Rolleston's valuable " Types of Animal Life," and the " Elementary Instruction in Practical Biology," by myself and Dr. Martin, will prove useful adjuncts to the appliances of the practical worker. 1 " Lemons sur la Physiologie et 1'Anatomie compare de 1'Homme et des Animaux." Tomes i.-xii. (incomplete). a " Die Klassen und Ordnungen des TMerreiclis." Bde. i.-vi. (incomplete). LONDON, June, 1877. CONTENTS. MM PREFACE, 3 INTRODUCTION : THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BIOLOGY, . 9 CHAP. I. — THE DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERS OF ANIMALS, . ... 44 II.— THE PROTOZOA, 78 III. — THE PORIFERA AND THE CffiLENTERATA, 102 IV. — THE TURBELLARIA, THE ROTIFERA, THE TREMATODA, AND Tmt CESTOIDEA, 157 V. — THE HIRUDINEA, THE OLIGOCH.ETA, THE POLYCH^TA, THE GEPHYREA, 189 VI. — THE ARTHROPOD A, 219 VII. — THE AIR-BREATHING ARTHROPOD A, 820 VIIL— THE POLYZOA, THE BRACHIOPODA, AND THE MOLLUSCA, . . 389 IX. — THE ECHINODERMATA, 466 X. — THE TUNIC ATA OR ASCIDIOIDA, 510 XL— THE PERIPATIDEA, THE MYZOSTOMATA, THE EXTEROPNEDSTA, THE CH.ETOGNATHA, THE NEMATOIDEA, THE PHYSEMARIA, THE ACANTHOCEPHALA, AND THE DlCYEMIDA, . . . 584 XH. — THE TAXONOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS, .... 561 INDEX, 589 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. INTRODUCTION. I. — THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES OP BIOLOGY. THE biological 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, and 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 hiological sciences are sharply marked off from the abiological, or those which treat of th«- 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. \ischemicalcomposition — containing, as it invariably does, one or more forms of a complex compound of carbon, hydrogen, oxvgen, and nitrogen, the so-called pmti-in I \\hirh has never yet been obtained except as a product of li bodies) united with a large proportion of water, and form ing- 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 universal disintegration and waste by oxidation; and its concomitant reintegration by the intussusception 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 body grows. 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 well-known aphorism of Linnaeus,1 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 " Lapid&s crescunt: vegetabilia crescunt et vivunt: animalia crescunt, vi- vunt et sentiunt." CHARACTERS OF LIVING MATTER. u live, and is resolved into more highly-oxidated compounds of its elements. 'I'h us an individual living body is not only constantly changing its substance, but its size and fhry* isi<-)< //"/•////' was not killed until the temperature rose to 44° or 45° C. Dldyniiiim *• /////A/ is killed at 35° C. ; while another Myxomycete, j3Ethaiiwn\ .^/'//riim, succumbs only at 40° C. Cohn (" LJntersuchungen Uber Bacterien," Beitrage zur Biologie der Pflanzen, Heft 2, 1872) has givm the results of a series of experiments conducted with the view of ascertain- ing the temperature at which Bacteria are destroyed \\ 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 / teria coexist with them. The iluid employed contained 0.1 gramme potassium phosphate, 0.1 gr. crysialli/ed magnesium sulphate, 0.1 gr. tribasic calcium phosphate, and (».:> 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 B rt of tin- normal fluid infected with Tldcferta, were submerged in water heated to various temperatures, the flask being carefully shaken, with- out being raised out of the water, during its submerg. The result was, that in those flasks which were tliu- MI!J- jected, for an hour, to a heat of 60°-62° C. (140M430 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 conv.-iju.-Mee of the multiplication of the J> /•/'*/, in the OOUT86 of from two to three davs. I am in the habit of demonstrating annually, tliat Pa- solution and hay-infusion, after five minute-' boilin r in a '•' properly stopped with cotton-wool, reiraiu perfectly clear of living organisms, however long they may be kept. The same 14 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. holds good for a solution analogous to Cohn's, but in which all the saline ingredients are ammonia salts ; l and in which Jfacteria 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 Kulme's and in Cohn's experiments, which last have lately been confirmed and extended by Dr. Roberts, of Man- chester, it was noted that long exposure to a lower temper- ature than that which brings about immediate destruction of life produces the same effect 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 liours 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 Algce have been found living in hot springs at much higher temperatures, namely, 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 affect funda- mental, conditions. 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 different 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 IIIiAT \\1. COLO, 15 destruction of its fundamental substance at that IH .it, .,n-i how far death is brought about by the coagulation <>f im-rely accessory compounds. It may be safely said of all those living things which are large enough to enable us to trust tin; evid< . scopes,1 that they arc heterogeneous optically, and that their different parts, and especially the surface layer, as contrasted with the interior, differ physirally and ehemieally ; whii most living tilings, mere heterogeneity is rxrliain definite structure, whereby the body is distinguished in in visibly diverse parts, which possess different powers or I tions. Living things which present this visible structure are said to be organiz«I. ; and so widely does organ i/at inn ol among living brings, that organized and living are not un 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- Isss 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 at work in the one are different from those which are to be met with in the other. Considered apart from the phenomena of consciousness, the phenomena 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 be convenient to use the terms " vitality " and "vital fm.e"to denote the causes of certain great groups of natural opera- 1 In considering the question of the complication of molecular which even the smallest and simplest of living hrimrs may pos.-i - to recollect that an organic particle r»tv« of an in best microscopes may be incompetent to reveal t!i inferential parts, may be made up of 1,000,000 particles TTraiasn <>f an inch in «H:r while the molecules of matter are probably much less than rvniro* 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. 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- 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- ena, depend, on the one hand, upon its construction, and, on the other, upon the energy supplied to it ; and to speak of " vitality " as anything but the name of a series of operations is as if one should talk of the " horologity " of a clock. 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 latter 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. MORPHOL- OGY; II. DISTRIBUTION; III. PHYSIOLOGY; IV. ^ETIOLOGY. I. MORPHOLOGY. So far as living beings have a form and structure, they fall within the province of Anatomy and 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. r The study of Anatomy and Development has brought to ;-ln certain generalizations of wk'e applicability and great importance. 1. It has been said that the great majority of living 1 present a very definite structure. ( H , diua iv dissection suffice to separate tin- I. higlu-r animals, or plants, into lahnc.s of different ft rto, \\lii.-h always present the same general arrangenienl in : organism, but are combined in dinYivnt \\a\s in dill- organisms. The discrimination of these comparative! N fabrics, or tissues, of which organisms are composed, was the first step toward that ultimate analysis of visible stru- 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 "//- 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 ua- 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 tin- 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 i • n< -e as a simple cell, identical in its fundamental characters with the less modified of those cells of which the whole body is comp<»ed. But it is not necessary to the morphological unit of the plant that it should be always provided with a cell-wall. ' tain plants, such as Protococcus, spend longer or shorter ; 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 mush to the proper " cellulose cell-wall " of the vege- table cell. But 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 calls — 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 all 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 celluld." 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- DI:\ ELOPMEH1 jg sues being formed at the expense of the more superficial toplasm of (he cells; :m«-ml>lrs every other cell, through a series of stages of gradually-increasing di genee, until it reaches that condition in which it presents the characteristic features of the elements of a spe< -ial 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 «-i in- verted into an aggregate of nucleated cells — the parts of this aggregate, following different laws of growth and multiplica- tion, give rise to the rudiments of the organs ; and the p of these rudiments again take on those modes of growth, mul- tiplication, and ir?etamorphosis, 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 t<> tin- 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 embryonic 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 alwav^ tin- same, was first expressed by Harvey in his famous aphorism, " Omne vivum ex ovo" which was intended simplv as a ' phological generalization, and in nowise implied the of spontaneous generation, as it is commonly su: Moreover, Harvey's study of the development of the chick 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 : (I.) 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 Algce and Fungi. (2.) The germ may undergo division, and be converted into an aggregate of division masses, or blastomeres, 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 01 8TR1 when the appendages and the segment* into which they are subdivided similarly become differentiated and coalesce. It is in virtue of such processes that the flowers of j>l and the heads and limbs of the ^4 >•////•< 7 «>,/,/ and of the Ver- tebrate^ among- animals, attain th.-ir extraordinary diversity and complication of structure. A flown bud is a segmented body or axis, with a certain number of whorls of a|>|> and the perfect flower is the result of the gradual dillen lion 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 segmei with its pair of appendages, which by differentiation and fluence are converted into the feelers and variously modified oral appendages of the adult. In some complex organisms, the process of differentiation 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 i: rise to the rhizome of the young fern, another to its first i 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 ////» modal cell, which elongates greatly, and does not « livid- ceeded by a nodal cell, which elonir-ite-s but Mule, and becomes greatly subdivided ; this by another intenmdal 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 < 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 imagination, of the blas- toderm into two layers, the epiblast, and the hypoblast, 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 VertJ>r classes. But there is this difference 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 differences in degree, and not in kind. In each case the classification depends upon likeness ; but in an artifi- cial classification some prominent and easil}* -observed fratuiv is taken as the mark of resemblance or dissemblance ; whilr. in a natural classification, the things classified are arranged ac- cording to the totality of theif morphological resemblances, and the features which are taken as the marks of groups are those which have been ascertained by observation to be tin 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. DISTRIBUTION. Living beings occupy certain portions of the surface of tlie 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, the 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 Faunce and Florae.. It has been discovered, by careful comparison of local fau- nae and florae, 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 parity 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 faunas 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. DISTKIWTlnN IN I [ME. 25 In any given locality, the succession of living forms may appear to be interrupted l>y numerous InvjiUs- tin associated species in each fossiliterous bed Ix-in^ «|uitc distinct those above and those below them. Hut the tendency of all palaeontologies] investigation is to show that these breaks are only apparent, and arise from tin- incompleteness of the series of remains which happens to have been preserved in any gi\ » -n locality. As the area over which accurate geological in\ Cations have been carried on extends, and as i h < rous rocks found in one locality fill up the gaps left in another, so do the abrupt dernarkatious between the faunae and flora} 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 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 effected, 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 exami the successive terms of the series of living 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 tint 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 A, which existed during a certain geological epoch, 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 compared together they are found to be organized upon the same plan, and to be very similar even in most of the details of their struct \ but B differs from A by a slight modification of some ot 2 %6 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. parts, which modification is carried to a still greater extent in C. In other words, A, B, and 0, 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., Equidw^ 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 comparison of the oldest with the latest forms, is slight, or absent ; and some of these have certainly persisted, with 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 during which organic 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 the nature of the deep-sea fauna have shown that numerous Crustacea, JZchinodermata, and other inver- tebrate animals, have as wide a distribution now as their ana- logues possessed in the Silurian epoch. III. PHYSIOLOGY. Thus far, living beings have been regarded merely as definite forms of matter, and biology has presented no con- siderations of a different order from those which meet the student of mineralogy. But living things are not only natural bodies, having a definite form and mode of structure, growth, and development. They are 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), fum -t ions which affect tin- material composition of the body, and determine its mass, which is the balance of the processes 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 tin- 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 p-irts of the body ex- ert upon one another must be transmitted indirectly from molecule to molecule of the common muss. In most of tin- lowest plants, however, and in all animals y« t known, the body either constantly or temporarily changes its form, either with or without tho 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, :in., given off; or help in the evacution, or fertilizati«>, . clop- incut, of these germs. On the other hand, the correlative functions, so long as they an- exerted by a simple lindifVcrentiatcd mm pin. logical unit or cell, are of the simplest character, consisting of those modifications of position which can i by mere changes in the form or arrangement of the parts of the pro- toplasm, or of those prolongations of the protoplasm \\ arc 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 certar sues, the property of which is to shorten in one \\hcn exposed to certain stimuli. Such tissues an contractile; and, in their most fully developed condr muscular. The stimulus by which this contraction is i, rally brought about is a molecular change, either in the sub- stance of the contractile tissue itself, or in sn me 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 cont ra< tile tissue through the intermediate substance of the bodv. In plants, there seems to be no question that parts whieh retain a hardly modified cellular structure may serve as channels for the transmission of this molecular motion ; whether the same is true of animals is not ccitain. But, in all the more < plex animals, a peculiar fibrous tissue — nerve — serves as the agent by which contractile tissue is affected by changes oc- curring elsewhere, and by which contractions thus initiated are coordinated and brought into harmonious coml-in. While the sustentative functions in the higher forms of life are still, as in the lower, fundamentally dependent upon tin- powers inherent in all the physiological units which make up the body, the correlative functions are, in the t'orn:cr, 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, they are found to differ as marl of human construction do. In the lower forms, the m< i -han- ism, though perfectly well adapted to do the work f< r \\hich it is required, is rough, simple, and weak; \vhile. in the higher, it is finished, complicated, and powerful. Considered as machines, there is the same sort of difference 1 . polyp and a horse as there is between a
  • ra|f and a spin- ning-jenny. In the progress from the lower to tin organism, there is a gradual differentiation of organs and of 30 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. functions. Each function is separated into many parts, which 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. t Thus far, the physiological activities of living matter have been considered in themselves, and without reference to any- 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 physiology. 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 body 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 gemmation. Generation by fission and by gemmation is not confined to the simplest forms of life, however. On the contrary, both modes of multiplication are AGAMO(;i:\i ;jl common not only among plants, but among animals of ooo- sideraMe complexity. The multiplication of (lowering plants by bulbs, that of annelids by fission, and that of polyps by budding, an- known examples of fcbese modes of n-pn.dnet inn. I: these cases, the bud or the segment consists of amultr of more or less metamorphosed cells. l>i,i, in .»i!i.r in- stances, a single cell detached from a mass of such nndifiYr- 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 segi — whether the process is more akin to fission or to gemma- tion. In all these cases the development of the new being the detached germ takes place without the influence of oth.-r 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 organi-m 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 scries of living brin. ever, we find concurrently with the process of agamogenettis^ 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 by living matter different from the germ. This is gamoffen* \nal gen- eration. Looking at the facts broadly, and without r 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 Imver forms of li' 'genesis is the common and predominant mode of reproduction, while p.! genesis is exceptional; on the contrary, in many of the high- er, while gamogenesis is the rule, agamogeiKM takes place exceptionally. In its simplest condition, which is termed "conjuffati sexual generation consists in the coalescence of two similar 32 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED AMMALS. masses of protoplasmic matter, derived from different 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 difference between the two factors in the process, and then one is called the male, 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 cell, 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 Algce 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 numerous cilia. Occasionally, however, as in many JVematoidea and Arthro- poda, 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 Cryptogamia. 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 (blastomeres), 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 OA the influence of the male, is that which undergoes division and exentual development int«> independ.-nt |,ut there are sonic plants, such as tlic /•'/<>/•/,/,./, in which tliis i the case. In these, the pn.t..|.la>mir body of tip which unites with the spcrmaio/. .old-, d<>rs n..t division itself, hut transmits some influence to a in virtue of which they become subdivided into iudepen germs or spores. There is still much obscurity respecting the rcprodu processes of the Infusoria ; but, in the Vorticellidte, it v appear that conjugation merely determines a condin whole organism, which gives rise to the division of the < -r plast or so-called nucleus, by which germs are thrown ofT; and, if this be the case, the process would have some analogy to what takes place in the Florideoe. On the other hand, the process of conjugation by which two distinct Dlporpos combine into that extraordinary double organism, the J)iplozooti 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 tin- / what are supposed to be male sexual elements in them are really such. The process of impregnation in the FloridecB is remark- ably interesting, from its bearing upon the changes whi -h 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 clement 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 impre exceptionally, as in many moths, or regularly, a^ in of the drones among bees, develop without imj>r< 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 a< one of the many conditions which may determine or ahVct 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 plrysiological properties, it seems not improbable that they, in proportion, lose their more general characters. In propor- tion, for example, as the tendency of a given 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 generallj7 might multiplication by budding or fission take place ; the more lo- calized, the more limited would be the parts of the organism in which such a process would take place. And, even where such cells occurred, their development or non-development might be connected with conditions of nutrition. It depends on 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- mogenesis in the higher animals would be related with 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 marry. 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 Tin-: AI,TI:I;N \rm.\ 01 01 M i; in ;i;> nutriment. But it is a living nutriment, in Home respect* comparable to that which uould !>•• supplied to B kept alive by transfusion, .-in, I ii> moL-ml. impregnated embryo c,-!l :,!l tin- special <•!,., .,,. or- ganism to which il belonged. Tin- tendency of the germ to reproduce the characters of its immediate parents, combined, in the case of s. lion, with the tendency to reproduce the characters 01 male, is the source of th<> singular phenomena of I, transmission. No structural modification is so functional peculiarity is so insignificant in eith- i|,.,t it may not make its appearance in the oflsprii.^. transmission of parental peculiarities depends grr.i the manner in which they have been acquired. >u«-h as have arisen naturally, and have been hereditary through many an- tecedent generations, tend to appear in the pr< genv "\\ ith great force; while artificial modifications — such, for example, as result from mutilation — are rarely, il ever, transmitted. Circumcision through innumerable ancestral general* Dfl does not appear to have reduced that rite to a mere formality, as it should have done if the abbreviated prepuce had hereditary in the descendants of Abraham ; while 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- Se"quard's case of the transmission of art iticially-induccd epi- lepsy in Guinea-pigs is undoubtedly very \\eigl Although the germ always tends to reproduce, directly or indirectly, the organism from which it is derived, il of its development differs somewhat from the parent. I "sually the amount of variation is insignificant ; but it may be con- siderable, as in the so-called "sports ; " and such variai whether useful or useless, may be transmitted v\ith great te- nacity to the offspring of the subjects of them. In many plants and animals which multiph -exiuilly and sexually there is no definite relation lu-t\\ mogenetic and the gamogenetio phenomena. The organ may multiply asexually before, or after, or c< n. um inly \\ith. 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 thus de- scribed is what has been termed the " alternation of genera- tions " under its simplest form — for example, as it is exhibited by the Sulpce. In more complicated cases the independent organisms which correspond with B may give rise agamo- genetically to others (BJ, and these to others (B3), and so on (e. g., Aphis). But, 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 Hydrozoa 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., Cyancea), through those in which it is free but unable to feed itself ( Calycophoridce), 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 (Cordylophora). 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 Medusae thus set free from a HydrozoSn are as much organs of the latter as the multitudinous pinnules of a Comatula, with their genital glands, are organs of the Echi- noderm. Morphologically, therefore, the equivalent of the CAUSES OF TIIK I'iM.NoMi individual (Jomatufa is the llydrozoic stock plus all the M*> not ,-nly somewhat more paradoxical than the other, but suggests a conception of the origin of the complexity of animal >truct- ure which is wholly inconsistent with fact. IV. ^ETIOLOGY. Morphology, distribution, and physiology, investigate and determine the facts of biology. ./Etiology has for its ol the ascertainment of the causes of these facts, and th« planation of biological phenomena, by showing that \ stitute particular cases of general physical laws. It is hardly needful to say that aetiology, as thus conceived, is in ii> in- fancy, and that the seething- controversies, to which attempt to found this branch of science made in the "Or of Species" has given rise, cannot IMJ 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 bojran, that living beings arise by generation from living beinr. a like kind; but, before the latter part o; ntet -nth tury, learned and unlearned alike shared the convict this rule was not of universal application, and that mult it of the smaller and more obscure organ i-; the fermentation of not-living, and especially of putrefying dead matter, by what was then termed genera* -oca or spontanea, and is now called abioyenetis. Redi showed 38 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. that the general belief was erroneous in a multitude of in- stances ; JSpallanzani 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 vivum 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, Torulw, 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 ABIOGENESI8. many of them naturally pass a considerable part of tli. i istcnce in a condition in \\lii.-li they show no marks of life whatever save growth and multiplication. ]f indeed it could be proved th:it, in cases which are not opsn to doubt, living matter is always and invariuhly killed a! precisely the same temperature, then- might be some ground for the assumption that, in those which are obscure, death must take place under the same ciivnmstanr.-s. Mm what are the facts? It has already been point. -.1 (M1t tli.it, 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 ar^um. nt 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.1 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 thrir 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, 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 Drysdalc havo ivivntlv shown jrood grounds for believing that the germs of some Monads are not destroyed oy exposure to • temperature of 260 Fahr. or even 300" Fahr. 40 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED 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, secondly, 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 Terebratula psittacea of the present day, for example, is not distinguishable from that of the Cretaceous epoch, while the highly-organized Teleostean fish, Beryx, of the Chalk, differed only in minute specific characters from that which now lives. Is it seriously suggested that the ex- isting lerebratulfJB and Beryces 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 the Grlobigerince of the present day are nofc 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. H need hardly be pointed out that the fact does nut in the slightest; degree interfere with any cr>nelu>inn that M..IV be arrived at, deductively, from »t\\<-r OOOtidMBliool tha- some time or other, abiogenesis mu ik. n p! If the hypothesis of evolution is true, livin: must have arisen from not-living matter ; for, by the hypothesis, the condition of the globe was at one time such that li matter could not have existed in it,1 life bring entirely in- compatible with the gaseous state. But, living naftter OM* originated, there is no necessity for another origination, .•• the hypothesis postulates the unlimited, though perhaps not indefinite, modifiability of such matter. Of the causes which have led to the origination of living matter, then, it may be said that we know absolutely But postulating the existence of living mat i \ed\\ith that power of hereditary transmission, and with that ten«i- to vary which is found in all such matter, Mr. Darwin has shown good reasons for believing that the interaction between living matter and surrounding conditions, which n >ul the survival of the fittest, is sullicient 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. Darwin has further endeavored i 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 c< 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 indefinit may be limited to certain directions by intrin-i. oni In the former case, the result of the struggle for . would be the survival of the fittest among an inde number of varieties; in the latter ease, it would bo the survival of the fittest among a certain set of varieties, the 'It makes no difference if we adopt Sir W. T IICHUS and suppose that the jrerms of livin-r things have been trar from some other, seeing that there is :i> inu.-h n stellar and planetary components of the universe arc or have been 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. b. 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 denned 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 the 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 phylogeny. 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 archaeological, evidence PIIYLOGENY. .,:, that particular organisms have arism by the gradual m« cation of their predecessors, which U fur -.y fottil remains. That evidence is daily increasing in amount ami in weight; and it is to be hoped that the comparison <>f dp- actual pedigree of these organisms with tin- phriiomn. their development may furnish some criterion by whirl. validity of phylogenetic conclusions, deduced from the fact* of embryology alone, may be satisfactorily tested. 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 activity, 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 ; and 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 observatious 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 parasiticallv on other animals or plants, in situations in which they are provided with abundant supplies of protein in a dissolved state. THE DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERS OF ANIMALS. j :, The great majority of the higher plants, on the con; arc able to manufacture proh in \\ln-n Mi|»j>li.-d uhh c;u : acid, ammouiacal salts, water, and sundry mineral j.l and sulphates, obtaining the carbon which th< the decomposition of the carbonic acid, the oxygen of v\ is disengaged. One essential factor in the performance of this remarkable chemical process is the chlorophyll \. these plants contain, and another is the sun's light. Certain animals {Infusoria, Cad< nt> rv ex- ternal agencies ; and increasing by simple extension of its mass. But no animal of this degree of simplicity is kno\\n 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 multiplier In the simplest known animals — the Protozoa — the proto- plasmic substance of the body docs not hrromr ilitli n ntiated into discrete nucleated masses or cells, which l.y their n morphosis give rise to the different tissues of which the adult body is composed. And, in the lowest of the Protozoa, the body has neither a constant form nor any further <1 of parts than a greater density of the peripheral, as < 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 i- probable that it may he analogous to cftitin /'ami. it' s«>. it is worthy "«' remark that, though chitin 'is a nitron-nous body, it readily y it-Ids a Mil-tanc* appar- ently identical with cellulose when heated with the double OOpper and ammonia. It is possible, then-tore, that tin- .iitfcrence Del* Mil the chitinous investment of an animal and the eell 'tm-nt of a plant y depend upon the proportion of nitrogenous matter which ia present in h case in addition to the chitin. ma eac 48 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. terior 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 (Foraminifera, Radiolaria), or fabricate such a skeleton by gluing together extraneous par- ticles (Foraminifera). 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), 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 ( Vbrticella). 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 Caulerpa. 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 aggregation of such bodies of smaller size — the Morula — by a process of division, which usually takes place with great regularity, the ovum dividing first into two segments, which then subdivide, giving rise to four, eight, sixteen, etc., portions, which are the so-called division masses or blasto- meres. A similar process takes place in sundry Protozoa and gives rise to a protozoic aggregate, which is strictly comparable to the Morula. But the members of the protozoic aggregate become separate, or at any rate independent existences. What distinguishes the metazoic aggregate is that, though its component blastomeres also retain a certain degree of physi- ological independence, they remain united into one morpho- MORPHOLOGICAL DIFFERENTIATION. 49 logical whole, and their several n,< -tamMi-plioses arc so ordered and related to one another that ihry mnsiituii- members of a mutually dependent commonalty . The Metazoa are the only animals which fall under com- mon observation, and have therefore I.e. n kmmn frnm the earliest times. All the higher languages possess general names equivalent to our beast, bird, reptile, fish, insect, and worm ; and this shows the very early j . f the fact that, notwithstanding the wonderful diversity <*t animal forms, tlu>y are modeled upon comparatively few great types. In the middle of the last century the founder of modern Taxonomy, Linnreus, distinguished animals into Mammalia^ Aves, Amphibia, Pisces, Insecta, and Vermes, that is to say, he converted common-sense into science by defining and giv- ing precision to the rough distinctions arrived at by ordinary observation. At the end of the century, Lamarck made a most impor- tant advance in general morphology, by pointing out that mammals, birds, reptiles, and fishes, are formed upon one type or conynon plan, the essential character of which is tin* pos- session of a spinal column, interposed between a cerebro-spi- nal and a visceral cavity; and that in no other animals is tin- same plan of construction to be discerned. Hence he drew a broad distinction between the former and the latter, as the VERTEBRATA and the INVERTEBRATA. Hut the advance of knowledge respecting the structure of invorlebrated animals, due chiefly to Swammerdam, Trembley, H&iiiiniir, Peyss. Goeze, Roesel, Ellis, Fabricius, O. F. MnlW, Lyonet, Pallas, and Cuvier, speedily proved that the Invertebrate are not framed upon one fundamental plan, but upon several ; and, in 1795, Cuvier l showed that, at fewest, three morphological types, as distinct from one another as they are from that of the vertebrated animals, are distinguishable among the / vertebrata. These he named — I. Mollusques ; II. Insectes et Vers ; III. Zoophytes. In the " Rt\«rn«' animal " (1816), those terms are Latinized, Animalia Molhisca)ArticulcUa,*xi usually de- veloped in the ectoderm, and no perivisceral cavity is de- veloped. There are no appendages for locomotion wn to exist; nor are there any circulatory, respiratory, renal, or generative organs. In the Coelenterata, the terminal aperture of the gastnea becomes the mouth, and, if pores perforate the body- walls, they do not subserve the ingestion of food. There is no sep- arate perivisceral cavity, bur, in many, an enteroccele or sys- tem of cavities, continuous with, but more or less separate from, the digestive cavity, extends through the body. Pre- hensile appendages, tentacul ', are developed in L A chitinous exoskeleton appears in some, a calcar. •<•!,• inous endoskeleton in others. There are no circulatory, re- spiratory, or renal organs (though it is possible that certain cells in the PbrpitOS, e. g., may have a uropoietic funeti but special genital organs make their appear.ui> ,-, as do a definitely-arranged nervous system and organs of sense. The lowest Tarbellaria are on nearly tin- same grade of organization as the lower Ccelenterata, but the thick meso- derm is traversed by canals which constitute a water-vase > system. In the adult state these canals open, on the one * into the interstices of the mesodermnl . and, on the other, communicate with the exterior. Th.-ir anal<>-\ to the contractile vacuoles of the Infusoria on the one hand, and to the segment al organs of the Annelids on the other, lead to think that they are formed by a splitting <>f the mesoblast, and that they thus represent that form of peri\ isc. ral c which I have termed a schizoccete. A nervous system, con- 52 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. sisting of a single or double ganglion with two principal lon- gitudinal nerve-cords, is found in many ; and there may be eyes and auditory sacs. Upon this foundation a gradual complication of form is based, brought about by — 1. The elongation of the bilaterally symmetrical body and the formation of a chitinous exoskeleton. 2. The development of a secondary aperture near the an- terior end of the body, which becomes the permanent mouth. 3. The division of the mesoblast into successive segments (somites). 4. The development of two nervous ganglia in each somite. 5. The outgrowth of a pair of appendages from each so- mite, and their segmentation. 6. The gradual specialization of the "somites into cephalic, thoracic and abdominal groups ; and that of their appendages into sense organs, jaws, locomotive limbs, and respiratory or- gans. 7. The conversion of the schizoccele into a spacious peri- visceral cavity containing blood ; the reduction of the water- vascular system, and the appearance of pseudo-haemal vessels ; and the replacement of these, in the higher forms, by a heart, arteries, and veins, which contain blood. 8. The conversion of the simple inner sac of the gastraaa into a highly-complex alimentary canal, with special glandu- lar appendages, representing the liver and the kidneys. 9. A similar differentiation of the genital apparatus. 10. A gradual complication of the eye, which, in its most perfect form, presents a series of crystal-clear conical rods, disposed perpendicularly to the transparent corneal region of the chitinous exoskeleton, and connected by their inner ends with the optic nerves of the prae-oesophageal ganglia. By such modifications as these the plan of the simple Turbellarian gradually passes into that of the highest Ar- thropod. Starting from the same point, if the mesoblast does not become distinctly segmented • if few, probably not more than three, pairs of ganglia are formed ; if there are no seg- mented appendages, but the chief locomotive organ is a mus- cular foot developed in the neural aspect of the body; if, in the place of the chitinous exoskeleion, a shell is secreted by a specially modified part of the haemal wall termed the man- tle ; if the schizocosle is converted into a blood-cavity, which communicates with the exterior by an organ of Bojanus, which THE PLAN OF THE ECIIINODBRM8. :,{ appears to represent the water-vascular system and the seg- mental organs ; and if, along with these changes, the alii: ary, circulatory, respiratory, genital, and sensory organs take on special characters, we arrive at the complete Molluscan plan. From the Turbellarian to the Tunicate, or Arcidian, the passage is indicated, if not effected, by Balanoy i« h, in its larval state, is comparable to an AppendictUuria with- out its caudal appendage. On the other hand, th. large pharynx of the Tunica ta and the circle of t« nta. ula around the oral aperture, with the single ganglion, aj.pi to the Polyzoa. In the perforation of the pharynx by lateral apertures, which communicate with the exterior, eith« -r rectly or by the intermediation of an atrial n.vity, t! / cata resemble only Balanoglo&sus and the Vertebrata. The axial skeleton of the caudal appendage has no pan-ill- in the vertebrate notochord. In the structure of tin- 1 and the regular reversal of the direction of its contractions, the Tunicata stand alone. The general presence of a solidified by cellulose is a marked peculiarity, hut in mating its apparent singularity the existence of r«-liul«.se as a constituent of chitin must be remembered. Finally, the tadpole-like larvae of many Ascidians are comparable on! the Cercarice of Trematodes, on the one hand, and to tebrate larval forms on the other. Yet another apparently very distinct type is met with in the extensive group of the Echinodernt In all the other Metazoa, except the Porifera and Co?/ew- terata, the plan of the body is, obviously, bilaterally IJ metrical, the halves of the body on each side of a median tical plane being similar. Any disturbance of this sv such as is found in some Arthropoda and in in.-mv M<>ll> arises from the predominant development of one half. 1 in a Sea-urchin or Starfish, five or more similar sets of parts are disposed around a longitudinal axis, which has the mouth at one end and the anus at the other ; there is a radial sym- metry, as in a sea-anemone or a Ctenophoran. Nevertheless, close observation shows that, as is also the oasc in tho Actinia or Ctenophoran, this radial symmetry is n and that the body is really bilaterally symmetrical in relation to a median plane which traverses the centre of length of one of the radiating metameres. Another marked peculiarity of the Echinoderm type is 54 THE ANATOMY OF IXVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. the general, if not universal, presence of a system of " am- bulacral vessels" consisting of a circular canal around the mouth, whence canals usually arise and follow the middle line of each of the ambulacral metameres. And, in the typical Echinoderm, these canals give off prolongations which enter certain diverticula of the body-wall, the pedicels or suckers. All Echinoderms have a calcareous endoskeleton. In the chapter allotted to these animals, it will be shown that they are modifications of the Turbellarian type, brought about by a singular series of changes undergone by the endo- derm and mesoderm of the larva or Echinopoedium. III. THE PHYSIOLOGICAL DIFFERENTIATION OF ANIMALS, AND THE MORPHOLOGICAL DIFFERENTIATION OF THEIR ORGANS. Regarded as machines for doing certain kinds of work, animals differ from one another in the extent to which this work is subdivided. Each subordinate group of actions or functions is allotted to a particular portion of the body, which thus becomes the organ of those functions ; and the extent to which this division of physiological labor is carried differs in degree within the limits of each common plan, and is the chief cause of the diversity in the working out of the common plan of a group exhibited by its members. Moreover, there are certain types which never attain the same degree of physi- ological differentiation as others do. Thus, some of the Protozoa attain a grade of physiological complexity as high as that which is reached by the lower Me- tazoa. And, notwithstanding the multiplicity of its parts, no Echinoderm is so highly differentiated a physiological ma- chine as is a snail. A mill with ten pairs of millstones need not be a more complicated machine than a mill with one pair ; but if a mill have two pairs of millstones, one for coarse and one for fine grinding, so arranged that the substance ground passes from one to the other, then it is a more complicated machine — a machine of higher order — than that with ten pairs of similar grindstones. In other words, it is not mere multiplication of organs which constitutes physiological differentiation ; but the multiplication of organs for different functions in the first place, and the degree in which they are coordinated, so as to work to a common end, in the second place. Thus, a lobster is a higher animal, from a physiological point of view, than a THE TEGUMENTARY SYSTEM. Cyclops, not because it has more distiiiLruMial .!•• <-rgans, but because these organs are so modified as to much greater variety of functions, while, they are all «-«»r.rdii. toward the maintenance <>t the animal, 1>V its well -tl fr<»m it. These canals are filled by a clear, usually non-corpuscu- lated fluid, which may be red or green, and constitute the pseud-hcemal system. The fluid wmob oeouplM tin- p« •: coral cavity contains nucleated corpuscles, and has characters of ordinary blood. It seen -able that the fluid of the pseud-haemal vessels, as it contains a substance resembling haemoglobin, represents a sort of respiratory blood. In the Arthropoda, no segmental organs or pseud-haemal vessels are known. In the lowest forms, the perivisceral cavity and the interstices of the tissues represent the whole blood-system, and colorless blood-cells Hoat in their fluid tents. In the higher forms, a valvular In-art, with arteries and capillaries, appears, but the venous system H-main* more or less lacunar. In the Mollusca, the same gradual ditL r. n- tiation of the blood-vascular system is observable. In very many, if not all, the blood-cavities communicate directly with tha exterior by the " orgaps of Bojanus " — which resemble very simple segmental organs, and appear to be always asso- ciated with the renal apparatus. In the Vertebra ta, Amphioxus has a system of blood-ves- sels, with contractile walls, and no distinct heart. In all the other Vertebrates there is a heart with at fewest three chambers (sinus venosus, atrium, ventricle), arteries, capil- laries, and veins, and a system of lymphatic vessels c< with the veins. The lymphatic fluid consists of a < plasma, with equally colorless nucleated corpuscles : the blood- plasma contains, in addition, red corpuscles, \vhich ;ire n ated in Ichthyopsida and S, Imt have no nu«- in the Mamm«li J, in a certain stage of their existence, is of ai, lly simi- lar character. The accessory respiratory appa: the maintenance and the regulation of the currents of \\ the gills is furnished by the visceral arches and their mus- cles; and the respiratory blood flows from the heart. In Mollusks which live on land (Fulmogasteropoda), the lining wall of the mantle cavity becomes f< -rhly vascular, and subserves the ae'ration of the venous blood, which flows through it on its way to the heart. The lung is here a modification of the integument, ami mi^ht be termed an external lung. The lungs of the air-breathing Vertebrata^ on the contrary, are diverticula of the alimentary canal, po«- 60 THE ANATOMY OF IXVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. terior to the hindermost of the visceral arches. They receive their blood from the hindermost aortic arch. It therefore flows from the heart. The gradual improvement of these lungs as respiratory machines is effected, first, by the increase of the surface over which the venous blood brought to the lungs is distributed ; secondly, by changes in the walls of the cavity in which the lungs are contained, by which that cavity gradually becomes shut off from the peritoneal cham- ber, and divided from it by a muscular partition. Concur- rently with these modifications, a series of alterations takes place in the accessory apparatus of respiration, whereby the machinery of inspiration, which, in the lower Vertebrata, is a buccal force-pump, which drives air into the lungs, in the same way as water is driven through the branchiae, is replaced by a thoracic suotion-pump, which draws air into the lungs by dilatation of the walls of the closed cavity in which they are contained. Along with these changes, modifications of the heart take place, in virtue of which one-half of its total mechanical power becomes more and more exclusively ap- propriated to the task of driving the blood through the lungs. The term " double circulation " applied to the course of the blood in the highest Vertebrata is, however, a misnomer. In the highest, as in the lowest, of these animals, the blood com- pletes but one circle, and the respiratory organ is in the course of the outward current. Many animals are truly amphibious, combining aquatic and aerial respiratory organs. Thus, among Mollusks, Ampullaria and Onchidum com- bine branchiae with pulmonary organs \ many Teleostean fishes have the lining membrane of the enlarged branchial chamber vascular and competent to subserve aerial respiration. And in the Ganoids and Teleostei the presence of an air-blander, which is both functionally and morphologically of the same nature as a lung, is very common. But, in the majority of the Teleostei, the air-bladder is turned aside from its pulmo- nary function to subserve mechanical purposes, in affecting the specific gravity of the body. On the other hand, in the Ganoids and Dipnoi, the whole series of modifications by which the air-bladder passes into the lung are patent. In such lower Amphibia as Proteus and Menobranchus, bran- chial respiration is predominant, and the lungs are subsidi- ary ; but, in the higher, the lungs acquire greater importance, while the branchiae diminish, and eventually disappear. TIIH UROPOIETIC SYSTEM. (j| The Urnitnt.-t;,' System.— Uropoietic organs, distinct the alimentary canal, are probably represented |»v tin- u vascular system and segmental organs of the worms. The "organs of Bojanus" of Mnllusks are sacs or tubes opc-i, on the one side, on the exterior of the body, and, on other, into some part of the blood-vascular system. So far, as Gegenbaur has shown, they resemble the segmental organs of Annelids. In the majority of the .}/>,//>/*, ^^ some par the wall of the organ of Bojanus is in close venous system near the heart, and the nitrogenous waste of the body is here eliminated from the venous blood. In the Vertebrata, the renal apparatus is constructed . n the same principle. If for simplicity's sake we reduce a mammalian kidney to a ureter with a single uriniferous tulnil responds with an organ of Bojanus, so far as it contains a cavity communicating with the exterior at one end, and hav- ing a vascular plexus — the Malpighian body — in intimate contact with the opposite end. In the adult mammal there is no direct communication between the urinary duct and the blood-vascular system. But, inasmuch as recent researches have proved that the ureter is formed by subdivision of the Wolffian duct, and that the Wolflian duct is primitivek verticulum of the peritoneal cavity, and remains for a longer or shorter time (permanently, in some of the low. brata, as Myxine] in communication therewith ; and MUCC it has further been shown that the peritoneal cavity communi- cates directly with the lymphatics, and therefore indin with the veins; it follows that the vertebrate ki in. \ is an extreme modification of an organ, the primitive type of which is to be found in the organ of Bojanus of the Mollusk, and in the segmental organ of the Annelid ; and, to go still lower, in the water-vascular system of the Turbellarian. And thi*, in its lowest form, is so similar to the more complex com lit of the contractile vacuole of a Protozotin, that it is hardly straining analogy too far to regard the latter as the primary form of uropoietic as well as of internal respiratory apparatus. The Nervous System. — In its essential nature, a nerve is a definite tract of living substance, through which the molec- ular chinges which occur in anyone part of the or^ani-m are conveyed to and affect some other part. Thus, it. in the simple protoplasmic body of a Proto/OMii. a stimulus applied to one part of the body were more readil it ted to some other part, along a particular tract of the protoplasm, 62 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. that tract would be a virtual nerve, although it might have no optical or chemical characters which should enable us to distinguish it from the rest of the protoplasm. It is important to have this definition of nerve clearly before us in considering the question whether the lowest animals possess nerves or not. Assuredly nothing cf the kind is discernible, by such means of investigation as we ft present possess, in Protozoa or Porifera / but any one who has attentively watched the ways of a Colpoda, or still more of a Vorticella, will probably hesitate to deny that they possess some apparatus by which external agencies give rise to localized and coordinated movements. And when we reflect that the essential elements of the highest nervous system — the fibrils into which the axis-fibres break up — are filaments of the extremest tenuity, devoid of any definite structural or other characters, and that the nervous system of animals only becomes conspicuous b}' the gathering to- gether of these filaments into nerve-fibres and nerves, it will be obvious that there are as strong morphological, as there are physiological, grounds for suspecting that a nervous sys- tem may exist very low down in the animal scale, and possi- bly even in plants. The researches of Kleinenberg, which may be readily veri- fied, have shown that, in the common Hydra^ the inner ends of the cells of the ectoderm are prolonged into delicate pro- cesses, which are eventually continued into very fine longi- tudinal filaments, forming a layer between the ectoderm and the endoderm. Kleinenberg terms these neuro-muscular elements, arid thinks that they represent both nerve and muscle in their un differentiated state. But it appears to me that while the assumed contractility of these fibres might account for the shortening of the body of the Polyp, they can have nothing to do with its lengthening. As the latter movements are at least as vigorous as the former, we are therefore obliged to assume sufficient contractility in the general constituents of the body to account for them. And if so, what ground is there for supposing that this contractility can be exerted by only one tissue when the body shortens ? To my mind, it is more probable that " Kleinenberg's fibres " are solely inter- nuncial in function, and therefore the primary form of nerve. The prolongations of the ectodermal cells have indeed a strangely close resemblance to those of the cells of the olfac- tory and other sense-organs in the Vertebrata / and it seems TIIK Ni:i!V,)US SYSTEM. C3 probable that llirv are the channels by which impulses affect- in^ any of the cells of the ectoderm are conveyed to other r.-lls ;iinl excite their contraction. Tin1 researches of Eimer ! upon the nervous system of the Ctenophora are in perfect accordance with this view. The iiH'soderm is traversed in all directions by very fine fibrils, varying in diameter from j^fan to TrfolF °* :UI '"''''• 'l'h«-sr fibrils present numerous minute varicosities, and, at inter larger swellings which contain nuclei, each with a large and strongly refracting nucleolus. These fibrils take a straight course, branch dichotomously, and end in still finer filaments, which also divids, but become no smaller. They terminate parlly in ganglionic cells, p.irtly in muscular fibres, partly in the cells of the ectoderm and endoderm. Many of the nerve- fibrils take a longitudinal course beneath the centre of each series of paddles, and these are accompanied by ganglionic cells, which become particularly abundant toward the aboral end of each series. The eight bands meet in a central tract at the aboral pole of the body; but Eimer doubts the nervous nature of the cellular mass which lies beneath the lithocyst and supports the eye-spots. The nervous system of the CCenophoran is, therefore, just such as would arise in Hydra, if the development of a thick mesoderm gave rise to the separation and elongation of Kleinenberg's fibres, and if special bands of such fibres, developed in relation with the chief organs of locomotion, united in a central tract directly connected with the higher sensory organs. We have here, in short, virtual, though in- completely differentiated, brain and nerves. All recent investigation tends more and more completely to establish the following conclusions : firstly, that the central ganglia of the nervous system in all animals are derived from the ectoderm; secondly, that all the nerves of the sensory organs terminate in cells of the ectoderm ; thirdly, that all motor nerves end in the substance of the muscular fibres to which they are distributed. So that, in the highest animals, the nervous system is essentially similar to that of the lowest; the difference consisting, in part, in the proportional size of the nerve-centres, and, in part, in the gathering together of the internuncial filaments into bundles, having a definite arrangement, which are the nerves, in the ordinary anatomical sense of the term. i " Zooloaris £ * Studien auf Capri." Leipsic, 1873. 64 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. And as respects the ectodermal cells which constitute the fundamental part of the organs of the special senses, it is becoming clear that the more perfect the sensory apparatus, the more completely do these sensigenous cells take on the form of delicate rods or filaments. Whether we consider the organs of the lateral line in fishes and amphibia, the gusta- tory bulbs, the olfactory cells, the auditory cells, or the elements of the retina, this rule holds good. Every one of the organs of the higher senses makes its appearance in the animal series as a part of the ectoderm, the cells of which have undergone a slight modification. In the case of the eye, accessory structures, consisting of vari- ously-colored masses of pigment, which surround the visual cells, and of a transparent refracting cuticular or cellular structure which lies superficially to them — a rudimentary choroid and cornea — are next added. The highest form of compound Arthropod eye differs from this only in the differ- entiation of the layer of sensigenous cells into the crystalline cones and their appendages, and it has not been clearly made out that the simple eyes of most other Invertebrate*, have undergone any further change. But in Nautilus the nerve-cells and choroid line the walls of a deep cup open externally ; which, though its development has not been traced, may be safely assumed to result from the involution of the retinal ectoderm. It may be compared to an arthropod compound eye become concave instead of convex. In the higher Cephalopoda, the margins of the ocular pouch unite and give rise to a true cornea, which, however, frequently remains perforated, and a crystalline lens is de- veloped. In the higher Vertebrata the retina is still a modi- fied portion of the ectoderm. For, inasmuch as the anterior cerebral vesicle is formed by involution of the epiblast, and the optic vesicle is a diverticulum of the anterior cerebral vesicle, it necessarily follows that the outer wall of the optic vesicle is really part of the ectoderm, its inner face being, morphologically, a portion of the surface of the body. The rods and cones of the vertebrate eye, therefore, exactly corre- spond with the crystalline cones, etc., of the Arthropod eye; and the reversal of the ends which are turned toward the light in the Vertebrata is a necessary result of the extraor- dinary change of position which the retinal surface undergoes in them. In the part of the ectoderm which takes on the auditory K I PRODUCTIVE ORGANR , ;, function, two kinds of accessory organs, solid particlot tut- j>ende-d in a fluid and line hair-like filamrnt>, ar. inclose relation with the n«-r\,-«-ndiiigs. In th. < both are combined, and an involution <,t ti,,- sensory region takes place, which usually remains open throughout represents the most rudimentary form of auditory labyrinth. The Crustacean ear is the parallel of tin- In the Vertebrata the membranous labyrinth is .similarly an in- volution of the integument, which remains open through-Mil life in many fishes, but becomes shut off and Mim.unded by thick mesoblastic structures in all the higher |, The tympanum and the O8si<-nl uncertain. E. van Beneden has brought forward vet evidence to the effect that in ffydractinia the sp.matotoa are modified cells of the ectoderm, and the ova of those oi endoderm; but, whether it can be safely concluded that thi.s rule holds good for animals generally, is a question that only be settled by much and difficult investigation. The fact that, in the Vertebrata^ the ova and spermatozoa are products of the epithelial lining of the peritoneal cavity, and therefore proceed from the mesoblast, appears at first sight directly to negative any such generalization. But it must be ren bered that the origin of the mesoblast itself is yet in and that it is quite possible that one portion of that layer may originate in the ectoderm and another in the endoderm. There is some reason to suspect that hennaphrodism was the primitive condition of the sexual apparatus, and that imi- sexuality is the result of the abortion of the organs of the <>' sex, in males and females respectively. Very low down in the animal s< i i« -, among the T>- rid, the accessory organs of generation acquire a great com- plexity. In the lower Turbell'riitic adult free and actively locomotive. Moreover, the whole course of development may take place outside the body of the parent, or more or less extensively within it ; whence the distinction of oviparous, ovoviviparous, and viviparous 1 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 placentae 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 DISTRIBUTION 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 Geographical, the second Geological, or Paleontological, Distribution. A little con- 1 As eggs capable of development are alive, this terminologv is etymolncri- cally bad ; ami QW&Mporow is particularly objectionable, as all animal-* bring forth live egirs, or that which proceeds from tlicm. But. as understood to ap- ply to animals which lay eggs, to those in which tho cirirs an- hatched within the interior of the body without any special fetal nutritive apparatus, and to those in which the young are provided with such an apparatus, it has a certain convenience. 68 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED 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 Distribution 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 Radiolaria and Diatomaceous plants. With regard to higher organisms, the oceanic Hydrozoa and the Ctenophora are undoubtedly very widely spread. It is probable that they attain their maximum development in warm seas, though the known facts are insufficient for the definite conclusion. Sagitta and Appendicularia, 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. (;;> curronce 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 geograpliii ;il areas arc marked by the existence in them of a number of such peculiar species. The basins of the Pacific, the Ii: Ocean, the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the Arctic - are thus especially characterized ; and even limited areas of these great geographical divisions, such as the Celtic, the 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, differences in climatal conditions are at once seen to be inadequate to account for the differ- ences between the faunae of the two areas. Climate in no way enables us to understand why the Trigonia, the pearly Nautilus, the Cestracion, the eared seals, and the penguins, are found in the Pacific and not in the Atlantic area;1 nor why the Cetacea of the arctic and antarctic regions should be as different 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 Austrocoloi.- bian, comprising all the American Continent south of Mexi<-< ; 3. The Australian, from Wallace's line to Tasmania ; 4. The Novozelanian, including the islands of New Zealand.8 1 Penguins are found at the Cape of Good Hope and at the Falkland Islands, "but not in the northern parts of the west coast of Africa, nor cf the east coast of South America. In the Pacific they stretch north to the Papuan and Peru- vian coasts. a On the classification and distribution of the AlectoromorpTia and ffcttro- morphce : Proceedings of the Zoological Society, 1868. Sclater on the " Geo- graphical Distribution of Birds," Ibid., vol. ii. Pucheran, " Revue 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 Novozelania, 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 Eeptilia 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 Arctogaeal 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 Arctogseal 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 part of the world except the Arctogseal province. A good deal is known of the older Silurian fauna outside the boundaries of the present Arctogseal 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. Fur 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 Austrocoluiiihi-.iii fauna; and the fcssil kangaroos, wombats and phalairgers of the Australian tertiaries to those \i hit h 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 Arctogaeal types, and the marine fauna resembles that of the existing Pacific more than it does that of the Atlantic area, but differs frcm 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 <\xi>tin), which are converted into flagellate mastigopods, and these finally return to the myxopod condi- tion (c, d, e). The cycle of life is here singularly similar to that presented by the Myxomycetes, which have hitherto been usually regarded as plants. There is no means of knowing whether the cycle of forms presented by Protomonas and Protomyxa is complete, or whether some term of the series is still wanting; and, con- sidering how low down among plants the sexual process oc- curs, it seems quite possible that some corresponding sexual process yet waits to be discovered among the Monera. It is posible that the fusion of separate Myxodi&ya and Prolo- nn/.rce into a plasmodinm may be a process of sexual conjuga- tion. On the other hand, it may well be that these extremely simple organisms have not yet reached the stage of sexual differentiation. THE FORAMIXIFERA. — Doubtless many Monera remain to be discovered, but they will probably be minute and inconspic- 78 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. uous organisms like the majority of those already described. The I oraminifera, on the other hand, are Monera of the Protogenes type, which, nevertheless, play and have played an important part in the history of the globe, by reason of their power of fabricating skeletons or shells, which may be com- posed of horny (chitinous?) matter, or of carbonate of lime, secreted from the water in which they live, or may be fabri- ated by sticking together extraneous matter, such as par- ticles of sand. The first step from such an organism as Protogenes to the Foraminifera is seen in Lieberktthnia of Claparede, where the pseudopodia are given off from only a small part of the surface of the body, the rest remaining naked and flexible. In Gromia there is a similar restriction of the area from FIG. 2.— A Rotalia, with extended pseudopodia ; with an enlarged sectional view of the chambered skeleton (after Schulze). which pseudopodia proceed, but the rest of the body is in- vested by a case of a membranous substance. Let this case become hardened by the attachment of foreign bodies — as particles of sand, or fragments of shelly matter, as in the so- called arenaceous Foraminifera — or let a deposit of calca- reous salts take place in it, and the Gromia would be con- verted into a Foraminifer. The infinitely diversified characters of the skeleton of the Foraminifera depend — firstly, upon the structure of the skele- tal substance itself ; and, secondly, upon the form of the pro- toplasmic body, which last, again, is largely dependent upon the manner in which successive buds of protoplasm are devel- oped from the parent mass, which, to begin with, is always simple in form and commonly globular. The substance of the calcareous skeleton itself, whatever THE FORAMINIFEKA. 79 be its form, is either perforated or im perforate. In the Im- perforata ( (rromidce, Lituitidce, Mili<>liJ3 are very closely allied to the Amoe- bce, but, in the cycle of forms through which they pass, they curiously resemble Myxastrum. In form they are spheroidal 1 Contractile vacuoles have been observed in the colorless blood-corpus- cles of Amphibia under certain conditions. TIIK < ;ii !•:<;. \KINW.K 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 Gregaritice, 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 <>t the animals in which the Gregariuoe are parasitic. There is no contractile vacuole. The Gregarince have a peculiar mode of multiplication, sometimes preceded by a process which resembles conju- gation. A single Gregarina (or two which have become applied together) surrounds itself with a structureless cyst. Fio. 7.— A. Gregarina of the earthworm (after Lieberktihn) ; S. encysted; r. D, contents divided into pseud o-navicellae ; E, F, free pBeudo-navicellae, G, H, tree amoebiform 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-navicella. 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 Protamceba. M. E. van Beneden has recently dis- covered a very large Gregarina ( G. giganted), 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 fibrillae, developed in a peripheral part of the cortical layer, immediately below the cuticle. The fibrillae themselves are formed of elongated corpuscles joined end to end. A trans- verse partition separates the cephalic 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-navicellae, are minute masses of protoplasm simi- lar to Protamoebce, 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-filar ia. 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 this a dear I :iflcr- entiated, giving rise to the " nucleus," and the pseudo-filaria passes into the condition of the adult Gregarina gigantea. 4. The CATALLACTA of Haeckel, represented by tin Magosphcera, are, in one stage, myxopcds with long pseudo- podia, which, broad and lobe-like at the base, break up into line liiaments at their ends, and ma)7 therefore be said to be intermediate between those of Protogenes and those of Prot- amoeba. 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 arc 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. Magosphcera 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 INFUSORIA. — Excluding from the miscellaneous as- semblage of heterogeneous forms, which have passed under this name, the Desmidice, Diatomaccce, Vblvocinece, and Vibrionidce, which are true plants, on the one hand ; and the comparatively highly-organized Rotifera, on the other ; there remain three assemblages of minute organisms, which may be conveniently comprehended under the general title of Infu- soria. These are — (a) the so-called " Monads," or Infusoria flagettata; (b) the Acinetce, or Infusoria tentaculifera / and (c) the Infusoria ciliata. (a.) THE FLAGELLATA. — These are characterized by p« As- 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 surrounded 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 Salpingceca the collar around the base of the flagellum is combined with a calycine investment for the whole animal. In Anthophysa, 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 Anisonema, which presents interesting points of resemblance to Noctiluca. Multiplication by longitudinal fission was observed in Codosiga and Anthophysa, and probably 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 Infusoria 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 fla- gellata not only present various modes of agamic multiplica- tion by fission, preceded or not by encystment, but that they conjugate, and that the compound body which results (the equivalent of the zygospore in plants) 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 8 o 0*0 o o °f an inch, may be heated to 148° C. without the destruction of their vitality. In Euglena viridis (which, however, may be a plant), THE FLAG ELL AT A. 91 Stein ' has observed a divini* >n « •!' i lie " nucleus " to take place, \vlirreby 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 Noctiluca 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 Noctiluca miliaris (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,3 if a No& 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 JVbcti- 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 Noctilucce, devoid of flagellum, tooth, or meridional groove, but other- wise normal, are to be found. These last are probably to be regarded as emyysted forms. Multiplication may take plnc«> 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 u Organismus der Infusionsthiere," ii., 56. 2 " Ueber Noctiluca miliaris." (Schulze's " Archiv fur mikroskop. Anato- mic," 1872.) 92 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. Another mode of a sexual multiplication, which has a sin- gular resemblance to the process of partial yelk division, FIG. 9,,—Noctttuca mUiaris.—e, gastric vacuole ; g, radiating filaments ; /, anal aperture (?). occurs only in the spheroidal Noctilucaz. 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, correspond 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 gerir, 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 Noctilucce, 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 Noctilucce 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. Woctiluca 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 PeridlneoB (see Fig. 1, f) form another aberrant group of the Flagellata, which lead to the Ciliata. The 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 ceso- phageal canal is continued and terminates abruptly in the 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 yet 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 TENTACULIFERA.. — The Acinetce (Fig. 9, Z>, E, F, Gr) have no oral aperture of the ordinary kind, but filiform processes or tentacula, which are usually slender, simple, and more or less rigid, radiate from the surface cf the body gen- erally, or from one or more regions of that surface. At first sight, these tentacula resemble the radiating pseudopodia of Actinophrys, but, on closer inspection, they are seen to have a different character. Each, 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., 76) 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 irresrulnrly twisted about. Ihe knob-like en. Is of these tentacles, which come into immediate contact with the surface of the entangled prey, spread out into disks, and adhere fixedly to it. When many of the tentacles have thus attached themselves, the im- prisoned animal is no longer able to escape, its movements become slow, at length cease. Those tentacles which have fixed themselves most firmly shorten and thicken, and draw the prey nearer to the body. . . . Suddenly, as 94 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. usually some other species of Infusorium — when the substance of the latter travels along the interior of the sucker into the FIG. 9.— A, V&rticella, active ; B, T7, encysted ; Z>, E, F, G, Acineta} (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 1 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 embryos result from a separation of a portion of the endoplast, and its con- soon as the sucking disk has bored through the cuticula of the prey, a very rapid stream, indicated by the fatty particles which it carries, sets along the axis of the tentacle, and, at its base, pours into the neighboring 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." 1 No endoplastule, such as exists in other Infusoria, has been observed as yet in the Atinetce. Under some circumstances, the Acinetce 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 PodopTirya fixa, a peculiar mode of multiplication by 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 awav. THE INFUSORIA. «,.-, 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^flwimming 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 Acineta / 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 C///"/" 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 I tered over the whole body, and are of one kind ; the Hetero- tricha, in which the widely-diffused cilia are of different kinds, some larger and some smaller ; the Hypotricha, in which the cilia are confined to the under or oral side of the body; and the Peritricha, in which they form a zone round the body. The great majority of these animals 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 may be doubted whether, CMMI 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 liny, 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 the posterior end is the contractile vacuole, while a large endoplast lies in the middle, as Stein originally dis- covered. Colpodw frequently become quiescent, retract their 96 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. cilia, and surround themselves with a structureless cyst. Each encysted Golpoda then divides into two, four, or more por- tions, which 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 Vbrticella take on the form of Trichodina grandinella. The Trichodince mul- tiply by transverse divisions, and then grow into Vbrti- cellce.1 Encystment, whether followed or not by division, is very common among all the Ciliata, and a species of Amphilep- tus has been seen to swallow — or rather envelop — a stalked bell-animalcule (Vbrticella), and then become encysted upon the stalk of its prey, just as Vampyrella becomes perched upon the stalk of the devoured Gomphonema. In the higher Oiliata, 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 Vbrticellce (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 cuticula, and not unfrequently secretes a transparent cup or case, foreshadowing the theca of hydrozoal polyps. Moreover, in the permanently fixed Vorticellce, the stalk of attachment may present a central muscular fibre (Fig. 9,/1), by the sudden contraction of which the body is retracted, the stalk being at the same time thrown into a spiral. In the holotrichous JParamoecium (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 Strombidium and Polykricos (Biitschli), beset with minute rod-like bodies similarly disposed, which, Allman, " Presidential Address to the Linnaean Society," 1875. TIIK INFUSORIA. 97 under some circumstances, shoet out into long filaments, and have been termed tri- . In /'. burs'iriit, minute PIG. IQ.—Paramwciumbursaria (after Stein).— A, the animal viewed from the dorsal side : a, cortical layer of the body ; 6, endoplust ; c, contractile space ; d d/, mat- ters taken in as food ; l in H to 2 minutes, which gives a rate of rotation of ufcs to tisins of an inch in a second. 5 98 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED 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 Ervilia (Dysteria1) 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 Paramcecia, in which there are two — one toward each end of the body. They are lodged in the cortical layer, and, iii diastole, a portion of their outer periphery is bounded only by the cuticle, through \vhich it is very probable that they communicate with the exterior. When the systole lakes place, a number of fine canals, which radiate from each vac- uole, are seen to become distended with clear, watery fluid. 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 endoplastule. The endo- plast is commonly said to be imbededd in the cortical layer, but this is certainly not the case in Colpoda, Paramoecium, Jtalantidium, or Nyctotherus. 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 Dictyocystida and Codonellida of Haeckel, the body has a bell-shaped enve- lope, which in the Dictyocystida (see Fig. 1) is strengthened by a siliceous skeleton like that of a Radiolarian. In both genera the circular lip wThich surrounds the oral end is pro- vided with numerous long flagelliform cilia.2 Most of the Ciliata, while in full activity, multiply by di- 1 Huxley, " On Dysteria." ( Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, 1857.) •Haeckel, "Zur Morphologic der Infusorien," 1873. TIIK 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,1 its discoverer, thus describes the process of conju- gation in Paramoecium bursaria : " 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 striae. 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 young. " I have been able to follow them for a long period after 1 Balbiani, " Note relative a 1' Existence d'une Generation Sexuelle chez lea Intusoires." ( Journal de la Physiologic, tome i., 1858.) 100 THE ANATOMY «OF INVERTEBRATED 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 Paramcecium, 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- bryo becomes a Paramoeeium. 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 Paramoeeium bursaria, P. aurelia, and other ciliated Infusoria. In the closely allied Paramcecium aurelia, 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 Paramoecium aurelia, Balbiani, in his later publications, asserts that the " acinetiform embryos " observed not only in Paramoeeium^ but in Stylonyehia^ Stentor, and many other ciliated Infusoria, are not embryos at all, but par tsitic Acinetce ; 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 bursaria into the parental form. Engelmann and Stein, on the other hand, hold by Balbiani's original doctrine, and give strong reasons for so doing. Among 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 Peritricha ( Vorticellidce) Ophrydidce, Trichodidoe) THK INFUSORIA. conjugation takes place by the complete and permanent fusion of two individuals, which are sometimes of ocjual 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). The small individuals usually take their origin from a group of small stalked Vorticella?, 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 Stein placenta. In the former case, some of the segments become germ-masses, while the others rcuniic 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 off portions of their sub- stance, including part of their " nucleus," and these become converted into ciliated embryos, which escape by a special opening. Knobbed tentacles, like those of the Acinetce, have not been observed in the embryos of the JPeritricha, 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 Cataliacta, and the relations of the Acinitce 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 Acinetoe, 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 AND THE CCELEISTERATA. 1. THE PORIFERA OR SPONGIDA. — 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 ProtozoSn 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 histological 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- TUB PORIFERA. 103 bate. It is certain that an ordinary sponge is made up of an aggregation of corpuscles, some of which have all the charac- ters of Amcebce, 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 Protozoan 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 wall 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 hydrozcOn, 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 anything known among the Ccelenterata / 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 which we were accurately informed was the Spongillafluviatilis, or fresh-water sponge, the subject of the elaborate researches of Lieberkllhn and Carter. 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 CaUispongioz^ by Lieberkllhn, Oscar Schmidt, and especially Haeckel. It 1ms become clear that Spongilla is a somewhat aberrant form, and that the fundamental type of Poriferal organization is to bo sought among the Calcispongice. In the least com- plicated of the calcareous sponges, the body has the form of a cup, and is attached by its closed extremity. The open ex- tremity is the osculum, and leads directly into the spacious ventricitlus, or cavity of the cup. The comparatively thin Avail of the cup is composed of two layers, readily distinguish- able by their structure — the outer is the ectoderm, the in- ner the endoderm. 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 ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. HI FIG. ll.—Ascftta rrrimordialif (after Haeckel). I. A mature Ascertain of one fide of the body of which is removed: 0, the exhal- ent aperture ; p. inhalent ooree in the wall of the body ;.f, endoderm ; r?, ecto- derm ; 7, ova. The triradiate spicnla are seen imbedded in the ectoderm. II. A portion of the endoderm, with two pores (p}\ i, endcdermal cells— those round the margins of the pores have their cilia directed inward ; e, ectodermal syncy- tinm: g, ova ; z, sperm-cell*. m. A monadiform enflodermal cell. IV. An endodermal cell, with retracted cilium, and having the characters of an Amoeba. V. The cliiated emhryo of Afcett.fi mirnbUfs. VI. The same embryo in optical longitudinal section : «, epiblast : i, hypoblast ; V, blastoccele. TilK POKIFERA. 10.", distinctness of the cells which contain these nuclei, and is therefore termed by Haeckel a syncytium. It is elastic and contractile, and sometimes exhibits an approach to fibrillation. The endoderra, on the contrary, is composed of a layer of very distinct cells, each of which contains a nucleus and one or more contractile vacuoles, and is produced at its free extremity into a long solitary cilium or ilagellum. Around the base of this, the transparent outer portion of the proto- plasm of the cell is produced into an upstanding ri»lir«' like a collar, so that each cell has a wonderful resemblance to some forms of flagellate Infusoria. Microscopic apertures — the pores — scattered over the outer surface of the cup, lead into short passages which perforate the ectoderm and endoderm, and thus place the ventriculus in communication with the ex- terior. The working of the flagella of the endodermic cells causes the water contained in the gastric cavity to flow out of the osculurn ; to make good this outflow, minute streams set in by the pores, which have consequently been called in- halent, while the osculum has been termed the exhalent aper- ture. It is said, however, that the direction of these currents is not invariable ; and it is certain that the pores are not constant, but that they may be temporarily or permanently closed, and new ones formed in other positions. Ths skeleton of the calcareous sponges always consists of a multitude of separate spicula, composed of an animal sub- stance, more or less strongly impregnated with carbonate of lime, which is deposited in concentric layers around a central axis, formed by the animal basis. This skeleton is devel- oped exclusively in the ectoderm, and is not supported by any framework of fibrous animal matter. The calcareous sponges are frequently, if not always, hermaphrodite. The reproductive elements are ova and spermatozoa. There is some reason for assuming that the latter originate in metamorphosed cells of the endoderm, as they are found scattered between ordinary cells of the latter. The ova, on the other hand, occur sometimes between the cells of the endoderm, sometimes imbedded in the syncytium itself. But the question of the origin of the sexual elements in these and other animals needs much further investigation, The spermatozoa are very delicate, and have minute, rod-like heads, with long flagella. The ova present the normal minal vesicle and spot, but exhibit active amoeboid n» ments. Impregnation is effected, and the first stages of develop- 106 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. ment take place, while the ova are still imbedded in the body of the sponge. Metschnikoff1 has recently described the development of Sycon ciliatum. The ovum, after impregnation, becomes a morula, with a central cleavage cavity or blastoccele. But the blastomeres of the two halves of the moruJa take on dif- ferent characters — those of the one half elongating and acquiring flagelliform cilia, while those of the opposite half remain globular and develop no cilia. The latter now coa- lesce into a syncytium, and develope spicula, while the layer of ciliated cells becomes invaginated within the syncytium. More usually, however, it appears that a gastrula is formed by invagination of the morula, the ectoderm of which has the structure of the endoderm of the adult, while the cells of the endoderm, or lining membrane of the gastric cavity, are de- void of cilia. The embryo quits the parent, propelled by the flagelliform cilia which cover the outer surface of the ecto- derm. After a time, it fixes itself by the closed end ; the flagella of the cells of the ectoderm are retracted, the cells themselves become flattened and coalesce so completely that their boundaries cease to be distinguishable, and the ectoderm passes into the condition of a syncytium. At the same time, the cells of the endoderm multiply, elongate, arid take on the form which characterizes them in the adult. In this state the young sponge is termed an Ascula. The transition to the final condition is effected by the development of the spic- ula in the syncytium and the separation of some of the con- stituent cells of the syncytium to form the inhalent pores. In the simplest Calcispongice^ forming the family to which Haeckel applies the name of Ascones, the wall of the ventriculus is thin, and the pores open directly into the ven- tricular cavity ; but in another family, the Leucones, the syn- cytium becomes greatly thickened, and the pores are conse- quently prolonged into canals (which may be ramified and anastomose), connecting the ventriculus with the exterior. The endodermic cells, which in these, as in the Ascones, at first form a continuous layer, are eventually restricted to the 1 " Zur Entwickelungs-geschichte der Kalkschwiimme." ( Zeitschrift fur wissenschaftliche Zoologie, Bd. xxiv.) F. E. Schulze, so far as I follow Hae- ckel's account of his recent observations (" Die Gastrula und die Eifurchung der Thiere," p. 158), agrees with Metschnikoff as to the first stages of develop- ment, but differs in regard to subsequent stages. Haeckel withdraws his ear- lier account of the formation of the gastrula by delamination, or splitting of the walls of an oval shut planula-sac into two layers, and the subsequent opening of the planula at one end. THE PORIFERA. 107 canals, or even to local dilatations of these canals — the so- called "ciliated chambers." The same relative disproportion of the ectoderm, with the consequent development of passages which traverse the mass of the sponge, and are provided at intervals with ciliated chambers, is found in the silicious sponges, in which the spicula, if they possess any, are formed by a deposit of silex ; and in which, as a rule, the sponge-corpuscles are supported by a more or less complete skeleton of a tough animal sub- stance, termed keratose. II'iHsarcd, however, is devoid both of skeleton and spicula, and the minute structure of the curious boring-sponges — the ClionoB — has yet to be elucidated. I/'iUphysema and Gastrophysema, of Haeckel, appear to be sponges which get no further than the Gastrula condi- tion, and thus form a connecting link between the Sponges and the Hydrozoa. The fresh-water sponge (Spongilla) has been studied with extreme care by Lieberkiihn, and the following account, based upon the investigations of that author, is given for the use of the student to whom Spongilla fluvialis is likely to be the most readily accessible of the sponges. The fresh-water sponge grows on the banks of docks, canals, rivers, and on floating timber, in the form of thick incrusting masses, which usually have a green color, and require a constant supply of fresh water for their healthy- maintenance. The surface presents irregular conical emi- nences perforated at their summit like small volcanic craters, and from these exhalent funnels, which answer to the oscula of the CcdcitpongioB, currents of the water are continually flowing. Careful examination of the surface of the Spongilla between the exhalent craters, shows that it is formed by a delicate membranous expansion, separating which from the deeper substance of the Spongilla are a number of irregular cavities. In some case?, these run into one great water- chamber. The superficial chambers (or chamber) communi- cate with the exterior by pores, which perforate the mem- branous expansion, are similar to those in the outer surface of the ventricular wall of a simple calcareous sponge, and sub- serve the same inhalent function. On their inner face, or floor, the superficial chambers exhibit the apertures of in- numerable canals, which traverse the deep substance of the XjHtngilla in all directions, and, sooner or later, unite into passages which lead directly into the cavities of the exhalent 108 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. craters. Dilatations of the canals occur at intervals, and are lined by the characteristic raonadiform endoderrnic cells, which are restricted to the walls of these ciliated chambers. It is by the working of the cilia of these cells that currents of water are made continually to enter by the inhalent pores and to pass out by the exhalent craters. The whole fabric is supported and strengthened by a skeleton, which consists, in the first place, of bands and filaments of keratose, and, secondly, of silicious spicula, the majority of which resemble needles pointed at each end, and contain a fine central canal filled with an unsilicified substance. The individuality of these animals is so little marked that two Spongillce, when brought into contact, before long fuse into one; while they may divide spontaneously, or be separated artificially into different portions each of which will maintain an independent existence. A process analogous to the formation of cysts, which is so common among the Protozoa, takes place in the deeper sub- stance of the body, especially in the autumn. A number of adjacent sponge-corpuscles, losing their granular appearance, become filled with clear, strongly refracting granules, the nu- cleus ceasing to be visible. The sponge-corpuscles which surround these becoma closely applied together, and secrets coats of keratose, which fuse with those of the adjacent cor- puscles. In the interior of each a singular silicious spiculum is formed, consisting of two toothed disks, like cogged wheels, united by an axis. As this " amphidiscus " enlarges, the proto- plasm of the corpuscle disappears, and at length nothing is left but the envelope of keratose, with the imbedded amphidisks, disposed perpendicularly to its surface. At one point of the spheroidal envelope a small opening is left, and the so-called " seed " of the Spongilla is complete. It remains throughout the winter unchanged ; but, with the return of warmth, ths sponge-corpuscles inclosed within the coat of the " seed," or more properly cyst, slowly escape through the pore, become perforated with inhalent and exhalent apertures and canals, and develop the characteristic spicula of a young Spongilla. This process of encystment, which may be regarded as a kind of buddinir, akin to propagation by bulbs among plants, has not been observed among marine sponges. Sexual propagation takes place in the same way as in the Calcispongicie, and the embryo passes through morula and planula stages. But the ciliated cells which form the outer wall of the latter, and constitute its locomotive apparatus, seem to vanish when the embryo fixes itself, and the body of THE POUIFERA. 109 the young Flbrospongia appears to be developed out of the inner cells, which, in the mean while, have become spiculiger- ous. However, the details of the mode of development of the Fihrospongiw require further elucidation. In both the marine and fresh-water sponges the ingestion of solid matters — such as carmine and indigo— by the mo- nadiform endodermic cells has been seen by several ob ers. According to Haeckel, the solid particles, which usually are taken in between the flagcllum and the collar, may also be invested at other parts of the surface of the endodermic cell. In the course of such experiments, also, granules of the pig- ment may be found in the ectoderm, but, whether they enter it directly or secondarily from the endoderm, is unknown. Sponges absorb oxygen, and give off carbonic acid with great rapid Uy ; and the manner in which they render the water in which they live impure, and injurious to other organisms, sug- gests the elimination of nitrogenous waste matter. The syncytium may contract as a whole, and is liable to local contractions, as when the oscula or the pores shut or open. The contours of the cells of which it is composed are invisible in the fresh state, and hence it appears as a mere "siireodc" or transparent gelatinous contractile substance, in which nuclei and granules are imbedded here and tl But Lieberkuhn has shown that, when the water in which Spongilla lives is heated to the point at which thermic coagu- lation of the protoplasm of the cells occurs, their boundaries at once become defined, and the cells commonly detach them- selves from one another. The syncytium is therefore formed by the close union, and not by the actual fusion, of the cells of the body. It is a very interesting fact that thread-cells, similar to those which are so abundant in the Coelenterata, are said to occur in some sponges. Eimer l finds these structures in species of the Renierince. The thread-cells are scattered through both endoderm and ectoderm, and abound on the free surface of the former, where it limits the canals of the sponge, but do not occur on the outer surface of the ectoderm. The same observer states that he found partly digested re- mains of small crustaceans in the ventricular cavities and passages of both silicious and calcareous sponges. The Porifera present three principal modifications — the ) the Calcispongice, and the Fibrospongice — the 1 " Nesseizellen und Saamen bei See-Schwaminen." (Archio fur Mikro- skovisc/ie Anatomic, viii., 1872.) HO THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. Myxospongice being altogether devoid of skeleton ; the Cal- cispongice possessing calcareous spicula, but no fibrous kera- tose skeleton ; and the Fibrospongice liaving a fibrous skele- ton, and (usually) spicula of a silicious nature. To these it is probable that the Clionidce 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 Gastrophysema appear to be even simpler than the Myxospongice. The division of the Myxospongice contains only the ge- latinous Halisarca. The Calcispongice, in addition to the two families of Ascones and Leucones, already referred to, include a third — the Sycones, which are essentially composite As- cones. The f'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 complexity 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. Clionidce existed in the Silu- rian epoch, but the most plentiful remains of sponges have been yielded by the chalk. THE CCELENTEBATA. — This group of the Metazoa contains those animals which are commonly known as Polyps, Jelly- fishes, or Medusae, Sea-anemones, and Corals. They exhibit two well-marked series of modifications, termed the Hydrozoa and the Actinozoa. THE HYDKOZOA. — 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 mi; PORIFERA. I 111 FIG. 12.— A. Hypothetical section of a SpongWa: a. superficial layer; 6. fnhalent apertures; c, ciliated chambers ; d, an oxhalcnt aperture ; f, deeper MI h stance orthe sMonire. The urnnvs indicate the direction of the currents. B. A email s oMa with :v sincjle exhalent aperture, seen 1'rom above (after Lieberkflhn): n. in- halent apertures ; c, ciliated chambers ; d. exhalent aperture. C. A ciliated chamber. D. A free-swimming ciliated embryo. 112 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. animals, and the latter that of the epithelium of the aliment- ary canal.1 Between these two layers, a third layer — the FIG. 13. — Diagrams illustrative of the mutual relations of the Hydrozoa : 1. Hydra. 2."Sertularian. 3. Calycophoridan. 4. Physonhoridan. 5. Lucernarian. o, Ectoderm, b, Endoderm. c. The digestive and somatic cavity. P. Tentacles. N. Nect,ocalyx. T. Ccenosarc. B. Hydrophyllinm. C. Hydrothoca. S. Hydranth. Q Gonophore, A. Air- Vesicle contained in P. Pneumatophore. c, Digestive and somatic cavity. I., II., III., IV., represent the successive stages of development of a Medusiform gonophore. mesoderm — which represents the structures which lie between 1 " 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 HYDKOZOA. 113 the epidermis and the epithelium in more complex animals, may be developed, and sometimes attains a great thickness, solution, and sonu -times, it' not always, with suspended solid particles, which perform the I'mi'-timis <>! the blood in animals of higher or^'am/at'inn, and may he termed the x»nt'itii'jliii primitive sim- plieitx of organi/ation ; and it i> hut rarely that it is even di.-iruised to any con- siderable extent. . . . This important, und obvious structural j.<-euliarit\ hardly escape notiei -, anri the Linn:' ciet\ . from Australia, in 1847, but not read before that body till .January. 1849; and I extended the generalization to the whole of the ////.//•"-'"/, in a • Memoir on the Anatomy and Affinities of the Medusa] read before the Koyal Society in June, 1849. " Prof. Allman, in his valuable memoir * On Cordylophora ' (' Philosophical Transactions,' 1855), has adopted and confirmed this morphological law, intro- ducing the convenient terms 'ectoderm ' and 'endoderm,' to denote the inner and outer membranes; and Gegenbaur (' Beitrage xur nf.heren Kenntniss der Schwimmpolypen; 1854, p. 4-2) has partially noticed its exemplification in Apolemia and Rhizophysa: 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 I 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 Tnembrnnes, an inner and an outer ; the latter turned toward the external world; the former, in relation with the nutritive liquid, the vrlk. The inner layer, as Remak kas more particularly shown, undergoes but little histol..L'ioal change, and throughout life remains more particularly devoted to the fanctXMM of alimentation, while the outer gives rise, by manifold differentiation! of its tissue, to those complex structures which we £now as integument, bones, mus- cles, nerves, and sensory apparatus, and which especially subserve the func- tions of relation. At the same time, the various organs are produced by a process of budding from one or other, or both, of these primary layers of the .u'erin. "Just so in the Hvdrozoon : 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 eudoderm undergoes but very little modification. And every organ of a Ilydrozoon is produced by budding from one, or other, or both, of these primitive membranes ; the ordinary case being that the new part commences its cxi-renceas a papillary process of both membranes, including, of course, a diverticulum of the somatio cavity. "Thus there is a very real and genuine analogy between the adult Ilydro- xoon and the embryonic vertebrate animal : but I need hardly say it means justifies the' assumption that the Hydrozoa are in any sense 'an developments ' of higher organisms. All that can justly be affirmed is, that the 1 "Observations upon the Anatomy of the Dlphydte and the Unity of Organic* tion of the Diphydse and Phveophorida>." An abstract of this essay was published in the k- Proceedings of the Lmnaean Society " for 1849. J14 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBKATED ANIMALS. but it is a secondary and, in the lower Hydrozoa, inconspicu- ous production. All the Hydrozoa are provided with tentacula* 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 Coelenterata. 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 PIG. 14.— Sacculus of a tentacle with nematocysts of Athorybia: A, peduncle or stalk, and 2?, involucrum of the sacculus C; Z>, filaments ; rf, ectoderm ; e, endo- derrn ; /, nematocysts; 1, small nematocysts of the filaments and involucrum; 2, 3, larger nematocysts of the sac; 4, largest nematocysts. thread to be swiftly protruded, apparently by a process of evagination, and the nematocyst now appears as an empty Hydrozoon travels for a certain distance along the same great highway of de- velopment as the higher animal, before it turns off to follow the road which leads to its special destination " In this passage of my work on the " Oceanic Hydrozoa " (1859), I expanded the idea enunciated in the memoir on the Medusae here referred to, that u the outer and inner membranes appear to bear the same physiological relation to one another as do the serous and mucous layers of the germ." The diagram (Fig. 13), exhibiting the relations of the different groups of the Hydrozoa, was published in the Medical Times and Gazette in June, 1856. THE HYDKOZOA. 115 sac, to one end of which a long filament, often provided t \\ ( > or three spines near its base, is attached. Many of the Coelenterata, and notably tin- riiysalia, give rise to violent urtieation when their tentacles come in contact with the hu- man skin, whence it may be concluded that the nematocysts produce a like injurious effect upon the bodies of those ani- mals which are seized and swallowed by the Polyps and Jelly- lishes. As regards the existence of a nervous system in the H/«"»•'/, inasmuch as they are developed either directly from the impregnated ovum ; or by gemmation from a Medusa which arises in this 6 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. way ; or by the transverse fission of the hydriform product of the development of the impregnated ovum. In some of these (e. g., Carmarina^ Polyxenia, ^Eginopsis, Trachynema), the disk is similar to the nectocalyx of one of the medusoids of the Hydrophora ; and, like it, is provided with a velum. But in the rest (Lucernaria, and the Stega- nophthalmata) the disk is either devoid of a velum, or pos- sesses only a rudiment of that structure, and is termed an umbrella. The edges of the umbrella are divided into lobes by marginal notches in which the lithocysts are lodged. Moreover, in these, the mineral particles of the lithocysts are numerous, and not inclosed in seperate sacs. The lithocysts are often covered by hood-like processes of the umbrella, whence they have been termed " covered-eyed " or Stega- nophthalmata. Lucernaria is fixed by the aboral side of its umbrella (Fig. 13, 5), by means of a longer or shorter peduncle. The umbrella is divided into eight lobes, at the extremities of each of which there is a group of short tentacles. The PIG. 18.— I. Aurelia aurita : L, the prolonged angles of the mouth ; G, genital cham- bers ; m. lithocysts. „ , ,. ,. II. Under view of a segment of the disk, to show the arrangement of the raciia canals ; the aperture of a genital chamber and the plaited genital membrane showing through its ventral wall; and a Hthocyst with its protective hood (m). hydranth stands up in the centre of the umbrella, and its cavity communicates with a central chamber, whence four wide chambers pass into the lobes. These chambers are separated by septa, the free central edges of which are beset with slender tentacles. The reproductive organs are double TIN; nismi'HORA. 12;) radiating series of thickenings of the oral wall of each cham- ber.1 All the other Discophora, which are what are commonly known as " Jelly-fish," are free, and some attain a very large size. In the adult (Fig. 18) the umbrella is thick and divided by small marginal notches into as many (usually eight) lobes. At the bottom of each notch, often protected by special lob- ules, is an oval lithocyst, supported by a cylindrical pedun- cle, the cavity of which is in direct communication with one of the radiating canals of the umbrella (Fig. 28, IV.). This canal communicates with the exterior on the aboral side of the base of the peduncle.8 The thick mesoderm of which the great mass of the umbrella consists is composed of a ge- latinous connective tissue, in the meshes of which is a watery fluid, containing numerous nucleated cells which exhibit amoe- boid movements. On the oral face there is a broad zone of striped muscle, made up of fusiform fibres placed side by side. In Aurelia aurita, the angles of the four-sided hy- dranth are produced into long foliaceous lips, the margins of which are beset with minute solid tentacula (Fig. 18). The gastric cavity contained in the hydranths terminates, be- neath the centre of the umbrella, in a somatic cavity which passes into four radially-disposed, wide offshoots, or genital sinuses, the oral walls of which constitute the roof of the gen- ital chambers (Fig. 18, II.). From their margins the narrow branching radial canals are given off. The peripheral ends of these unite when they reach the margin. Each genital chamber is a recess, surrounded by a thick wall of the oral face of tha umbrella, in the centre of which only a small aperture is left (Fig. 18, L, G). The roof of this cavity is the floor of the genital sinus ; it is much plaited and folded, and the genital elements are developed in it. Its inner or endodermal wall is beset with small tentacular fila- 1 The relations of Lucernaria with the Discophora were shown in my lect- ures, Medical Times and Gazette, 1856. Keferstein, u Untersuchungen uber niedere Seethiere" (1862), in his monograph on the genus, fully confirms this view, and Prof. H. J. Clark arrived independently at tlu- same conclusion : "Lucernaria the Coenotype of the Acalephce" ("Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History," 1862). The Lucernaria (Carduelfa, Allman) cyathiformis of Sars differs much from the ordinary Lucernarict, especial ly in the position of the genital organs as longitudinal thickenings in the walls of the gastric cavity. See Allman, " On the Structure of Cardueila cyathiformis^ ("Transactions of the Microscopical Society," viii.). a The circular canal of the nectocalyx 'communicates with the exterior by apertures on the summits of papillose elevations in some medusoids. 124 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. ments (Fig. 28, III.). The ova or the spermatozoa pass out of the apertures of the genital chambers, and the ova are re- Fig. IQ.—Cephea ocellata (?).— The entire animal : a, the umbrella ; ft, the ramifications of the brachia ; c, the tentacles which terminate them; o. the pillars which sus- pend the biacliiferous disk which forms the floor of the sub-umbrellar cavity ;/, short ciavate tentacles between the oral pores. ceived into small pouches or folds of the lips, and there under- go the preliminary stages of their development. In the Rhizostomidce (as was originally suggested by Von Baer and has been proved by L. Agassiz and A. Brandt1 ) the margins of the lips of the hydranth unite, leaving only a multitude of small apertures for the ingestion of food on the long arms, which represent prolongations of the lips of the hydranth (Figs. 19, 20, 21). The polystomatous condition thus brought about, by the subdivision of a primitively sim- ple oral cavity, is obviously quite different in its nature from that which occurs in the for if era. In most of the Rhizostomidoe, not only do the edges of cie lips unite, but the opposite walls of the hydranth beneath ^ e umbrella are. as it were, pushed in, so as to form four se, with » "Me"moires de 1' Academic de St.-Pe"tersbourg," xvi., 1870. TIJE RIIIZOSTOMID^. 125 chambers, the walls of which unite, become perforated, and thus give rise to a sub-umbrellar cavity with a roof formed FIG. %Q.—Cephea ocellata (?).— A, part of the umbrella, viewed from below, to show the plaited genital membrane (/) and the divided attachment of one of t lie pillar*; d, place of one of ihe lithocysts. .B, one of the oral pores (m) surrounded by ten- tacula (ft) ; «7, one of the cluvate tentacles interspersed between the oral pores. C", one of the pedunculated lithocysts (i) in its notch (d) seen from below, with the oval plate from which muscular fibres (h) take their origin ; e, the radiating canal with its cffical lateral branches, g. by the umbrella and a floor, the brachiferous disk, suspended by four pillars. In the roof the plaited genital membranes FIG. 1\.— Cephea ocellata (?).— A, lithocyst enlarged with its hood (*) and the aboral pore of the canal (c) ; d, the notch of the margin of the umbrella. J5, the brachifer- ous disk with the origins of the arms : f, endoderm ; o, ectoderm. C, tentacnlate lip of an oral pore enlarged ; m, oral cavity; », nematocysts. are developed. The floor (Fig. 21, B) gives off the subdivided arms, the free margins of which bear the oral pores, and 126 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. FIG. 22.— A, Diphyes apjjendiculata.—a. hydranths and hydrophyllia on the hydroeoma ; ft, proximal nectocalyx ; c, aperture of distal nectocalyx; d, somatocyst; e, pro- longation of the distal nectocalyx, by which it is attached to the hydrosoma ; /, point or attachment of the hydrosoma in the cavity, or hydroecium, of the proxi- mal nectocalyx. B, the distal nectocalyx with the canal (through which the bris- tle a is passed), which is traversed by the hydrosoma in A. , detached hydro- phyllia ; «, polypites ; 6, tentacles ; c, sacculi of the tentacles ; d, hydrophyllia ; /, 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-shaped. The endoderm of the hydranth is ciliated, and villus-like prominences project into its cavity. The aboral siirface of the umbrella was of a brownish-gray color, variegated with oval white spots: the oral surface, li-rht brown with eight bluish-green lines radiating toward the lithocysts ; tin1 brachia, irniv with brown dots. The brachia divide into two at their origin, and then subdivide int<> an infinity of small branches. The general color of the smaller branches is light brown, the small interspersed clavatc tentacles being white. The long tvntarlcs which terminate each brachium are blue and c\ Tmdrical at their origin, but bt trigonal farther on, where they are shaded with brown and green. Is it identi- cal with the Cf.phea 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, £, C). A valvular "pylorus" separates the gastric from the somatic cavity in the Calycophoridce. 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 ccenosarc. In the GalycophoridoB and many Physophoridce, complex Fie. Z5.—Athorybia rosacea.—A. a hydranth with villi (a). B, one of the villi in its elongated state, enlarged. 6', a small retracted villus, still more magnified, with its vacuolar spaces 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 saccitlus, 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. The somatic cavity is continued through the branch, which 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- cvsts. 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 SIPHONOPHORA. 129 ated in transverse renifortn thickenings of the wall of the ten- tacle, which occur at regular intervals. Fio. 'Ifi.—Athorytrla, rosacea.— The ends of the tentacular branches in various stages of development. A, lateral branch, commencing as a bud from the tentacle. In B, terminal papillae, the rudiments of the filaments, are developed at the extremi- ty of the'branch; ana, in C, the saceulus is beginning to be marked off, and thread- cell?1 have appeared in its walls ; in />, the division into involucrum and sacculus is apparent: in h\ the involucrum has invested the saccnlus, the extremity of which is straight, while the lateral processes have curied 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 (Calycophoridce), 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 caecal processes of the endoderm and ectoderm ; but the latter, with the mesodermal layer, rapidly predominates. The gonophores of the Stphonophora 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 Athorybia may be cited (Fig. 27) ; of the latter, the gonophores of Physalia, Porpita, and Velella. In Athorybia, groups of gonophores, together with pyri- form sacs, which resemble incompletely developed hydranths (hydrocysts — Fig. 27, A, a), are borne upon a common stem, and constitute a gonoblastidium (Fig. 27, A). The groups of male and female gonophores (Fig. 27, A, b, c) are borne upon separate branches of the gonoblastidium (androphores FIG. 27.— Athorybia rosacea.—A, gonoblastidium bearing three hydrocysts, a; gyno- phore, b ; and two androphores, c. B, female gonophores on their common stem or gynophore, showing the included ovum, o, and the radical canals, b. C, Z>, female gonophores enlarged ; a, cerminal vesicle ; b, vitellus; c, radial canals of the imperfect nectocalyx ; d, canals of the manubrial cavity. E, male gonophore. and gonophores}. Each female gonophore contains only a single ovum, which projects into the cavity of the imperfectly TIIK sii'imxopHORA. 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 nectocalvx is more distinct from the manubrium, and its extremity has a rounded aperture (Fig. 37, JE). In the Calycophoridce, as in the elongated Phyaophoridoe, 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 Culycophoridce, the saccular proximal end of the ccenosarc (Fig. 22, A, d) is inclosed within the anterior nectocalyx, at the posterior end of which is a chamber, the hydroecium (Fig. 22, A, c). The second, or posterior, nectocalyx is at- tached in such a way that its anlerior 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 ccenosarc, 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 Diphyzooid (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 s< of independent zotfids (Fig. 23, D). But their manubrium does not develop a mouth and become a functional h\ dram h ; on the contrary, the generative elements are developed in its wall, and are set free by its dehiscence. In the Physophoridce, the proximal end of the hydrosoma 132 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, Physophora] ; sometimes so large (AtJiorybia, Fig. 24 ; Phy- salia, Porpita, 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 hard inner shell, its cavity being subdivided by septa into numerous chambers (Porpita, Velella). Nectocalyces may be present or absent in the Physopho- 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 Hydrophora the ciliated, locomotive, planula be- comes elongated arid 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 Hydrophora, Alhnan has given the name of Actinula. Generally, the embryo fixes itself by its aboral extremity at the end of the 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 which is observed in the Disco- phora. 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 THK IIYDROZOA. 133 directly into the adult condition. But, in most Discoph the embryo becomes a fixed actinula (the so-called ////•// tuba or Scyphistoma, Fig. 28, 1.), multiplies a^aiuM-' M- ueally by budding, and gives rise to permanent e< >I<>uies of Ilvdii- form polyps. At certain seasons of the year, some of these enlarge and undergo a further airanuMreiiei ic mnltiplieai inn by fission (Fig. 28, II.). In fact, each divides transversely into a number of eight-iobed discoidal medusoids (" Ephyroe" or " Medusce bifida?." Fig. 28, H. and III.), and thus passes into what has been termed the ^tmbila stage. The Ephyrw, becoming detached from one another and from the stalk of the Nrnhihi, are set free, and, underlining a great increase in size, take on the form of the adult Discophore, and acquire reproductive organs. The base of the ^fi-<>l>il<>!., xxiv.) 3 "Zur Lt'hrc ik-r (u'lu'rationswechsel." 18:>l. 3 See especially the late observations of Metschnikoff, loc. tit. 134 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. a PIG. 28.— I. and II.— Cyancea capillata (after Van Beneden1). I. Two Hydra* tubce (Scyphistoma stage), exhibiting their ordinary character?, and between them two (a, 6) which are undergoing fission (Strobila stage). II. The two Strobite, a and 6, three day? later. In a, tentacles are developed, be- neath the lowest of the Ephyrce, from the stalk of the Strobila, which will persist as a Hydra tuba. III. Half the disk of an Ephyra of Aurelia aurita, seen from the oral face. The small tentacles which lie between the mouth and the band of circular muscular fibres are inside the somatic cavity, whence sixteen short and wide radial canals 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. IV. Side view of one of the lithocysts with its peduncle. The arrow indicates the direction in which the cilia of the exterior work. 1 "Kecherches sur la Faune littorale de Belgique. Polypes." 1866. THE DEVELOPMENT \\ n among the other Hydrozoa. It mav b3 termed entogastric gemmation, the bud growing out from the wall of the gastric cavity, 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-vasc .ilar 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 a in Carmirina hastata, one of the Geryonidce. As in other members of that family, a conical process of the mesoderm, covered by the endoderm, projects from the roof of the gastric cuvity and hangs freely down into its interior. Upon the surface of this, minute elevations of yj^-th of an inch in diameter make their appearance. The cells of which 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 <»n the free side of the bud. The latter, now ^^th of an inch in 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 1 I have seen no reason to depart from the opinions on the aubj< 'Animal individuality ' enunciated in my lecture published in the Annal* *, whieh abound in Silurian rocks, may possibly be 7/'/lyzo<>. Tin -y are simple or branched stems, sometimes slender, sometiim panded or foliaceous ; occasionally the branches are coniHM -i. d at their origin by a membranous expansion. The stems are tubular, and beset on one or both sides with minute nip- shaped prolongations, like the thecseof a Sertularian. A thickening of the skeleton may have the appearance of an independent axis. Allrnan has suggested that the thecifnnn projections of the Graptolite stem may correspond with the mematophores of Sertularian s, and that the branches i have been terminated by hydranths. Appendages which ap- pear to be analogous to the gonophores of the //// 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 inter mesenteric 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, con.-ti- stute an enterocode. Thus an Actinozoo'n might be com- pared to a Lucemaria, or still better to a C/< ll<>, in which the outer face of the hydranth is united with the inner face 1 Hall, " Graptolites of the Quebec Series of North America," 1865. Nichol- son, u Monograph of the British Graptolitid. 138 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEB11ATED 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 Actinozoa, 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 Hydrozoa, 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 Actinozoftn 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 hvdranth 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 fundamental composition of the body of an ecto- derm and endoderm, with a more or less largely developed mesoderm, and in the abundance of thread-cells, 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 zoQids which form a coherent whole, termed by Lacaze-Du- thiers a zoanthodeme. THE CORA.LLIGENA. — The Actinozoa comprehend two groups — the Coralligena and the Ctenophora — which are widely different in appearance though fundamentally 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 tinozottn, are often different from the rest. Each mesentery ends, at its aboral extremity, in a free edge, often provided Fro. 29.— Perpendicular section of Actinia holsitlca (after Frey and Leuckart).— a. mouth ; 6, gastric cavity . c< common cavity, into which the gastric cavity and the intermesenteric chambers open ; cf, intermesenteric chambers ; €, 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,1 into which the gas- tric sac and all the intermesenteric chambers open. In the Coralligenci) 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 Actinozob'n, 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 corallif< . In a zoanthodeme, the various polyps (anthozooids) formed by gemmation may be distinct, or their several enter- occeles may communicate ; in which last case, the common connecting mass of the body, or coenosarc, may be traversed by a regular system of canals. And, when such compound 1 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 INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. Actinozoa develop skeletons, the corallites may be distinct, and connected only by a substance formed by the calcifica- tion of the ccenosarc, which is termed ccenencJiyma • or the thecse 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 cce- nenchyma, remains loose and spicular, while the axial por- tion of the ccenosarc is converted into a dense chitincus cr cal- cified mass — the so-called sclerbbase. 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 Actinidoe 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.,1 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 Vertebrata, 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 Actinidoe (e. g., Actinia mesembryanthemum), 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 which 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 Hydrozoa, is not quite clear. The gastrula usually fixes itself by its closed end, while tentacles are de- 1 " On the Nervous System of Actinia." (" Proceedings of the Royal Socie- ty," October 9, 1873.) THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE COR VLLIGEVA. 141 veloped from its oral end. It can hardly be doubted that the intermesenteric chambers are diverticula of the primitive en- terocoele ; but the exact mode of their origin needs fun IP -r elucidation. Lacaze-Duthiers ! has recently thrown a new light upon the development of the Coralligena, and particularly of th.- Act in in1 (A<'t/ni»>!»). In other species of Actinia and in Ali'i/onlntn, the planula seems to delaminate. Ordi- nary yelk division occurs in some Anthozoa^ while in others (Alcyonium) the process rather resembles that which occu^ in most Arthropods. 142 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. bryo is a bilaterally symmetrical cylindrical body, with a cen- tral canal, the future gastric sac ; and, communicating there- with, a bilobed enteroccele, whicn 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 Sagitta. 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 enteroccele or somat- / B \ ic cavity is four-chambered (A-^p> A'). 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 / f~\ T> \ chambers (A p-S-™ 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 (C" T) T5 \ A nf-r-j) j> A' ) 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 (O TT TT T^ R \ A p p-^-Tp T\ r> A' ), five 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 the further changes of the young Actinia, I must refer to the work cited. Sufficient has been said to show that the development of the Actinice 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 general i which is so common among the Ifydrozoa, are unknown among the great majority of the Actinozoa. But Semper ' has recently described a process of agamogenesis in two spe- cies of Funyiw, which he ranks under this head. The Fitngice bud out from a branched stem, and then become detached and free, as is the habit of the genus. To make the panilK-1 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 Fiwgice which are produced by gemmation. And this does not appear to be the case. In one division of the Coralligena — the Octocoralla — eight enteroccele 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 Actinozoon developed from the egg may remain -imple (Jfaimea, Milne-Edwards), but usually gives rise to a zoan- thodeme. The ccenosarc 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 Alcyonium, a single large canal descends from each anthozooid into the interior of the zoanthodeme, and the eight mesenteries are continued as so many ridges throughout its entire length.2 so that these tubes have been compared to the thecal canals of the Millepores. In the red coral of commerce ( Corallium rubrum, Fig. 30), the large canals rim parallel with the axial skeleton. A delicate net- work, which traverses the rest of the substance of the cceno- 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." Leipsie, 1872. 3 Pouchet and Myevre, " Contribution & 1' Anatomic des Alcyonaires." (Journal d? Anat&mieet de la Physiologie, 1870.) 144 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. FIG. 3Q.—Oora!lium rubrum (after Lacaze-Duthiers J). I. The eud of a branch with A, 5. C, three anthozoOids in different degrees of ex- pansion ; k, the mouth ; a, that part of the ccenosarc which rises into a cup around the base of each anthozoOid. II. Portion of a branch, the coenosarc of which has been divided longitudinally and partially removed; B, Bf, B', anthozoOids in section; B, anthozoOid with ex- panded tentacles; k. mouth ; m, gastric sac; z, its inferior edge; ,/, mesenteries. B', anthozoOid retracted, with the tentacle? (d) drawn back into the intermesenteric chambers; c, orifices 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- zo3id is expanded : a, festooned edges of the cup. B", antiiozoOid, showing the transverse sections of the mesenteries. -4, A, ccenosarc, with its deep longitudinal canals (/), and superficial, irregular, reticulated canals (h). P, the hard axis of the coral, with longitudinal grooves (g) answering to the longitudinal vessels. III., IV. Free ciliated embryos. i " Histoire Naturelle rin-h-ts, each composed of numerous tentacles, one immediately around tho oral aperture, the other at the margin of the disk. The foot is elongated, subconical, 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 hydrozofln with four tentacles, and, at one time, possesses four mesen- teries. The Zoanthidce differ from the Actinictce 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, spicnlar skeleton. In the Antipathidce there is a sclerobasic skeleton. The proper 1 " Abhnndlungen der Senkenbergischen naturforechenden Gesellschaft," Bd. vii., viii. a 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 ActiniCB, which become converted into zoanthodemes by gemmation or fission, and develop a continuous skeleton. The skeletal parts 1 of all the Actinozoa, 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 Tabulata of Milne-Edwards are in the last-mentioned condition ; \vhile, in the Octocoralla, except Tubipora, and in the Antipathidce, and Zoanthidce, 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 (Tubipora), 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 lamellae, 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 paluli. From the sides of adjacent septa scattered processes of calcified substance, or synapticute, may grow out toward one another, as in the Fungidm ; 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 inierseptal dissepiments. Finally, in the Tabulata, horizontal plates, which stretch completely across the cavity of the theca, are formed one above the other and constitute tabular dissepiments. 1 See Kolliker, " Icones Histologies," 1866. 2 Lacaze-Duthiers's investigations on Astrcea calyculans prove that the septa begin to be formed before the theca. Till: "TABULATA." U7 In the Aporosa 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-forme J 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. Tins intermediate skeletal layer is then termed ccenenchyma. 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 spines, 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- septul 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 f d h C i e £ B ^ e i 0 h d f A.1 The stone-corals ordinarily known as Milkpores are char- 1 That the order of occurrence of the septa of various lengths, at the differ- ent stages 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 dissepiments, while vertical septa are rudimentary or alto- gether absent. These were regarded as Anthozoa, and classed together in the division of Tabulata, 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 JRu- 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 2 has proved that Jfeliopora ccerulea 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,3 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 Hydr actinia, 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 f he 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 "thesal" canals of the coral arise from the correspond- ence in position of the dilatations of the zooids of successive hydrosomal layers, and the tabulae are their supporting plates. Thus the group of the Tabulata ceases to exist, and its 1 " Natural History of the United States," vols. iii. and iv., 1860-'62. 2 Moseley, " The Structure and Relations of the Alcyonarian, Heliopora carulea" etc. (" Proceedings of the Royal Society," November, 1875.) 8 " Proceedings of the Royal Society," 1876. THE REEF-BUILDING CORALS. 149 members must be grouped either with the Hexacoratta^ the Octocoralla, or the Uydrozoa. The Rugosa constitute a group of extinct and mainly Palaeozoic stone-corals, the them- 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 Mugosa in fours, und t In- bilateral symmetry which they sometimes exhibit, are inter- esting peculiarities when taken in connection with the te- trameroua and asymmetrical states of the emb^-onic Jfexaco- ratta. On the other hand, some of the liugosa possess oper- cula, which are comparable to the skeletal appendages of the Alcyonarian Primnoa observed by Lindstro'm, and the te- tramerous arrangement of their parts suggests affinity with the Octocoralla. It seems not improbable that these ancient corals represent an intercalary type between the Hevacoralla and the Octocoralla. All the Actinozoa are marine animals. The Actinias, among the Hexacoralla, and various forms of OctocorulUt, 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 betwi • -n 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, 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 INVERTEBRATED 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 Pacific differ very considerably from those of the Indian Ocean. Different species of corals exhibit great differences as to the rapidit}' of their growth, and the depth at which they nourish best ; and no one must be taken as evidence for anoth- er in these respects. Certain species of Perforata (Madre- poridoe and Poritidce) appear to be at once the fastest grow- ers, and those which delight in the shallowest waters. The Astrceidce among the Aporosa, and Seriatopora among the Tabulata, live at greater depths, and are probably slower of increase. Under the peculiar conditions of existence which 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 depth 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 overhanging ledges of living 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 fringing 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 Nullipore ; deeper than this is a zone of Aporosa (Astrceidce), and of FRIN(JINTG REEFS.— ATOLLS. 151 Millepores (Seriatopora) ; while, deeper still, all living coral ceases; the lead bringing up cither dead branches, or show- ing the existence of a Hat, gently-sloping floor, the true sea- bottom, covered with fine coral sand and mud. Passing from tin- edge of the reef landward, Ihe /V/V/W , .md are replaced by a ridge of agglomerated dead branches and sand, coated with Nullipore ; the floor of th3 shallow basin, or iw lagoon," inclosed between the reef and the land, is Wim-d by a conglomerate, composed of fragments of coral cemented by mud ; and, on this, Meandrinoe and Fungiae 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 fringing reef, which has once attained its limit in depth, increase in size, unless, indeed, the talus ac- cumulating at the foot of its outer wall should ever rise suffi- ciently high to afford 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 INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. or more ? Why do they take so generally the 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 would 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 RKI 153 the known fact that the practicable channels of entrance into onriivliiig reefs or atolls are usually to leeward. Tin- winds uml waves are singularly aided in grinding down the corals into mud and fragments by the &<-'/•<>- i Allman (" Monograph of the Tubularian Hydroids," 1871, pago 8) consid- ers that the Ctenophora are more properly arranged among the ffydroaoa. I confess, however, that I see no reason to dopart from the conclusion to which I was led by the study of the structure of Pleurobrachia, many years ago, that the Ctenophora are peculiarly modified Actinosoa. 154 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. brachia. Fig. 31), while in others the body is produced into lobes (Callianira), or may even be ribbon-shaped (Cesium) ; 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 infundibulum. 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, when 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 with the enteroccele of an Actinia. 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 / 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 Ctenophora 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 CTENOPI10RA. 15/i 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 radi.it • from the ganglion to the rows of paddles may be regarded as nerves ; though they may contain other than nervous structures.1 The ova and spermatozoa are developed in the lateral walls of the longitudinal canals, which correspond with the faces of the mesenteries in the Coralligena^ and the sexes are usually united in the same individual. FIG. 81. — Diagram of Pleurobrachia. — a, month : 6, stomach ; c, infnndibulum ; d, horizontal canal; e, one of its branches dividing .-uMin a: / into two branches which open into the longitudinal canals, g 9, parallel with which the ciliated area runs; h: sac of the tentacle, i, with one of its branches, k; I, canal run- ning by the eide of the stomach ; m, tentaculigerons canal ; n n, canals opening at the aboral apertures, o, on each side of p. the ganglion and lithocyst. 1 Grant originally described a nervous ganglionated finer, whence longitu- dinal cords proceeded in Cydippe (/YnwodradUa), but his observation has not been verified by subsequent investigators. According to Milne-Edwards, fol- lowed by other's (among whom I moat include myself), the nervous s\>t<,• t» it : f>. mouth; c, proboscis; d. tester; «. va*» deferent ia; /, vesicula seminalis ; g, penis ; A, sexual aperture : /. va-_riu:i ; A:, sper- matheca ; /. ffermarium ; m, viteliariuoi ; w, uterus witli two ova iudosed within their hard shells. formed by the walls of the circum-oral region of the body 32, c). some (e. g., Prostomum) the anterior end of the body is (Fig. 32, c). In 160 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. provided with a second hollow muscular proboscidiform organ, which may be termed the frontal proboscis. In all the higher rhabdocoelous Turbellaria, the female generative apparatus becomes complicated by the presence of a special gland, the vitellarium (Fig. 32, m), in which an accessory vitelline substance is formed. There is a single or double germarium (Fig. 32, I), having nearly the same struct- ure as the ovary of Macrostomum, and the ova are formed in it in the same way. When detached, however, 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 with 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, &), and the eggs, after impregnation, are inclosed within a hard shell (Fig. 32, n). 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 by 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 Rhabdocoda 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. However, there seems little reason to doubt that the ectoderm and en- doderm are formed by delamination. In the remaining Aprocta, 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 TIN: DENDRorn i \ 161 known as Planarice belong to this division. Some arc ma- rine, some fresh-water, and SOUK tin trial. In the fresh-water forms, tin- 1< m.il« reproductive appa- ratus has a distinct vitellarium, as in the higher Hlml>r -iistric cteca; /, nnglia ; fj, tcstcs ; //. vcsicnhi- seiniiinlos • i, male genital canal and peuis ; *, ovi- ducts ; I, 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 INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. canals of the ordinary kind ; but in the land Planarians l 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 Planarice, like the Rhcibdocoda, undergo no metamorphosis in the course of their development ; and the like is true of some of the marine Dendroccela. Kefer- stein3 has carefully worked out the development of Lepto- plana (Polycelis). 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 verv similar to that which has been described in the Cteno- phora. But though Keferstein 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 Planar ice, however, the embryo, when it leaves the egg, 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 fro:n 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 Rotifera. 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, the 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 prae-oral ciliated zone ; and larvae of 1 Moseley, " On the Anatomy and Histology of the Land Planarians of Cey- lon." (" Philosophical Transactions," 1873.) ' u Beitrage zur Anatomic und Entwickelungsgeschichte einiger See-Plana- rien," 1868. TIIH PROCTUCFIA. L*8 the same fundamental type abound among tbc polychaetous Annelida, the Ecldnodermata, and the Mottusca. FIG. 34.— A, young Tetrctfitemma.—aa^ central Ganglia of the nervon? system; 66. cil- iated fossae ; c, aperture through which the proboscis is protruded; d, anterior portion of proboscis ; «, posterior muscular part, fixed to the parietes at/; g, in- testine; A, anal aperture; i, water vessels; *. rhythmically contracting vessels. (After Schulze.) B, anterior extrcMiiitv of the everted proboscis of Jttrastemma, exhibiting the principal aud the reserve etilets. (After Schulze.) The lowest Proctucha, such as Microstomum, have no frontal proboscis (whence they are termed Arhynehia), and they differ very little from the lowest RJutbil- \o in the fact that there is an anus, and that the sexes are distinct. But all the other Proctucha (Rhynchocoeld, or Nemerteans) are provided with a frontal proboscis, which sometimes oc- cupies the greater part of the length of the body (Fig. 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 chitinous style (Fig. 34, J5). There is no buccal proboscis, but the mouth leads into a long, straight intestine, with short, lateral, csecal dilatations.1 The Proctucha usually present only the pseud-hsemal 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 off, thus present- ing an approximation to the double ganglionated chain of higher forms. In addition to eyes, almost all the Proctucha possess two ciliated fossae, one on each side of the head (Fig. 34, bb), which receive nerves from the ganglia. Occasionally two otolithic vesicles are attached to the cerebral ganglia. The Proctucha are almost always 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. Agassiz2 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 polychastous Annelidan larvae 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 organization of the Rhynchocoele Turbellaria, or Nemerteans, see Dr. C. Mclntosh's elaborate monograph lately published by the Ray Society. 2 " On the Young Stages of a few Annelids." (Annals of the Lyceum of New York, 1864.) THE PROCTUCHA. if;:, cles are developed on the head in front of thepwe-oral ciliated band. But, as development advances, the segmentation be- comes obliterated, tin- ciliated bands and the feelers vanish, and the worm assumes the characters of a Nemertean.1 Fro. .r . IT, Fio. 36. FIG. 35-37.— Pilidium gyrans (after Leuckart and Pagenetecher). 35. Young Pilidium : o, alimentary ranal : 6, rudiment of the Nerocrtean. 36. Pilidium with a more advanced Nemertean. 37. Newly-freed Nemertean. In species of the genus Lineus, the ciliated embryo 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 thejjenus Myyor- dius, which appears to be an aniuvti'nt form between the Turbellaria and other groups. See Schneider, " Ueber Bau und Entwickelung von PolygordiuB." (** Archiv fur Anatomic und Physiologic," 1868.) 166 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. (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 larva was named by Miiller, who dis- covered it, PUidium gyrans. On each side of the ventral face of the Pilidium, 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 Pilidium, 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- lidium, 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 Annelida and Arthro- poda, and, on the other, to that of an Echinoderm (especially Echinus), within its larva. THE 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 trochal disk are fringed with long cilia, but the general surface of the body, instead of being ciliated, as in the TurbeUaria, is formed by a dense, general!}7 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 Rotifera. The mouth is a funnel-shaped cavity, situated in the middle, or on one side, of the trochal TIIK KoTIlKRA. 167 disk. The walls of this cavity 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 n bra nous folds which project into the cavity of the crop. The armature of the mastax generally consists of foui two lateral, the mallei, and two central, constituting ii The contraction of the muscular masses, to whicE tin- 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.1 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 off 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., Notominata), 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 Avails of the alimentary canal and the parictes 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. Tin* branches are open at the ends, whereby 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 trunk> 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 dial disk. One or more eye-spots are sometimes seated on the ganglion, and there are other organs which appear to be 1 See, for the various forms of this apparatus, Gosse, " On the Structure. Functions, and Homoloarues of the Manducating Apparatus in the Rotifera." (Philosophical Transactions, 1855.) 168 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED 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.38.—Hydatina senta (after Cohn).— A, female: a, anus; 5, contractile vesicle; c, water-vessels ; e, ovary ; /, ganglion. 2?, male : a, penis ; £>, contractile vesicle ; c, testis ; /, gauglioa ; ^, 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., BracMonus. Tn some Rotifers, the eggs are distinguishable, as in cer- tain Turbellaria, into summer and winter ova. The latter are inclosed in a peculiar shell. In Lacinularia, 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 always, develop (1 without fecundation, and that it is the winter ova which are fecundated. The egg undergoes complete yelk-division, and the em- bryo gradually passes into the adult form. Tin* blastomeres are soon of unequal sizes, and tin- smaller, as an epiblast, in- vest the larger, which form the hypoblast. Salensky's ' recent observations on Brachionus urceolan's 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 Gasteropoda. 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, which 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 Rotife- 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 i- l>«-nt upon itself (Lacinularia, Fig. 39, IT.), and opens upon the face of the body opposite to that upon which the ganglion is placed. The peduncle of attachment is therefore a proci the neural face of the body. In these Rotifera the trochal disk is sometimes produced into long ciliated tentacula, which surround the mouth symmetrically (Stephanoceros, Fijr. 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 Jfelicerta, and Lacinularia a (Fig. 39, I., II.). In the free Rotifers, the body may be rounded, sac-like, and devoid of appendages, as in the genus Aqplanchna, whirh has neither anus nor intestine. In AJln rfix and A/,////*/, on the other hand, the body is elongated and vermiform. Most of the free Rotifera (Fig. 38) are provided with a segmented i'ir wi*s. Zoologie, 1872. 2 Huxley ,' Lacinvfaria socialis. (Transactions of the Microscopical Society, 1851.) 170 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED 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 disk in the Rotifera. I. Larval Lacinularia. If. Adult Lacinularia. III. Philodina. IV. Brachionus. V. Stephanoceroa. M, mouth ; G, ganglion ; A, anus. ^ cated like pincers, and serve to anchor the body. This foot is a median process of that face cf 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. PolyartTira and Triarthra possess long, symmetrically ar- ranged, movably articulated setas ; and Pedation 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 Albertia and Notommata 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 Aibertia is an entoparasite, and Balatro an ectopara- site, upon oligochaetous Annelids. Under the name of Gasterotricha, Metschnikoff and Cla- parede * include the curious aquatic genera Chcetonotus, Ich- thydium, Chcetura, Cephalidium, Dasyditis, Turbanetta, and Hemidasys, the last of which alone is marine. These animals have been united with the Rotifera, 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 1 Claparede and Metschnikoff, "Beitrage zur Kenntniss der Entwickelungs- geschichte der Chaetopoden," 1868. THE TUKMATODA. 171 appears probable that they form an annectent group betw. « n the Rotifera and the Turbellaria, which last approach the/fo- tifera by such forms as IHnophihto. Th<- IV: •«• liMt.ifer.s present marked resemblances to the telotrochous larvae of Annelids. The young X«r/'/////.//-/.- example, has a circular prae-oral disk pn.vMrd with tu< 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 8pio and Nerine, :m/ an 1 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 Echinodrrms (" On Lddnularia 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 Nctupliua conditions of the lower Crustacea, suggests that connecting links in this direction may be found.'J In fact, the Rotifera, as low Metazoa with nascent segmenta- tion, naturally present resemblances to all those groups which, in their simpler forms, converge toward the lower Metazoa. THE TREMATODA. — 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 the other dorsal, and the body is never segmented. In the adult, the ectoderm is not ciliated, but its outer- most layer is a chitinous cuticula. In most Tremntoda, 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." (Monthly M/<). As development proceeds, the accessory yelk-masses grad- ually disappear ; the primitive ovum, now become the homo- logue 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. But, if carefully examined, the minute nuclei become visible, especially if water be allowed to act on the FIG. 43.— Aspidogaster conchioola.—A, section of the ovary: 1. its anterior end: J, germinal spot surrounded by a distinct wall ; 8. 4, a complete germinal vehicle and spot ; (7, a primary ovum ; /), young state of a complete ovum ; the primary ovum partially surrounded by yelk-irraniilcs and a shell ; B. complete ovum, with the accessory yelk aggregated into spheroids ; E, vacuolated embryonic 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.1 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 def'erens, 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 Tarbellaria ; the existence of two nervous ganglia with a single transverse commissure in many ; and the occasional presence of sensory organs (eye-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 Bilharzia, the male of which is the larger and retains the female in a gynce- cophore, or canal, which is formed by the infolding of the margins of the concave side of the body. Bilharzia 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 Aspido- paster, with the illustrative figures, was published in 1856 in The Medical 'Times and Gazette. 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 "Recherches surla Composition et la Signification de 1'CEuf." THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TKEMATODA. It!) 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 givos rise. In the ectoparasites, PIG. 44.— A, .B, Sfonostomum mvtaMle.—A, the ciliated emhryo (a) inclosing the zof>irt (ft.) represented free in B (after Siebold) : C, Rtdia^ or king's yellow worm of DixtnuHi />. the embryo which escapes from the egg has a ciliated inv«->t- ment, which propels it rapidly through the \\;>t. r, and may be provided with eyespots and water-vessels (Fig. 44, On becoming attached to the animal upon wlm-h it is parasit- ic, the embryo of Monostonmm gives exit to a larva, having the form of a cylindrical sac with two lateral prolongations and a tapering tail. The Jledio, as tins form is called (Fig. 44, j#, (7), has a mouth and a simple csecal intestine, but no other organs. In its cavity a process of internal gemmation takes place, giving rise to bodies resembling tho parent in shape, but destitute of reproductive organs, and furnished 180 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. with long tails, by which they are propelled. These creatures, called Cercarice (Fig. 44, E), escape by bursting through the Redid) and, after a free-swimming existence, penetrate the body of some other animal, their tails dropping off. 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 militare 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 papillae give the cen- tre of the body an annulated aspect. The mouth, almost terminal, leads into the long, straight digestive csecum. The generative organs are similar to those of Aspidog aster • the testes are, however, double, and lack the internal vas def erens. The ova are few, eight or ten in number. 2. From each ovum issues a ciliated larva, showing the rudiments of — 3. A Redid) but the mode of development of the latter has not been fully traced. The perfect Redid is found attached to the body of a water-snail (Paludina), 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 Redice, appear. During the rapid growth of the zob'id, 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 Redid bursts, and these new zo5ids 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 caecum on either side of the con- tractile vacuoles of the water-vascular system. 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, TIIK 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 water-bird and digested, the cysts 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.1 Thus the developmental stages of Distoma militare may be summed up, as : 1. Ciliated larva. 2. Redia. 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 Redice may intervene between the FIG. 45.—Bucfphalus po'ymorphuaotthe fresh-water muscle.— A, ramified aporocyst ; B, portion of the same more magnified: a, outer coat, 6, inner; c, d, perm- massea in course of development ; £, one of the germ-masses more highly mag- nified ; Z>, Bucephalus : a, 6, suckers ; c, clear cavity ; d, caudal appendage*. third and fourth stages ; or the mature animal may appear at the close of this stage, having undergone no Cercarian meta- morphosis. In Bucephalus polymorphus, a parasite of the fresh- water muscle (Fig. 45), two caudal appendages, which seem to correspond with the tail of the ordinary Cercarice, become i Van Beneden, " Me"moire sur les Vere Intestinaux.' 182 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. enormously elongated. They are converted into ramified tubes called sporocysts, which sometimes occupy all the inter- spaces of the viscera of the muscle. These develop new Jzucephali by internal gemmation. The Trematode condition appears to be the genus G aster ostomum, which inhabits fresh- water fishes. The Sporocysts, Rediae, and Cercariae, free or encysted, are found almost exclusively in invertebrated animals, while the corresponding adult Trematodes are met with in the verte- brated animals which prey upon these Invertebrata. The singular double-bodied Diplozoon paradoxum has been shown by Von Siebold to result from a sort of conjuga- tion between two individuals of a Trematode, which, in the separate state, has been named Diporpa. The Diporpce, when they leave the egg, are ciliated and provided with two eye-spots, with a small ventral sucker and a dorsal papilla. After a time the Diporpce approach, each applies its ventral sucker to the dorsal papilla of the other, and the coadapted parts of their bodies coalesce. They acquire fully developed sexual organs only this after union.1 Gyrodactylus multiplies agamically by the development of a young Trematode within the body, as a sort of internal bud. A second generation appears within the first, and even a third within the second, before the young Gyrodactylus is born. THE CESTOIDEA. — The Tape-worms are all endoparasites, and, in their adult condition, infest the intestines of verte- brated animals. The simplest form known is Caryophyllmus? found in fishes of the Carp tribe. It has a slightly elongated body, dilated and lobed at one end, so as to resemble a clove, whence the name of the genus. In structure it resembles a Trematode, devoid of any trace of an alimentary canal, but provided with the characteristic water-vascular system and with a single set of hermaphrodite reproductive organs. In Ijigula, the body is much elongated, and, at the head- end, exhibits two lateral depressions. It is not divided into segments, but there are numerous sets of sexual organs ar- to which I am much indebted for information respecting this and other genera of Cestoidea which have not fallen under my own observation. Also Leuckart, ** Die menschlichen Parasiten," 1863 ; and^Cobbold, u Entozoa." Till-; CHSTOIDEA. Is;} ranged in longitudinal series. The openings of the genital glands ;ire situated in the middle line of tin- body. T parasites inhabit fishes and amphibians, as well as \% birds, but they attain their sexual state only in the latter. FIG. 46.— Diagram of the structure of a cestoid worm, with only one joint. The poei- tion of the hooks of n Ttenia. and of one of the proboscides of a Tttntrhynrhu* is indicated. -4, head and neck; B, seijment of the body corresponding uiili a proy'ottiK: «, rostelluin ; !>, mstella spines (Tania); c, r without the intervention of a Cj/xtircmi* stage. It is obvious that the Cestoidea are very closely related to the Trematoda. In fact, inasmuch as some of the latter are anenterous, and some of the former are not segmented, it is impossible to draw any absolute lino of domarkati«>n l»etv the two groups. It would appear that the Cestoide'i are either Tromatodes which have undergone retrogressive met- amorphosis and have lost the alimentary canal which they primitively possessed, or that they are modifications of a 188 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. Trematode type, in which the endoderm has got no further than the spongy condition which it exhibits in Convoluta among the Turbellaria, and in which no oral aperture has been formed ; or, lastly, it is possible that the central cavity of the body of the embryo Tcenia simply represents a blas- toccele. If the Cestoidea are essentially Trematodes, modified by the loss of their digestive organs, some trace of the digestive apparatus ought to be discoverable in the embryo tape-worm. Nevertheless, nothing of the kind is discernible, unless the cavity of the saccular embryo is an enterocoele. And if this cavity is a blastoccele, and not an enteroccele, it may become a question whether the tape-worms are anything but gigantic morulsB, so to speak, which have never passed through the gastrula stage. CHAPTER V. THE HIKUDINBA, THE OLIGOCH^ETA, THE POLYCH^ETA, THE GEPHYREA. THE HIRUDINEA. — The Leeches are aquatic or terrestrial, more or less distinctly segmented, vermiform animals, most of which suck blood, though some devour their prey. The ectoderm is a cellular layer, covered externally by a chitinous cuticula, and, except in Malacobdella, devoid of cilia. Very commonly it is marked by transverse constrictions into rings, which are more numerous than the true somites as indicated by the ganglia and the segmental organs ; and simple glands may open upon its surface. One or more suckers, which serve as organs of adhesion, are developed upon it. In some (Acanthobdella) bundles of setae are present ; in others (Br nirti branches of the lateral trunk; k% I, the branch to tin- te-tis (a), and the scemental or;;;m ( in- terior, whereby it becomes converted into a sort of sac. The adjacent anterior and posterior walls of successive sacs unite, and give rise to the mesenteric septa, while their cavities become the chambers of the perivisceral cavity. The seg- mental organs commence as cellular outgrowths from the posterior face of each septum thus formed, and only subse- quently become excavated and communicate with the exte- rior. The development of the Earthworm, therefore, closely re- sembles that of the Hirudinea, and more especially that of the Medicinal Leech, in which the digestive cavity of the embryo would seem to be formed, as in the Earthworm, by a process which is, in a sense, invagination. It would appear that the first-formed aperture is the mouth ; while the anus is a secondary perforation; and the segmentation of the body commences in the mesoblast. In the fresh-water Oligochopta, Euaxes and Tubifex, the vitellus also becomes divided into large and small blastomeres. Tlu* latter extend over the larger blastomeres, and form the epiblast (= ectoderm). A mesoblast (= mesoderm), divided into two broad longitudinal bands, is developed, and the oral cavity is said to be formed by invagination of the epiblast between the anterior ends of the two bands of the mesoblast In this on so, the mouth in these genera is a secondary forma- tion. The innermost layer of large blastomeres becomes the hvpoblast (= endoderm).1 THE POLYCH^ETA. — Except that the Polychceta are almost invariably dioecious and marine, while the Oligochceta are monoecious, and inhabitants either of land or fresh water, it ' Kowulewsk v, " Embryoloffische Studien." (" M&noires de PAouUmie de St. P6tersbourg,'» 1861.) 200 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. is hard to say what absolute characters separate these two groups. The lowest forms of the Potychceta, such as Capi- tella and Polyophthalmus, might be regarded as marine dioe- cious Naidce. But, in the higher Polycha.ta^ each segment of the body develops lateral processes — the parapodia, cr rudimentary limbs, which are usually provided with abundant strong setae ; a distinct cephalic segment, the prcestomium, 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, some- times plumose, processes of the dorsal walls of more or fewer of the segments may perform the office of external branchiae ; and, occasionally, the dorsal surface gives rise to flat shield- like processes, the so-called elytra. The following detailed description of a very common species of Polynoe will give a fair conception of a polychae- tous Annelid, in which the highest degree of complexity of organization known in the group is attained : Polynoe squamata 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 / 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 prcestomium (uKopf-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 the body (Fig. 51, (7, D) be examined separately, 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, i) and the neuropodium (&), the one occupying the " haemal " or dorsal, the other the " neural " or ventral aspect. The latter is, in this species POLYNflE SQUAMATA. 201 so much the larger, that the notopodium appears like a mere tubercle projecting from its upper surface. In other Anne' lida, however, and in the young state of Polynde, the notopo- Fio. 51.— Polynde squamata. A. Viewed from above and enlarged : a. 6, c, etc., as In Fig. 68, S: «, elytra; /, apace left between the two posterior elytra ; q, setae and ftmbrise of the elytra. B. Posterior extremity, inferior view : d, pygidial cirri ; A, inferior tubercle ; c, c', notopodlal and neuropodial cirri. C. Section of half a somite with elytron : I, notopodium ; *, neuropodiuai. 1). Section of half a somite with cirrus. dium is as large as the neuropodmm. Both divisions of the parapodia are armed with peculiar stiff, hair-like appendages (, nenropodial setae. E^ F, parts of the blade of the same, more highly magnified. G, free extremity of a notopodial seta. the handle, is produced at the end into a long and delicate filament. The base of the blade (E) is beset with incomplete POLYNflE SQUAMATA. 203 ridges, like those of the short setae, but toward the middle (/•') 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, tin mer containing about half as many setae 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 beyond tl;< ii in (quality. The neuropodial setae (Fig. 62, C\ 7>), although at first sight very different from the notopodial seta?, are, in truth, constructed on essentially the same plan, the blade being short, while the handle is proportionally elongated. The blade issubcylindrical 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 cir- 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 ei, c) similar to the neuropodial cirrus, but much larger, equaling the soini- di;i meter 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. 204 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. In the other somites the notopodial appendage is a large, thin, oval plate — the elytron (Fig. 51, C\ 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- teat of its circumference, which is so far smooth, but in the rest of its extent it is fringed with coarse brownish filaments orfimbrice, 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 setae, or in the figure of the elytra. The first somite, which contains the mouth, is the peristomium (" Mund-Segment " of Grube). The parapodia of this somite are narrow and elongated (Fig. 53, J3, C, 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 (cr 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. The apex of a single small aciculum issues rather above the point of division of the peristomial parapodium, and two minute curved setas accompany it. These have been generally overlooked ; J but they seem to demonstrate, in a very inter- esting manner, the nature of the appendages of the peristo- mial segment. 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 pKestomium together are ordi* narily confounded under the common term of " head." The latter (Fig. 53, B, (7, I) is an oval segment flattened superior- ly, placed altogether in front of and above the mouth, pre- senting on its postero-lateral edges four dark spots, the eyes, and possessing five cirriform appendages, two pairs and a 1 At least, in the descriptions of the adult Polynoe. They are particularly mentioned, however, by Max Miiller in his valuable paper, u Ueber die Ent- wickelung und Metamorphose der Polynoen." (Mutter's Archiv, 1841.) POLYNflE SQUAMATA. single median one. The latter (a), or the prcestomial tentacle ("untenne mecliane," Milne-Edwards), is aim il;u in stru to an ordinary cirrus. Of the other appendages, the upper one upon each side (supero-lateral praestomial cirrus, " an- tenne mitoyenne ") also resembles an ordinary cirrus (b) ; hut the lower (infero-lateral pmestomial cirrus, " antenne ex- terne ") (b1) is much larger, and is capable of extreme elon- Pio. SS.—Polyndesquamata. A. Posterior extremity from above : ) < beneath, or in the branching where such orga: The anterior portion of the alimentarv canal is, in a [ number of the Polychceta, in fact in all the typical / 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 ANIMALS. FIG. 54.— Protula Dysteri. A, the sexual, mature animal, extracted from its calca- reous tube : a, branchial plumes ; 6, hood-like expansion of the anterior end of the body ; c, the mouth ; $, the stomach ; 6, the anus ;/, the testes ; g, the ova. J3, a Protula in course of proliferation; &, the branchiae of the zoSid. body, 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, TMK POLYCILETA. B). Each tooth has a little projection upon its convex edge, which is connected by a short strong ligament with th<» cor- responding projection of another tooth ; and the one pair of trrth, thus connected, works vertically against the opposite pair. In Nereis, , there are two powerful teeth whirh \\--iU horizontally, besides minute accessory denticles. In > the chitinous lining of the pharynx is produced into a oir< •!<• of sharp teeth anteriorly, and there is, in addition, .1 ; stronger triangular median tooth. In Glycera, which pos- sesses a pair of teeth, the extremity of the protruded j>r< - boscis is covered with very remarkable papillae. Tin- complex arrangement of teeth, however, is that present nl l>y the JEunicidce. 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 caeca perform that function, and tin* 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 caeca, 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 Invertebrate in general, colorless. They are red, however, in Glyccra, and in a species of Apneumea (De Quatrefages). The parapodia, the cirri, the branchiae, and all the other important appendages of the Polychceta, 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 Polychceta no part of the body is specially adapted to perform the function of respiration, the aeration of the blood probably taking place wherever the integument is sufficiently thin ; and, even when distinct branchiae ordinarily exist, members of the same family may be deprived of them. In Polynoe squamata, ciliated spots £10 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 Polynoe the parapodia ffive rise, at corresponding points, to large, richly ciliated, malleiform tubercles, in which the caeca of the alimentary canal terminate. In Sigalion, a filiform, ciliated branch la depends from the upper part of the somite, beneath the ely- tron ; and, besides this, curious little ciliated palettes are arranged upon the dorsal surface of the parapodia, and upon the sfdes of the anterior somites. But the best-developed branchiae among these Annelids are possessed by theAmphi- nomidce, and the Eunicidoe among the Errantia; the lere- bellidoe, and the Ssrpulidce among the Tubicola, 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 squamata, and, as Claparede x could discover none in the transparent P. lunulata, it is safe to assume their non- existence. Claparede, in fact, denies them to the whole of the AphroditidoB. 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 branchiae 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 (Arenicola], 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 » "Anne'lides Ch6topodes du Golfe de Naples," 1868, p. 65. Till; I'nl.Y' II/ETA. 211 have observed caecal branches depending into the perivisceral cavity in which the contained fluid underu, -nt m« id\ an alter- nate ilux and reflux. Kamilied ctucu of a similar kind appear to exist in the oligochsetous genera, Jtitaxes and I/umbriinilus. The principal trunks give off a great number of branches, which ramify very minutely in some Annelids (J'Jnni<>) 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 Polychceta no segmental organs have yet been discovered, and in others they appear to be represents mere openings in the parietes of the body. 1 have <>t» short ciliated canals opening externally upon the ventral face at the bases of the parapodia in P/tyllodoce 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 Polych&ta. 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 differences presented by the nervous systems of the Pob/ch&ta result from the varying length of the transverse commissures. In Verm-ilia, Scrpula, Sabella, these commis- sures are very long, so that two distinct and distant series of ganglia appear to run throujrh the body, while, in Nepthys, the two series of gang-lia are fused into a single cord enlarged at intervals. Every transitional condition between tin observable in Terebella, Aon? a, Glyeera, Pltj/llnflore, and Aphrodite. In most Polychwta a very extensive series of visceral nerves supplies the alimentary canal. The recognizable organs of sense in the Annelida nr« and auditory vesicles. The former are usually very simple, consisting of an expansion of the extremity of the optir nerve, imbedded in pioment, and provided occasionally, but not in- invariably, with transpnrent spheroids or cones. Alciope and Torrea have very well-developed and large eyes. The eyes 212 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATE!) ANIMALS. are usually confined to the anterior extremity of the body, and to the praestomium where it exists ; but, in the remarkable genus PolyophthalmuS) De Quatrefages discovered, besides FIG. 55.— A, anterior end of the nervous system of Polynoe squamata (after De Qua- trefages) : a, cerebral aangJia ; £>, O2sophai;eal commissures ; c, longitudinal com- missures of the ventral ganglia. .B, anterior end of the nervous system of Sabella Jiabellatq (after De Quatrefages): a, cerebral ganglia; ft, oesophageal commissures ; c, longitudinal commissures of the ventral ganglia. Those of opposite sides are united by long transverse commis- the ordinary cephalic eyes, a double series of additional visual organs, one pair being allotted to each somite. In J3ran- chiomma, eyes are situated at the ends of the branchial plumes. Ehrenberg has described two caudal eyes in Amphi- cora, and De Quatrefages has shown that similarly placed eyes exist in three other species of Pofych&ta, two of which nre closely allied to Amphicora, while the other is an errant form, related to Lumbrinereis. These curious worms are said to swim about with the caudal extremity forward. Auditory sacs, containing many otoliths, have been ob- served upon each side of the oesophageal ring in Arenicola, and similar organs have been noticed in other Tubicola ; but hitherto their existence has not been certainly determined in the Errantia. The genitalia of the polychaetous Annelida are excessively simple in their structure; indeed, special reproductive organs can hardly be said to exist in most, the generative products THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLYCH^TA. 213 being merely developed from some part of the walls of the perivisceral cavity, in which they eventually freely float, mak- ing their way out in a manner which is not quite understood at present ; probably, however, through temporary or perma- nent apertures at the bases of the parapodia. In many, the segmental organs appear to serve as excretory ducts. As a rule, the polychaetous Annelids are dioecious; but some (• Protula, Fig. 54) are hermaphrodite. The ova undergo their development within the body of the parent in some species of Eunice ; in pouches attached to the body in Exogone ; in masses of gelatinous matter which adhere to the tubes of the vermidom in Protula ; beneath the elytra in Polynde cir- rata ; in the cavity of the opercular tentacle in some Spir- orbes ; while, in other cases, they appear to become, almost immediately, free ciliated embryos. The vitellus undergoes division, and is converted, as in the case of the Oligochceta and Hirudinea, into blastomeres of two kinds. This contrast between the two components of the embryo commences with the division of the vitellus into two, inasmuch as the first fissure is usually so directed as to divide the yelk into unequal portions. Both subdivide, but the smaller much faster than the larger ; so that the former becomes converted into very small blastomeres, which grad- ually envelop the larger blastomeres resulting from the sub- division of the latter. The larger included blastomeres are destined to form the alimentary tract; the smaller peripheral ones, on the other hand, give rise to the ectoderm, and to the nervous ganglia.1 As in the Ottgochasta and Hirudinea, again, the mesoblast forms a thick band on each side of the median ventral line, and its transverse division originates the segmentation of the body. But, generally, the development of the protosomites, 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 Polychcet* differ from those of the Oli- gochceta and Hirudinea 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 larvae are termed Atrocha. In other embryos the cilia are arranged in one or more 1 Claparede and metschnikoff, " Beitriige zur Kenntnias der Entwickelungs- geschiohte der Chaetopoden," 1868. £14 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 Phyllodoce, a shield-shaped, mantle-like elevation of the integument covers the dorsal region of the body behind the prse-oral ciliated ring. In the larvae of the Serpulidce 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 Polychceta 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 Syllis prolifera, is nearly simple 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 zoSid 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 Protula had attained a certain length, 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 POLYCHJ-:'! 215 thorax of the bud (Fig. 54, /!). S;irs has described a similar mode of multiplication in his pflograna /////*/< .tv/, a \. }y allied I'onn. In Xt/llitt and in Protula, the producing and the produced zoOids alike develop generative products, but, in Ant,,/ Krohn has shown that the primary produci; sexless, the secondary produced xoi'iids having a M)ine\ different form, and alone giving rise to ova ana /,oa. In some species of the genus Nerd*, the v r tin- development of its genital organs has taken place, takes on the characters of what was formerly considered a genus, Heteronereis ; and the males and the females of i In- same .species of Nereis have even been reg;> litl.T, m species of Jfeteronereis.1 The series of forms represented by the Turbellaria, the Hirudinea,) the Oligochceta, and the Polychatu. 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 many 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 "Annuloae" animals; from which a furtber extension of the same process of segmentation, with a fuller develop- ment of the appendages and a more con:pl« -»e appropriation of some of them to manducatory purposes, leads us to the Arthropoda. THE GEPHYREA. — These are marine vermil'onn animals without distinct external segmentation or parapodial apprnd- ages. The ectoderm has a chitinmis cuticle, and is often provided with tubercles, hooks, or seta?, of chitin (Echiurus, Sternaspis). No calcareous skeleton is found in any of the hyrea. The integument frequently contains numerous simple glands, the apertures of which perforate the cuticle. In one genus (Sternaspis), two shield-shaped plates, fringed with setae, are developed upon the hinder part of the ventral surface of the body. There are external circular and internal longitudinal muscular fibres beneath the ectoderm. An inner » Ehlers, " Die Gattung Hetoronertu." (u GOttingen Nachricliten," 1867.) 216 THE ANATOMY OF IXVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. layer of circularly disposed muscular fibres may be added. The oral end of the body may have the form of a retractile proboscis (Priapulus), or be provided with tentacular append- ages. These may be arranged in a circle round the mouth, and short (Sipunculus, Fig. 56, L, T), or long (Phoronis), or there may be a single long, sometimes bifurcated and ciliated, tentacular appendage (Bonellid). Filamentous appendages, which are probably branchiae, are given off at the hinder end of the body in Sternaspis and Priapulus. 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 Echiurus, Bonellia, 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 Rotifera and the respira- tory tubes of the Holothurice. A pseud-haemal system exists in most (Sipunculus, Sternas- pis, Sonellia, Echiurus, and Phoronis), 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-haemal fluid is colorless, or may have a pale reddish tinge, in most. In Phoronis it is said to contain red corpuscles. In Sipunculus, the cavities of the tentacles communicate with a circular vessel provided with caecal appendages ; and this circular vessel is said to open into the pseud-haemal 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 enlargement. 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 caecal glands. In Sipunculus, the ova and sper- matozoa float freely in the perivisceral cavity. The actively locomotive embryo of Sipunculus (Fig. 56, II.) Tin: QEPHYREA. is surrounded by u cir< iil;n band <»l cilia placed immediately behind the mouth ( W, W)> and resembles a i ueso- trochal Annelidan larva. As development advances it loses FIG. 56.— SI>?MCM/«.«««'/M* (after Keferstein and Ehlers).1 I. The animal laid open longitudinally— J n. s. 7. tentacle*; r, th« fonr retractor muscles of the proboscis : /•. tin- points at which tliev were attached to tin- walls of the body; «, oesophagus ; /. intestine: (/.ami-: •/../. l.mp- of t!i , nervous COM, \\hich ends in a lol>.-' ^lionic mass, close to the mouth, and presents an enlargement. (/', at its poste- rior end : m, m', m", mnscles associated with the nervons cord?. II. A larval Sipunculutf about ^ of an inch lonj;: o, mouth : » -. millet : *, caecal •rland; i, intestine with masses of fatty cell« : ". anus : />•. -• -i-iati-d -rro-'v.- of the intestine ; g, brain with two pairs of red eye-spots ; n, nervous cord, />, pore; t, t, eo-called testes ; TP, W, circlet of cilia. this apparatus, and passes gradually into the adult form. Tn Phoronis, the embryo is also mesotrochal, but it has two ciliated bands, one circular, round th<> anus, and the other im- mediately behind the mouth. The poet-oral hand of ci!i produced into numerous tentaouliform lobes, and fringes the free edge of a broad concave lobe of the dorsal side of the body, which arches over the mouth. In this state the embryo Zoologiache Beitrage," 1861. 10 218 THE ANATOMY OF INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. is the so-called Actinotrocha.1 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 Phoronis, while the tentacles of the larva grow into those of the adult. Schneider has suggested that the bell-shaped larva, with long seise, termed Mitraria by Milller, is the embryo of Sternaspis, The affinities of the Gephyrea with the Turbellaria, with the Annelida, and with the Rotiferu, are unmistakable. In fact, it may be doubted whether Sternaspis should not be associated with the Polychceta, and Bonellia is in many re- spects comparable to a colossal Rotifer. Their usually as- sumed connection with the JEchinodermata is more question- able. The circular canal which communicates with the cavi- ties of the tentacles in Sipunculits 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 a (Fig. 56, II., S). It has a striking similarity to the " water-vessel " of the larva of Balanoglossus, which, however, lies on the opposite side of the body. 1 " Schneider, uUeber die Metamorphose der Actinotrocha IrancTiiata." (" Archiv fur Anatomie," 1862.) 8 " Ueber die Larve des Sipunculw nudus." (" Archiv fur Anatomie," 1851.) CHAPTER VL I II K ARTH ROPODA. 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 in.in- 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 gi\« - rise to a vesicular morula, nor is the alimentary cavitv ordinarilv formed by in- vagination.1 The precise mode of origin of tin- m:»snblast has yet to be worked out, but the perivisceral cavity appears always to be developed by its splitting. In other words, a schizocoele. As with Annelids, the segment ui< HI of the body results from the subdivision of the mesoblast by transverse constric- tions into i>rotosomites ; 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 fashi <>ned first, and its anterior end terminates in two rounded >ns — the pro- <•> l>h«r\<> lobes— which are converted into th«* sides and front of the head. The appendages are developed as paired out- 1 The recent observations of Bobretzky on th.> il»>\ •.•loj>m«'nt of Onitcut and A**** illotnmnn and S.-hwallu'. •• .Jahn-sbfru-hti'." H<1. ii.. is;: tend to sliow that the hjpoblaol :iri<. > by a sort ->t in-'.litii-d itu'atfination of tiif 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 Crustacea and the wings of Insecta 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 differentiated 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, Astacus) ; or its two halves may be movably connected by a median hinge, like a bivalve shell ( Cypris, Limnadid] ; 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 effecting locomotion, are always attached either to the head or to the thorax,1 or to both. They may be present or absent in the abdominal re- gion. In adult 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 Thysanura and Collembola, be such. The alimentary apparatus presents very wide diversities 1 The extinct Trilobites possibly form an exception to this rule- TIII-: AKTIIKOPODA. 221 in form and structure, and in the number and nature of its glands. Tin- anus, \\ Inch is very rarely absent, is situated in the hindermost somite. In lik< miniiirr, the blood-vascular system varies from a mi -re perivisceral cavity without any heart ( Ostracoda, Cirri- ptdiaj 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 lacuna?. The blood-corpuscles are colorless, nucleated cells. Special respiratory organs may be absent, or they may take one <>f the following forms: 1. I>r«uchioB. Externally projecting processes of tin- body or limbs, supplied with venous blood, which \A thus brought into contact with the air dis>olv«'d in \\ater. 2. Tracheae. Tubes which traverse the body and gen- erally open upon its exterior by apertures termed stigmata, and thus bring air into contact with the blood and the tissues generally. Saccular reservoirs of air are often formed by dilatations of these tubes. The so-called Trackeo-branchicB of some aquatic Insect larvae are usually laterally projecting processes of more or fewer of the thoracic or abdominal somites, containing abun- dant tracheae, which communicate with those whirh traverse the body (Ephemeridoe, Perlaridce). They are in no sense Inane-Ilia1, but simply take the place of stigmata. The ex- change of constituents between the air contained in the tracheae of these animals and that of the surrounding medium is effected indirectly, by diffusion through the walls of the tracheo-branchiae, instead of directly, through the stigmata, as in other cases. In the aquatic larvae of many Dragon-flies (LibeUulidai), the function of the tracheo-branchiae is performed by folds of the lining membrane of the rectum, which contain abundant trachea.'. Water is drawn into, and expelled from, the ca\ it v of the rectum by rhythmical contractions of it> \\alls, so as t« -i cure the exchange of gaseous constituents between the air which it contains and that which fills the tiacheie. 3. rt//mntt,rr>/ ,wx. These are met with nnly in some Ara<'/nn't?ii of this head has been obtained. The very 6ne set» to the bases of which nerves can be traced, which abound on the antennary organs of Insecta and Crustacea, but an- fount 1 in other regions of the body, are probably partly tactile and partly auditory organs. As a general rule, all the muscles of the Arthropoda, those of the alimentary canal, are striated. Those of the body and limbs are often attached by chitini/.ed tendons to the parts which they have to move. As the hard skeleton is hollow and the muscles are inside it, it follows that the body, or a limb, is bent toward that side of its axis which is oppo- site to that on which a contracting muscle is situated. Sounds are produced by many Insects; but in most cases they cannot be properly referred to a voice, in the sense in which that term is applied to the sounds produced in the higher animals, by the vibrations of the atmosphere arising from the impact of a current of air upon the free edges of membranes bounding the aperture of exit of the current. The chirping and humming of Insects often arise from the friction of their hard parts a-r.-iinM one another, or from the rapid vibration of their wings : in seme instances, however, recent investigations render it probable that they are pro- duced by the action of expiratory currents on tense mem- branes which bound the stigmata. Agamogenesis is very common among some groups of the Arthropoda, such as the Crustacea and the Insecta, but has not yet been observed in the Myriapoda or the Arachnida* It may be effected in one of two ways: 1. Either individuals which are, by their structure, inca- pable of being impregnated and are therefore physiologically Sexless, though it may happen that they more or loss appn >\i- mate females morphologically, give rise to offspring (Cecido- tinjin larv:e, . I/*// As1) : 2. Or individuals which are capable of beiniT impregnated, and are thus both morphologically and physiologically true females, give rise to eggs which de\ . liout impreg- nation. (The queen-bee, so far as the production of drones is concerned ; many L< pif,f The cases of AJH.-*. 1><1»,i