With a single exception to hundreds of observations upon six widely
divergent genera of naked-eyed Medusæ, I find it to be uniformly
true that removal of the extreme periphery of the animal causes
instantaneous, complete, and permanent paralysis of the locomotor
system. In the genus Sarsia, my observations point very decidedly to
the conclusion that the principal locomotor centres are the marginal
bodies, but that, nevertheless, every microscopical portion of the
intertentacular spaces of the margin is likewise endowed with the
property of originating locomotor impulses.
In the covered-eyed division of the Medusæ, I find that the
_principal_ seat of spontaneity is the margin, but that the latter is
not, as in the naked-eyed Medusæ, the exclusive seat of spontaneity.
Although in the vast majority of cases I have found that excision
of the margin impairs or destroys the spontaneity of the animal for
a time, I have also found that the paralysis so produced is very
seldom of a permanent nature. After a variable period occasional
contractions are usually given, or, in some cases, the contractions
may be resumed with but little apparent detriment. Considerable
differences, however, in these respects are manifested by different
species, and also by different individuals of the same species.
Hence, in comparing the covered-eyed group as a whole with the
naked-eyed group as a whole, so far as my observations extend,
I should say that the former resembles the latter in that its
representatives usually have their main supply of locomotor centres
situated in their margins, but that it differs from the latter in
that its representatives usually have a greater or less supply of
their locomotor centres scattered through the general contractile
tissue of their swimming organs. But although the locomotor centres
of a covered-eyed Medusa are thus, generally speaking, more diffused
than are those of a naked-eyed Medusæ, _if we consider the organism
as a whole_, the locomotor centres in the _margin_ of a covered-eyed
Medusa are _less_ diffused than are those in the _margin_ of a
naked-eyed Medusæ. In no case does the excision of the margin of
a swimming organ produce any effect upon the movements of the
manubrium.
CHAPTER III.
EXPERIMENTS IN STIMULATION.
_Mechanical, Chemical, and Thermal Stimulation._
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