In all the preceding cases in which the blastomeres have been
_separated_, a whole embryo has developed, although the cleavage was
often like that of a part. In one form, however, it has been found that
a whole embryo does not develop. Chun (’92) first showed that the
isolated one-half blastomere of the ctenophore egg produced a
half-larva. He also inferred from certain incomplete embryos caught in
the sea, that these incomplete larvæ could subsequently regenerate the
missing parts. Driesch and Morgan (’95) studied the development of the
isolated blastomeres of another ctenophore, _Beroë ovata_. They found
that the isolated one-half blastomere divides exactly as a half of the
whole egg (Fig. 66, _A_, _B_, _C_). It remains more or less a
half-structure, even after the ectoderm has grown over the whole surface
(Fig. 66, _D_). The invagination of ectoderm, to form the so-called
stomach, that takes place at the lower pole of the whole embryo, is
formed at one side of the lower pole in the half-embryo (Fig. 66, _F_,
_G_). It pushes into the endodermal yolk mass, and lies not in the
middle, but somewhat to one side. In the normal embryo there are formed
four endodermal sacs or pouches in the central yolk mass that become
connected with the inner end of the ectodermal stomach, around which
they lie symmetrically. In the half-embryo two sacs are formed, and in
addition a smaller third sac, which always lies on the side of the
stomach that is nearest the outer wall (Fig. 66, _F_, _G_). The embryo
is, therefore, somewhat more than half the normal embryo in regard to
the number of its endodermal sacs.
There are present eight meridional rows of paddles in the normal embryos
of the ctenophore. They lie symmetrically on the sides, converging
towards an apical sense organ. In the one-half larva there are always
only four of these rows of paddles that are not equally distributed over
the surface, since on one side there is a wider gap between two of the
rows than elsewhere (Fig. 66, _G_). The sense plate also lies somewhat
eccentrically, _i.e._ more towards the side corresponding to that at
which the other blastomere lay.
If the one-fourth blastomeres are separated, each continues to segment
as though still a part of the whole. A one-fourth embryo develops that
has an unsymmetrical stomach, with _two_ endodermal sacs. There are only
two rows of paddles. The embryos are, therefore, in several respects
one-fourth embryos, but the presence of two endodermal sacs, instead of
only one, shows that in this particular, at least, the embryo is more
than a fourth of the whole.
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