In planarians which have a flat, broad body, lateral regeneration takes
place readily. If a worm is split in two along the middle line of the
body (Fig. 13½, _A_), each half regenerates the missing half. This is
brought about by the development of new tissue along the cut-side, and
the extension into the new part of outgrowths from the digestive tract.
Lateral regeneration also takes place if the worm is split lengthwise
into two unequal parts. In this case the larger piece produces new
material along the cut-side, and into this new part the branches of the
old digestive tract extend. The smaller piece also produces new material
along the cut-side, a new pharynx appears along the line between the old
and the new tissue, and a new digestive tract is formed out of the
remains of the old one (Fig. 19, _a_, _b_, _c_). New branches grow out
of the fused part into the new tissues at the side. The new worm that
develops from a piece that is less than half the width of the old worm
is about as wide as the piece that was cut off, for what is gained at
the cut-side is lost in the old part. The piece loses in length also
during regeneration. If the new worm is fed, it increases in size,
gaining in breadth both on the old side, as well as on the new side, and
in time it becomes a full-grown, symmetrical worm.
In the formation of the new part in these cases of lateral regeneration
it is not difficult to understand how some of the old organs, as the
digestive tract, grow out laterally into the new part; but it is more
difficult to see how longitudinal organs, such as the nerve-cord and
genital ducts, are formed anew. Bardeen, who has examined the
development of the new nerve-cord in lateral pieces, thinks that the new
nerve-cord grows backwards in the new part from the brain that develops
at the anterior end, either out of the old brain, if it, or any part of
it, is left, or out of the new brain that develops from the anterior end
of the lateral cord that is present in the piece. What takes place in
pieces cut so far to one side that none of the old cord is present in
the piece he did not make out; but I can state that a new brain develops
even when none of the lateral cord is present.
[Illustration: FIG. 19.--Indicating how a piece is cut off from side of
_Planaria maculata_. _a, b, c._ Regeneration of last. _d._ Regeneration
of single head at side. _e._ Regeneration of two heads at side.]
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