though not immediately within the area at which the eye-speck is
placed, but somewhat above it, and at a little distance on either side
of it. The tentacles may be drawn completely within these sacs, or be
extended outside, as we have seen, to a greater or less degree, and in
every variety of curve or spiral.
_Bolina_. (_Bolina alata_ AG.)
[Illustration: Fig. 31. Bolina seen from the broad side; _o_
eye-speck, _m_ mouth, _r_ auricles, _v_ digestive cavity, _g_ _h_
short rows of flappers, _a_ _f_ long rows of flappers, _n_ _x_ _t_
_z_ tubes winding in the larger lobes; about half natural size.
(_Agassiz_.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 32. Bolina seen from the narrow side; _c_ _h_
short rows of flappers, _a_ _b_ long rows of flappers; other
letters as in Fig. 31. (_Agassiz_.)]
The Bolina (Fig 32), like the Pleurobrachia, is slightly oval in form,
with a longitudinal split at one end of the body, forming a mouth
which opens into a capacious sac or digestive cavity. But it differs
from the Pleurobrachia in having the oral end of the body split into
two larger lobes (Fig. 31), hanging down from the mouth. These lobes
may gape widely, or they may close completely over the mouth so as to
hide it from view, and their different aspects under various degrees
of expansion or contraction account for the discrepancies in the
description of these animals. We have seen that the Pleurobrachia
moves with the mouth upward; but the Bolina, on the contrary, usually
carries the mouth downward, though it occasionally reverses its
position, and in this attitude, with the lobes spread open, it is
exceedingly graceful in form, and looks like a white flower with the
crown fully expanded. These broad lobes are balanced on the other
sides of the body by four smaller appendages, divided in pairs, two on
each side (Fig. 32), called auricles. These so-called auricles are in
fact organs of the same kind as the larger lobes, though less
developed. The rows of locomotive flappers on the Bolina differ in
length from each other (Fig. 31), instead of being equal, as in the
Pleurobrachia. The four longest ones are opposite each other on those
sides of the body where the larger lobes are developed, the four short
ones being in pairs on the sides where the auricles are placed. At
first sight they all seem to terminate at the margin of the body, but
a closer examination shows that the circulating tubes connected with
the longer row extend into the lobes, where they wind about in a
variety of complicated involutions. (Fig. 32.) The movements of the
Bolina are more sluggish than those of the Pleurobrachia, and the long
tentacles, so graceful an ornament to the latter, are wanting in the
former. With these exceptions the description given above of the
Pleurobrachia will serve equally well for the Bolina. The structure is
the same in all essential points, though it differs in the size and
proportion of certain external features, and its play of color is less
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account