The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 01 (of 10)Hickson, Sydney J. (Sydney John)
Science
The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 01 (of 10)
Hickson, Sydney J. (Sydney John)
Animals
Sense-organs are present in all Scyphozoa except some of the Stauromedusae,
and they are in the form of statorhabs (tentaculocysts), bearing statoliths
at the extremity, and in many species, {314}at the base or between the base
and the extremity, one or more eyes. These organs differ from the
statorhabs of the Hydrozoa in having, usually, a cavity in the axial
endoderm; but as they are undoubtedly specially modified marginal
tentacles, they are strictly homologous in the two classes. In nearly all
the Scyphozoa these organs are protected by a hood or fold formed from the
free margin of the umbrella, and this character, although not of great
morphological importance, serves to distinguish the common species from the
Craspedote Medusae. It was owing to this character that Forbes gave the
name STEGANOPHTHALMATA, or "covered-eyed Medusae," to the class.
Another character of some importance is the presence in the coelenteric
cavity of all Scyphozoa of clusters or rows of delicate filaments called
the "phacellae." These filaments are covered with a glandular epithelium,
and are usually provided with numerous nematocysts. They have a
considerable resemblance to the acontia of certain Anthozoa, and are
probably mainly digestive in function. These three characters, in addition
to the very important character of the position and method of discharge of
the sexual cells already referred to, justify the separation of the
Scyphozoa from the Medusae of the Hydrozoa as a distinct class of
Coelenterata.
The umbrella of the Scyphozoa varies a good deal in shape. It is usually
flattened and disc-like (Discophora), but it may be almost globular
(_Atorella_), conical (some species of _Periphylla_), or cubical
(Cubomedusae). It is divided into an aboral and a marginal region by a
circular groove in the Coronata. The margin may be almost entire, marked
only by notches where the statorhabs occur, or deeply lobed as in the
Coronata and many Discophora. Marginal tentacles are present in all but the
Rhizostomata, and may be few in number, four in _Charybdea_, eight in
_Ulmaris_ (Fig. 143), or very numerous in _Aurelia_ and many others. The
tentacles may be short (_Aurelia_), or very long as in _Chrysaora
isosceles_, in which they extend for a length of twenty yards from the
disc.
The manubrium of the Scyphozoa is usually quadrangular in section, and in
those forms in which the shape is modified in the adult Medusa the
quadrangular shape can be recognised in the earlier stages of development.
The four angles of the manubrium are of importance in descriptive anatomy,
as the planes drawn {315}through the angles to the centre of the manubrium
are called "perradial," while those bisecting the perradial planes and
passing therefore through the middle line of the flat sides of the
manubrium are called "interradial."
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