peribranchial pouches, at first distinct, afterwards united in the mid-dorsal line to form the adult cloaca and atrial aperture. Ingrowths from the atrial pouches and outgrowths from the wall of the pharynx coalesce to form the proto-stigmata (primary gill-slits) by which the cavity of the branchial sac is first placed in communication with the exterior through the atrial apertures. Opinions differ as to whether only one or a few pairs of true gill-clefts are represented in the young Ascidian; and the actual details of their formation and subdivision, to form the stigmata of the adult, differ considerably in different forms. In _Clavelina_ the stigmata are formed as independent perforations of the pharyngeal wall; in _Ascidia_ two pairs of protostigmata increase to six pairs, which are subdivided into stigmata; _Botryllus_ and other forms are intermediate in some respects. No doubt the subdivision of proto-stigmata is primitive, but has been lost from the ontogeny in some cases. To what precise extent the walls of the atrial or peribranchial cavities are formed of ectoderm, or of endoderm, is still doubtful. The embryo is hatched about two or three days after fertilisation, as a larva or Ascidian tadpole (Fig. 26, A) which leads a free-swimming existence for a short time, during which it develops its nervous system and cerebral sense-organs, and the powerful mesoblastic muscle-bands lying at the sides of the notochord (now a cylindrical rod of gelatinous nature surrounded by the remains of the original cells) in the tail which form the locomotory apparatus. Fig. 26, A, shows this stage, the highest in its chordate organisation, when the larva swims actively through the sea by vibrating its long tail with the dorsal and ventral fins. In addition to the structures already mentioned, the mesoderm {60}has formed the beginning of the muscular body-wall, the connective tissue around the organs, and the blood; the endostyle has developed as a thick-walled groove along the ventral edge of the pharynx, which has become the branchial sac; and the pericardial sac and its invagination the heart have formed in the mesoblast between the endostyle and stomach. The "epicardiac tubes" grow out from the posterior end of the endostyle to join the pericardium. They play an important part in the formation of buds in the colonial Tunicata. The heart acquires a connexion with blastocoelic blood-spaces at its two ends. The heart and pericardium show the same relations in Tunicata as in Enteropneusta, but it is very doubtful whether these organs are genetically related to the Vertebrate heart.