With the formation of these organs the progressive development of the Ascidia comes to an end, and degeneration sets in. The free-swimming larva sinks to the floor of the sea, abandons its locomotive habits, and attaches itself to stones, marine plants, mussel-shells, corals, and other objects; this is done with the part of the body that was foremost in movement. The attachment is effected by a number of out-growths, usually three, which can be seen even in the free-swimming larva. The tail is lost, as there is no further use for it. It undergoes a fatty degeneration, and disappears with the chorda dorsalis. The tailless body changes into an unshapely tube, and, by the atrophy of some parts and the modification of others, gradually assumes the appearance we have already described. (FIGURE 2.225. An Appendicaria (Copelata), seen from the left. m mouth, k branchial gut, o gullet, v stomach, a anus, n brain (ganglion above the gullet), g auditory vesicle, f ciliated groove under the gills, h heart, t testicles, e ovary, c chorda, s tail.) Among the living Tunicates there is a very interesting group of small animals that remain throughout life at the stage of development of the tailed, free Ascidia-larva, and swim about briskly in the sea by means of their broad oar-tail. These are the remarkable Copelata (Appendicaria and Vexillaria, Figure 2.225). They are the only living Vertebrates that have throughout life a chorda dorsalis and a neural string above it; the latter must be regarded as the prolongation of the cerebral ganglion and the equivalent of the medullary tube. Their branchial gut also opens directly outwards by a pair of branchial clefts. These instructive Copelata, comparable to permanent Ascidia-larvae, come next to the extinct Prochordonia, those ancient worms which we must regard as the common ancestors of the Tunicates and Vertebrates. The chorda of the Appendicaria is a long, cylindrical string (Figure 2.225 c), and serves as an attachment for the muscles that work the flat oar-tail.