The works of Francis Maitland Balfour, Volume 1 (of 4) : $b Separate memoirsBalfour, Francis M. (Francis Maitland)
Science
The works of Francis Maitland Balfour, Volume 1 (of 4) : $b Separate memoirs
Balfour, Francis M. (Francis Maitland)
Embryology; Zoology
In Elasmobranchii the first two furrows are formed in a perfectly normal
manner, but though I have not observed the actual formation of the next
furrow, yet from the later stages, which I have observed, I conclude that
it is parallel to one of the first formed furrows; and it is fairly certain
that, not till a considerably later period, is a furrow homologous with the
horizontal furrow of the Batrachian egg formed. This furrow appears to be
represented in the Elasmobranch segmentation by the irregular
circumscription of a body of central smaller spheres from a ring of
peripheral larger ones (vide Pl. 6, figs. 3, 4 and 5).
In the Bird the representative of the horizontal furrow appears relatively
much earlier. It is formed when there are eight segments marked out on the
surface of the germinal disc[100]. From Oellacher's[101] account of the
segmentation in the fowl[102] it seems certain, as might be anticipated,
that this furrow is nearly parallel to the surface of the disc, so that it
cuts the earlier formed vertical furrows and causes the segments of the
germinal disc to be completely circumscribed below as well as at the
surface. In the Elasmobranch egg this is not the case; so that, even after
the smaller central segments have become separated from the outer ring of
larger ones, none of the segments of the disc are completely circumscribed,
and only appear to be so in surface views (vide Pl. 6, fig. 6).
Segmentation in the Elasmobranch egg differs in the following particulars
from that in the Bird's egg:
(1) The equivalent of the horizontal furrow of the Batrachian egg appears
much later than in the Bird.
(2) When it has appeared it travels inwards much more slowly.
Footnote 100: Vide _Elements of Embryology_, p. 23.
Footnote 101: _Stricker's Studien_, 1869, Pt. I, Pl. II. fig. 4.
Footnote 102: Unfortunately Professor Oellacher gives no
account of the surface appearance of the germinal discs of
which he describes the sections. It is therefore uncertain to
what period his sections belong.
As a result of these differences, the segments of the germinal disc of the
Birds' eggs are much earlier circumscribed on all sides than those of the
Elasmobranch egg.
As might be expected, the segmentation of the Elasmobranch egg resembles in
many points that of Osseous Fishes (vide Oellacher[103] and Klein[104]). It
may be noticed, that with Osseous as with Elasmobranch Fishes, the furrow
corresponding with the horizontal furrow of the Amphibian's egg does not
appear at as early a period as is normal. The third furrow of an Osseous
Fish egg is parallel to one of the first formed pair.
Footnote 103: _Zeitschrift für Wiss. Zool._ Bd. XXII. 1872.
Footnote 104: _Monthly Microscopical Journal_, March, 1872.
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