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 the formation a second time of a cellular floor for the segmentation
cavity in the third stage, the Elasmobranch embryo seems to resemble that
of the Osseous Fish[135]. Upon this feature great stress is laid both by Dr
Götte[136] and Prof. Haeckel[137]: but I am unable to agree with the
interpretation of it offered by them. Both Dr Götte and Prof. Haeckel
regard the formation of this floor as part of an involution to which the
lower layer cells owe their origin, and consider the involution an
equivalent to the alimentary involution of Batrachians, Amphioxus, &c. To
this question I hope to return, but it may be pointed out that my
observations prove that this view can only be true in a very modified
sense; since the invagination by which hypoblast and alimentary canal are
formed in Amphioxus is represented in Elasmobranchii by a structure quite
separate from the ingrowth of cells to form the floor of the segmentation
cavity.
Footnote 135: This floor appears in most Osseous Fish to be
only partially formed. Vide Götte, _loc. cit._
Footnote 136: _Loc. cit._
Footnote 137: _Loc. cit._
The eventual _obliteration_ of the segmentation cavity by cells derived
from the yolk is to be regarded as an inherited remnant of the involution
by which this obliteration was primitively effected. The passage upwards of
cells from the yolk, may possibly be a real survival of the tendency of the
hypoblast cells to grow inwards during the process of involution.
The last feature of the segmentation cavity which deserves notice is its
excentric position. It is from the first situated in much closer proximity
to the non-embryonic than to the embryonic end of the blastoderm. This
peculiarity in position is also characteristic of the segmentation cavity
of Osseous Fishes, as is shewn by the concordant observations of
Oellacher[138] and Götte[139]. Its meaning becomes at once intelligible by
referring to the diagrams in my paper[140] on the Early Stages in the
Development of Vertebrates. It in fact arises from the asymmetrical
character of the primitive alimentary involution in all anamniotic
vertebrates with the exception of Amphioxus.
Footnote 138: _Loc. cit._
Footnote 139: _Loc. cit._
Footnote 140: _Loc. cit._
Leaving the segmentation cavity I pass on to the other features of my
sections.
There is still to be seen a considerable aggregation of cells at the
non-embryonic end of the blastoderm. The position of this, and its
relations with the portion of the blastoderm which at an earlier period
contained the segmentation cavity, indicate that the growth of the
blastoderm is not confined to its edge, but that it proceeds at all points
causing the peripheral parts to glide over the yolk.
The main features of the cells of this blastoderm are the same as they were
in the one last described. In the non-embryonic region the epiblast has
thinned out, and is composed of a single row of cells, which, in the
succeeding stages, become much flattened.
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