The works of Francis Maitland Balfour, Volume 2 (of 4) : $b A treatise on comparative embryology: InvertebrataBalfour, Francis M. (Francis Maitland)
Science
The works of Francis Maitland Balfour, Volume 2 (of 4) : $b A treatise on comparative embryology: Invertebrata
Balfour, Francis M. (Francis Maitland)
Embryology; Zoology
In Hirudo, Leuckart (No. 362) has described three similar pairs of
organs the structure of which he has fully elucidated. They are
situated in the posterior part of the body, and each of them commences
with an enlargement from which a convoluted tube is continued for some
distance backwards; it then turns forwards again and afterwards bends
upon itself to open to the exterior. The anterior part is broken up
into a kind of labyrinthic network.
The true segmental organs are found in a certain number of the
segments and are stated (Whitman) to develop from groups of mesoblast
cells. Their origin requires however further investigation.
A double row of colossal cells on each side of the body has been
described in Clepsine by Whitman as derived from the mesoblastic
plates. These cells (fig. 58 B), which he calls segment-cells, lie
opposite the walls of the septa. The inner row is stated to be
connected with the segmental organs. Their eventual history is
unknown, but they are conjectured by Whitman to be the mother cells of
the testes.
The alimentary tract. This is formed primitively of two parts--the
epiblastic stomodæum--forming mouth, pharynx, and oesophagus, and the
hypoblastic mesenteron. The anus is formed very late as a simple
perforation immediately dorsal to the posterior sucker.
In Clepsine, where there is an epibolic gastrula, the rudiment of the
mesenteron is at first formed of the three vitelline spheres, from the
surface of which a true hypoblastic layer enclosing a central yolk
mass becomes differentiated, as already described. The mesenteric sack
so formed is constricted by the growth of the mesoblastic septa into a
series of lobes, while the posterior part forms a narrow and at first
very short tube opening by the anus.
The lobed region forms the sacculated stomach of the adult. The
sacculations of the stomach by their mode of origin necessarily
correspond with the segments. In the adult however the anterior lobe
is really double and has two divisions for the two segments it fills,
while the posterior lobe, which, as is well known, extends backwards
parallel with the rectum, is composed of five segmental sacculations.
In connection with the stomodæum a protrusible pharynx is developed.
In Hirudo and Nephelis the mesenteron has from the first a sack-like
form. The cells which compose the sack give rise to a secondary
deposit of food-yolk. The further changes are practically the same as
in Clepsine. In Hirudo the posterior sacculation of the stomach is
primitively unpaired. The jaws are formed at about the same time as
the eyes as protuberances on the wall of the oral cavity.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
(359) O. Bütschli. "Entwicklungsgeschichtliche Beiträge (Nephelis)."
_Zeit. f. wiss. Zool._ Vol. XXIX. 1877.
(360) E. Grube. _Untersuchungen üb. d. Entwicklung d. Anneliden._
Königsberg, 1844.
(361) C. K. Hoffmann. "Zur Entwicklungsgeschichte d. Clepsineen."
_Niederländ. Archiv f. Zool._ Vol. IV. 1877.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account