The works of Francis Maitland Balfour, Volume 3 (of 4) : $b A treatise on comparative embryology: VertebrataBalfour, Francis M. (Francis Maitland)
Science
The works of Francis Maitland Balfour, Volume 3 (of 4) : $b A treatise on comparative embryology: Vertebrata
Balfour, Francis M. (Francis Maitland)
Embryology; Zoology
In Notodelphis ovipara the eggs are transported (by the male?) into a
peculiar dorsal pouch of the skin of the female, which has an anterior
opening, but is continued backwards into a pair of diverticula. The
eggs are very large, and in this pouch, which they enormously distend,
they undergo their development. A more or less similar pouch is found
in Nototrema marsupiatum.
In the Surinam toad (Pipa dorsigera) the eggs are placed by the male
on the back of the female. A peculiar pocket of skin becomes developed
round each egg, the open end of which is covered by a gelatinous
operculum. The larvæ are hatched, and actually undergo their
metamorphosis, in these pockets. The female during this period lives
in water. Pipa Americana (if specifically distinct from P. dorsigera)
presents nearly the same peculiarities. The female of a tree frog of
Ceylon (Polypedates reticulatus) carries the eggs attached to the
abdomen.
Rhinoderma Darwinii[47] behaves like some of the Siluroid fishes, in
that the male carries the eggs during their development in an
enormously developed laryngeal pouch.
[47] _Vide_ Spengel, "Die Fortpflanzung des Rhinoderma Darwinii."
_Zeit. f. wiss. Zool._, Bd. XXIX., 1877. This paper contains a
translation of a note by Jiminez de la Espada on the development
of the species.
Some Anura do not lay their eggs in water. Chiromantis Guineensis
attaches them to the leaves of trees; and Cystignathus mystacius lays
them in holes near ponds, which may become filled with water after
heavy rains.
The eggs of Hylodes Martinicensis are laid under dead leaves in moist
situations.
_Formation of the layers._
Anura. The formation of the germinal layers has so far only been
studied in some Anura and in the Newt. The following description
applies to the Anura, and I have called attention, at the end of the
section, to the points in which the Newt is peculiar.
The segmentation of the Frog's ovum has already been described (Vol.
II. pp. 95-7), but I may remind the reader that the segmentation (fig.
69) results in the formation of a vesicle, the cavity of which is
situated excentrically; the roof of the cavity being much thinner than
the floor. The cavity is the segmentation cavity. The roof is formed
of two or three layers of smallish pigmented cells, and the floor of
large cells, which form the greater part of the ovum. These large
cells, which are part of the primitive hypoblast, will be spoken of in
the sequel as yolk-cells: they are equivalent to the food-yolk of the
majority of vertebrate ova.
[FIG. 69. SEGMENTATION OF COMMON FROG. RANA TEMPORARIA.
(After Ecker.)
The numbers above the figures refer to the number of segments at the
stage figured.]
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