cylinder, but have a simple non-introversible rostrum, as it
has been termed, which is also the condition presented by the
mouth-bearing region in nearly all other Gastropoda. One of
the best examples of the introversible mouth-cylinder or proboscis
which can be found is that of the common whelk (Buccinum
undatum) and its immediate allies. In fig. 23 the proboscis is
seen in an everted state; it is only so carried when feeding, being
withdrawn when the animal is at rest. Probably its use is to enable
the animal to introduce its rasping and licking apparatus into very
narrow apertures for the purposes of feeding, e.g. into a small hole
bored in the shell of another mollusc.
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The very large assemblage of forms coming under this order comprises the most highly developed predaceous sea-snails, numerous vegetarian species, a considerable number of freshwater and some terrestrial forms. The partial dissection of a male specimen of the common periwinkle, Littorina littoralis, drawn in fig. 20, will serve to exhibit the disposition of viscera which prevails in the group. The branchial chamber formed by the mantle-skirt overhanging the head has been exposed by cutting along a line extending backward from the letters vd to the base of the columella muscle mc, and the whole roof of the chamber thus detached from the right side of the animal’s neck has been thrown over to the left, showing the organs which lie upon the roof. No opening into the body-cavity has been made; the organs which lie in the coiled visceral hump show through its transparent walls. The head is seen in front resting on the foot and carrying a median non-retractile snout or rostrum, and a pair of cephalic tentacles at the base of each of which is an eye. In many Gastropoda the eyes are not thus sessile but raised upon special eye-tentacles (figs. 25, 56). To the right of the head is seen the muscular penis p, close to the termination of the vas deferens (spermatic duct) vd. The testis t occupies a median position in the coiled visceral mass. Behind the penis on the same side is the hook-like columella muscle, a development of the retractor muscle of the foot, which clings to the spiral column or columella of the shell (see fig. 33). This columella muscle is the same thing as the muscles adhering to the shell in Patella, and the posterior adductor of Lamellibranchs.
The surface of the neck is covered by integument forming the floor of the branchial cavity. It has not been cut into. Of the organs lying on the reflected mantle-skirt, that which in the natural state lay nearest to the vas deferens on the right side of the median line of the roof of the branchial chamber is the rectum i′, ending in the anus a. It can be traced back to the intestine i near the surface of the visceral hump, and it is found that the apex of the coil formed by the hump is occupied by the liver h and the stomach v. Pharynx and oesophagus are concealed in the head. The enlarged glandular structure of the walls of the rectum is frequent in the Pectinibranchia, as is also though not universal the gland marked y, next to the rectum. It is the adrectal gland, and in the genera Murex and Purpura secretes a colourless liquid which turns purple upon exposure to the atmosphere, and was used by the ancients as a dye. Near this and less advanced into the branchial chamber is the single renal organ or nephridium r with its opening to the exterior r′. Internally this glandular sac presents a second slit or aperture which leads into the pericardium (as is now found to be the case in all Mollusca). The heart c lying in the pericardium is seen in close proximity to the renal organ, and consists of a single auricle receiving blood from the gill, and of a single ventricle which pumps it through the body by an anterior and posterior aorta. The surface x of the mantle between the rectum and the gill-plume is thrown into folds which in many sea-snails (whelks or Buccinidae, &c.) are very strongly developed. The whole of this surface appears to be active in the secretion of a mucous-like substance. The single gill-plume br lies to the left of the median line in natural position. It corresponds to the right of the two primitive ctenidia in the untwisted archaic condition of the molluscan body, and does not project freely into the branchial cavity, but its axis is attached (by concrescence) to the mantle-skirt (roof of the branchial chamber). It is rare for the gill-plume of a Pectinibranch Gastropod to stand out freely as a plume, but occasionally this more archaic condition is exhibited as in Valvata (fig. 30). Next beyond (to the left of) the gill-plume we find the so-called parabranchia, which is here simple, but sometimes lamellated as in Purpura (fig. 22). This organ has, without reason, been supposed to represent the second ctenidium of the typical mollusc, which it cannot do on account of its position. It should be to the right of the anus were this the case. Spengel showed that the parabranchia of Gastropods is the typical olfactory organ or osphradium in a highly developed condition. The minute structure of the epithelium which clothes it, as well as the origin of the nerve which is distributed to the parabranchia, proves it to be the same organ which is found universally in molluscs at the base of each gill-plume, and tests the indrawn current of water by the sense of smell. The nerve to this organ is given off from the superior (original right, see fig. 3) visceral ganglion.
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Fig. 22.—Female of Purpura lapillus removed from its shell; the mantle-skirt cut along its left line of attachment and thrown over to the right side of the animal so as to expose the organs on its inner face. | |
| a, | Anus. |
| vg, | Vagina. |
| gp, | Adrectal purpuriparous gland. |
| r′, | Aperture of the nephridium (kidney). |
| br, | Ctenidium (branchial plume). |
| br′, | Parabranchia ( = the comb-like osphradium or olfactory organ). |
The figures which are given here of various Pectinibranchia are in most cases sufficiently explained by the references attached to them. As an excellent general type of the nervous system, attention may be directed to that of Paludina drawn in fig. 21. On the whole the ganglia are strongly individualized in the Pectinibranchia, nerve-cell tissue being concentrated in the ganglia and absent from the cords. At the same time, the junction of the visceral loop above the intestine prevents in all Streptoneura the shortening of the visceral loop, and it is rare to find a fusion of the visceral ganglia with either pleural, pedal or cerebral—a fusion which can and does take place where the visceral loop is not above but below the intestine, e.g. in the Euthyneura (fig. 48), Cephalopoda and Lamellibranchia. As contrasted with the Aspidobranchia, we find that in the Pectinibranchia the pedal nerves are distinctly nerves given off from the pedal ganglia, rather than cord-like nerve-tracts containing both nerve-cells or ganglionic elements and nerve-fibres. Yet in some Pectinibranchia (Paludina) a ladder-like arrangement of the two pedal nerves and their lateral branches has been detected. The histology of the nervous system of Mollusca has yet to be seriously inquired into.
The alimentary canal of the Pectinibranchia presents little diversity of character, except in so far as the buccal region is concerned. Salivary glands are present, and in some carnivorous forms (Dolium) these secrete free sulphuric acid (as much as 2% is present in the secretion), which assists the animal in boring holes by means of its
