the hollow central nervous system of some Enteropneusta and of
Vertebrates. This comparison is not admitted by
De Selys-Longchamps. The vascular system contains numerous red
blood-corpuscles. The principal blood-channels are two longitudinal
vessels which run down the entire length of the body, and are
known as the “afferent” vessel (af) and the “efferent” vessel
(ef) respectively, from their relation to the tentacles. According
to researches in 1907 by De Selys-Longchamps, the blood is driven
by the afferent vessel (af) to a crescentic lophophoral vessel (d.v.)
which supplies the tentacles. Each of these contains a single blindly
ending vessel which bifurcates at its base (see fig. 3). One of these
branches communicates with the afferent lophophoral vessel,
while the other one opens into the crescentic efferent lophophoral
vessel (r.v.). From this the blood passes into two lateral vessels
which pierce the coelomic septum (s), the right vessel proceeding
on the anterior side of the oesophagus, as shown in fig. 3, to effect
a union with the left one, and thus to constitute the main efferent
vessel, which gives off numerous caecal branches as it passes down
the body. Hence the blood returns once more to the afferent
vessel through a splanchnic sinus which surrounds the stomach.
The circulation is maintained by the rhythmical contraction of
the afferent vessel and by less regular contractions of some of the
other vessels. The reproductive organs lie on the left side, near
the aboral end, both ovary and testis being present in the same
individual in some of the species. They are said to be developed
from the coelomic epithelium which covers the efferent vessel or
its caeca. The reproductive cells pass to the exterior by means
of the nephridia. Reproduction by budding does not occur,
although spontaneous fragmentation of the body, followed by
complete regeneration of each of the pieces, is known to take place.
Regeneration of the tentacular end of the animal is of frequent
occurrence.
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Fig. 3.—Diagram of oral end of Phoronis australis, seen from the left side. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Development and Affinities.—The eggs of Phoronis are small and usually undergo their early development attached to the tentacles of the adult. The attachment is probably effected (Masterman) by the secretion of the lophophoral organs (fig. 2, gl). After the formation of an invaginate gastrula the larval form is rapidly acquired. On quitting the shelter of the parent tentacles the embryo becomes a pelagic larva, known as Actinotrocha (fig. 4) characterized by the possession of a line of tentacles running obliquely round the body. Locomotion is effected principally by means of a posterior ring of cilia surrounding the anus. The mouth (o) is in front of the tentacles, on the ventral side, and is overhung by a mobile praeoral hood, in which is the principal part of the nervous system. An oblique septum which follows the bases of the tentacles and corresponds with that of the adult animal divides the body-cavity into two portions. The postseptal division is a coelomic space, partially subdivided by a ventral mesentery. The praeseptal cavity is a vascular space, since it is in free communication with the dorsal vessel of the larva, and it persists in part as the two lophophoral vascular crescents of the adult. It contains two tufts of peculiar excretory cells, described by Goodrich (5) as “solenocytes,” which surround the blind ends of a pair of nephridia. These pass backwards through the septum and open to the exterior ventrally. After the Actinotrocha has led a pelagic life for some time it develops a large ventral invagination of its body-wall (fig. 4, 2, iv.). At the metamorphosis, this sac is everted and the alimentary canal is drawn into it in the form of a loop (fig. 4, 3, 4). Most of the praetentacular region and the larval tentacles separate off, being then taken into the alimentary canal, where they are digested. The relations of the surfaces after the metamorphosis are clearly very different from those which obtained in the larva. The dorsal surface of the adult is the one between the mouth and the anus, while the median ventral line is the one which corresponds with the convexity of the alimentary canal. This view of the surfaces is, however, disputed by De Selys-Longchamps, who regards the aboral extremity of the adult as the posterior end.
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Fig. 4.—Diagrams illustrating the Metamorphosis of Actinotrocha. | ||||||||||
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The development of Phoronis was supposed by Caldwell (2) to furnish the explanation of the relations of the surfaces in Brachiopoda, Polyzoa and perhaps the Sipunculoid Gephyrea, in which the ontogenetic evidence is less clear. Caldwell's views were accepted by Lankester (8) in the 9th edition of this work, the Phylum Podaxonia being there instituted to include the groups just mentioned, together with the Pterobranchia. The peduncle of the Brachiopoda was supposed to correspond with the everted ventral sac of Actinotrocha, but the question is complicated by the want of any complete investigation of the development of the Brachiopoda, and by the absence of the anus in the majority of the genera. There is, however, a considerable amount of resemblance between the lophophore of Phoronis australis, with its spirally twisted ends, and that of a typical Brachiopod; nor do the structural details of the adult Brachiopods forbid the view that they may be related to Phoronis. The comparative study of the development does not support the hypothesis that the Polyzoa (q.v.) are comparable with Phoronis. In Pedicellina, the only Polyzoon in which the alimentary canal of the larva is known to become that of the first adult individual, the line between the mouth and anus is ventral in the larva; and since there is no reversal of the curvature of the digestive loop during the metamorphosis it must be regarded as ventral in the adult. There are, indeed remarkable similarities between the external characters of the Phylactolaematous Polyzoa and the Phoronidea, and notably between their lophophores. The supposed occurrence of a pair of nephridia in certain Phylactolaemata, in a position corresponding with that of the nephridia of Phoronis, must also be mentioned, although it has been maintained that the “nephridia” of Phylactolaemata are merely ciliated portions of the body-cavity and not indeed nephridia at all. But a serious objection to the comparison is that the development of Phylactolaemata can be explained by supposing it to be a modification of what occurs in other Polyzoa, while if appears to have no relation whatever to that of Phoronis.
Most observers consider that Actinotrocha is a highly modified Trochosphere, and this would give it some claim to be regarded as distantly related to the Entoproct Polyzoa and to other groups which have a Trochosphere larva.
