It probably serves to direct the stream of food particles entangled
in a string of mucus from the anterior part of the dorsal lamina to
Dorsal Languets.
the oesophagus. In many Ascidians this organ, instead
of being a continuous membranous fold as in A. mentula,
is represented by a series of elongated triangular
processes—the dorsal languets—one attached in the dorsal median
line opposite to each transverse vessel of the branchial sac. The
anterior peripharyngeal band is a complete circular ridge, having
no connexion with either the endostyle or the dorsal lamina. In
front of it lies the prebranchial zone, which separates the branchial
sac behind from the branchial siphon in front. The prebranchial
zone is bounded anteriorly by a muscular band—the posterior
edge of the sphincter muscle—which bears a circle of long delicate
Tentacles.
processes, the tentacles (figs. 5, 9, 10, tn). These project
inwards at right angles so as to form a network across
the entrance to the branchial sac. Each tentacle consists of
connective tissue covered with epithelium (endoderm), and contains
two or more cavities which are
continuous with blood sinuses in
Subneural Gland.
the mantle. In the
dorsal median line near
the anterior end of the
body, and embedded in the mantle
on the ventral surface of the nerve
ganglion, there lies a small glandular
mass—the subneural gland—which,
as Julin has shown (24), there is
reason to regard as the homologue
of the hypophysis cerebri of the
vertebrate brain. Julin and E. van
Beneden have suggested that the
function of this organ may possibly
be renal. The subneural gland, which
was first noticed by Hancock,
communicates anteriorly, as Ussoff (23)
pointed out, by means of a narrow
duct with the front of the branchial
sac (pharynx). The opening of the
duct is enlarged to form a funnel-shaped
cavity, which may be folded
upon itself, convoluted, or even
broken up into a number of smaller
Dorsal Tubercle.
openings, so as to form
a complicated projection,
called the dorsal
tubercle, situated in the dorsal part
of the prebranchial zone. (fig. 9).
The dorsal tubercle in A. mentula is
somewhat horseshoe-shaped (fig.
10); it varies in form in most
Ascidians according to the genus and
species, and in some cases in the
individual also. The function of the
neural gland must still be regarded
as doubtful. The secretion is formed
by the degeneration and disintegration
of cells proliferated from the
walls of the duct or its branches,
and no concretions are found. The
ciliated funnel of the dorsal tubercle
is a sense-organ, innervated by a large nerve from the ganglion;
it may be a sense-organ for testing the quality of the water entering
the bronchial sac.
| |
|
Fig. 9.—Diagrammatic section through anterior dorsal part of A. mentula, showing the relations of the nerve ganglion, subneural gland, &c. | |
| n, | Nerve. |
| n′, | Myelon. |
| pp, | Peripharyngeal band. |
| sgl, | Subneural gland. |
| sgd, | Its duct. |
| t, | Test lining branchial siphon. |
The single elongated ganglion in the median dorsal line of the mantle between the branchial and atrial siphons is the only Nervous System. nerve-centre in A. mentula and most other Tunicata. It is the degenerate remains of the anterior part of the cerebro-spinal nervous system of the tailed larval Ascidian (see below). The posterior or spinal part has entirely disappeared in most Tunicata. It persists, however, in the Appendiculariidae and traces of it are found in some Ascidians (e.g. Clavelina). The ganglion gives off distributor nerves at both ends, which run through the Sense-Organs. mantle to the neighbourhood of the apertures, where they divide and subdivide. The only sense-organs are the pigment spots between the branchial and atrial lobes, the tentacles at the base of the branchial siphon, the dorsal tubercle, and possibly the languets or dorsal lamina. These are all in a lowly developed condition. Nerve-endings have also been found in the endostyle, the peripharyngeal bands and other parts of the wall of the pharynx. The larval Ascidians, on the other hand, have well-developed intracerebral optic and otic sense-organs; and in some of the pelagic Tunicata otocysts and pigment spots or eyes are found in connexion with the ganglion. Atrial tentacles (which may also be sensory) have now been found in a number of the gregarious Cynthiidae and Polystyelidae.
The mouth and the pharynx (branchial sac) have already been Alimentary Canal. described. The remainder of the alimentary canal is a bent tube which in A. mentula and most other Ascidians lies embedded in the mantle on the left side of the body, and projects into the peribranchial cavity. The oesophagus leaves the bronchial sac in the dorsal middle line near the posterior end of the dorsal lamina (see fig. 5, œa). It is a short curved tube which leads ventrally to the large fusiform thick-walled stomach. The intestine emerges from the ventral end of the stomach, and soon turns anteriorly, then dorsally, and then posteriorly so as to form a curve—the intestinal loop—open posteriorly. The intestine now curves anteriorly again, and from this point runs nearly straight forward as the rectum, thus completing a second curve—the rectal loop—open anteriorly (see fig. 5). The wall of the intestine is thickened internally to form the typhlosole, a pad which runs along its entire length. The anus opens into the dorsal part of the peribranchial cavity near to the atrial aperture. The walls of the stomach are glandular; and a system of delicate tubules with dilated ends, which ramifies over the outer wall of the intestine and communicates with the cavity of the stomach by means of a duct, is probably a digestive gland.
|
|
Fig. 10.—Dorsal Tubercle and neighbouring organs of A. mentula.
Lettering as before. |
A mass of large clear vesicles which occupies the rectal loop, and may extend over the adjacent walls of the intestine, is a renal organ Excretory Organs. without a duct. Each vesicle is the modified remains of a part of the primitive coelom or body cavity, and is formed of cells which eliminate nitrogenous waste matters from the blood circulating in the neighbouring blood lacunae and deposit them in the cavity of the vesicle, where they form a concentrically laminated concretion of a yellowish or brown colour. These concretions contain uric acid, and in a large Ascidian are very numerous. The nitrogenous waste products are thus deposited and stored up in the renal vesicles in place of being excreted from the body. In other Ascidians the renal organ may differ from the above in its position and structure; but in no case has it an excretory duct, unless the subneural gland is to be regarded as an additional renal organ.
The heart is an elongated fusiform tube placed on the ventral and posterior, edge of the stomach, in a space (the pericardium) Blood Vascular System and Coelom. which is part of the original coelom or body cavity, the rest of which exists merely in the form of lacunae and of the cavities of the reproductive organs and renal vesicles in the adult Ascidian. The wall of the heart is formed of a layer of epithelio-muscular cells, the inner ends of which are cross-striated; and waves of contraction pass along it from end to end, first for a certain number of beats in one direction and then in the other, so as to reverse the course of circulation periodically. At each end the heart is continued into a vessel (see fig. 11), which is merely a large sinus or lacuna lined with a delicate endothelial layer. The sinus leaving the ventral end of the heart is called the branchio-cardiac vessel,[1] and the heart itself is merely the differentiated posterior part of this sinus and is therefore a ventral vessel. The branchio-cardiac vessel, after giving off a branch which, along with a corresponding branch from the cardio-visceral vessel, goes to the test, runs along the ventral edge of the branchial sac externally to the endostyle, and communicates laterally with the ventral ends of all the transverse vessels of the branchial sac. The sinus leaving the dorsal end of the heart is called the cardio-visceral vessel, and this, after giving off to the test the branch above mentioned, breaks up into a number of sinuses, which ramify over the alimentary canal and the other viscera. These visceral lacunae finally communicate with a third great sinus, the
- ↑ On account of the periodic reversal of the circulation none of the vessels can be called arteries or veins.
