EMBRYOLOGY. 



Fig. 46. Egg of Triton, which is 

 developing into a gastrula, seen 

 from the surface. 



u, Primitive mouth (blastopore). 



constitutes the thinner roof, the latter the highly thickened floor, of 



the excentrically placed cleavage-cavity. 



When the gastrula begins to be developed, the invagination 



takes place 011 one side in the marginal zone (fig. 46 u\ and is 



distinguishable externally by means of 

 a sharp, afterwards horseshoe-shaped 

 furrow, which is bounded on one side 

 by small cells, which in the case of 

 the Frog contain black pigment, on 

 the other side by large unpigmented 

 elements. At the fissure-like blasto- 

 pore there are infolded into the interior 

 of the blastula (fig. 47 u} along its 

 dorsal lip (ell] small cells, along its 

 ventral lip (vl) the large deutoplasmic 

 elements of the vegetative half ; the 



former constitute the roof, the latter the floor, of the coelenteroii (ud). 



The latter appears in the first stages of the invagination simply as 



a narrow fissure alongside the capacious cleavage-cavity (fh) ; soon, 



however, it causes a com- 

 plete obliteration of this 



cavity, the fundus of the 

 becoming 

 a broad 



sac, while the entrance 



always remains narrow 



and fissure-like. Since 



the cceleiiteron of the 



Amphibia was first ob- 

 served by the Italian 



investigator, KUSCONI, it 



is ordinarily mentioned 



in the older writings as 



KUSCONI'S digestive 



cavity, and the blasto- 

 pore likewise as the 



lluscoNiAN anus. 



At the close of the process of invagination the whole yolk-mass, or 



the vegetative half of the blastula, has been taken into the interior 

 to form the lining of the ccelenteron, being at the same time over- 

 grown by a layer of small cells (fig. 48). In the case of the Frog the 



invagination 

 enlarged into 



ak 



ilc 



Fig. 47. Longitudinal [sagittal] section through an egg 

 of Triton at the beginning of gastrulation. 



ak, Outer germ-layer ; Ik, inner germ-layer ; fh, cleavage- 

 cavity ; iid, ccelenteron ; u, blastopore; ilz, yolk- 

 cells ; dl and 'd, dorsal and ventral lips of the 

 ccelenteron. 



