AUTHORS ABSTRACT OF THIS PAPER ISSUED BY 

 THE BIBLIOGRAPHIC SERVICE NOVEMBER 3. 



THE ACTIVITIES OF CORYMORPHA 1 



G. H. PARKER 

 1. INTRODUCTION 



In a series of papers published in the last few years I have 

 endeavored to outline the activities of anthozoan polyps and 

 to show the relation of such activities to the organization of 

 these animals. The result has been a much more complex 

 picture of the interplay of structure and function than was 

 anticipated and a growing conviction that these polyps, con- 

 trary to the opinion of some of the most recent workers, must 

 be admitted to contain the germ at least of much of the neuro- 

 muscular complexity of the higher animals. 



Previous to my work on anthozoans I had made some study 

 of the activities of sponges and had found in these forms a reac- 

 tion system of relative simplicity. It, therefore, seemed de- 

 sirable to study the activities of some intermediate type with 

 the view of bridging over, if possible, the considerable gap be- 

 tween the relatively simple sponges and the much more com- 

 plex anthozoans. The animals to which one would naturally 

 turn in such a quest are the hydrozoan polyps. In most in- 

 stances, however, these are of very small size and hence un- 

 favorable for experimental work. I, therefore, sought out the 

 largest species of hydrozoan polyp that is easily available and 

 undertook work on it. This proved to be Corymorpha palma 

 Torrey. 



This species is from southern California. The material with 

 which I worked came from the mud flats of False Bay, near 

 La Jolla. As the work of Child and especially of Torrey has 

 shown, Corymorpha is an extremely favorable animal for labora- 

 tory study, for it thrives well in an aquarium and its unusual 

 size makes it reasonably satisfactory for experimental purposes. 



Contributions from the Zoological Laboratory of the Museum of Compara- 

 tive Zoology at Harvard College. No. 300. 



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