594 



COMPARATIVE ANATOMY 



The region of the body lying behind this occupies in both a large part of the dorsal 

 posterior side of the body ; in it lies the anus. 



2. Whereas, in Tornaria, in the postoral area of the bodj', a large ciliated 

 ring bounds an anal area, such a ring is wanting in Bijnnnaria. 



3. The apical plate with the two eyes and the tuft, which is so sharjily marked 

 in Tornaria, is wanting in the developed Bi2nnnaria. Too great a significance 

 must not now, however, be attributed to this fact, since something like a neural 

 plate (an ectodermal thickening with long cilia) has been observed in the quite 

 young larvffi of Asteroids and Eddnoids, and a neural plate with a layer of nerve 

 fibres, ganglion cells, and ciliated tuft, although without eyes, has been demon- 

 strated in the apical region of the Antedon larva. 



4. The intestine of Tornaria shows the same divisions as are found in that 

 of the Echinoderm larvaj, viz. : cesophagus, stomach -intestine, and hind -gut. 

 Whether, however, these three sections correspond with one another in the two 



B 



or - 



m 



Pig. 46S.— a, B, C, Auricularia, Bipinnaria, and Tornaria (Enteropneustan larva), from the 

 right side, diagrammatic. 1, Preoral area ; l', rual area ; 3, postoral area ; 4, anal area ; I, preoral ; 

 II, circiimoral ; III, anal or principal ciliated ring ; 5, neural plate ; os, mouth ; oh, anus. 



groups must remain uncertain so long as the origin of the oesophagus and hind- 

 gut is not definitely ascertained. In this matter the Echinoderms are in the same 

 position as the Enteropneusta. 



The cesophagus, in the Echinoderms, is sometimes described as an ectodermal 

 stomodffium, sometimes as a section of the archenteron. The latter, according to 

 the most recent investigations, is the case, e.g., in the Holothurioidea, and the 

 former in Antedon and others. In this case the cesophagus, even within the 

 Echinodermata, is not an homologous structure ! In the case of the Enteropneusta, 

 in the interest of other views, doubt has been thrown upon the statement that the 

 larval cesophagus is a part of the archenteron. 



The hind-gut in the Echinodermata is, by all authorities, considered to be 

 endodermal. The same was aflirmed of the hind-gut of the Enteropneusta, but 

 this has recently been strongly doubted. 



5, The condition of the ccelom in the two larval forms would show great agree- 

 ment if two pairs of coelomic sacs can really be attributed typically to the Echino- 

 derm larva, a point which recent research makes more and more probable, and if 

 also the endodermal origin of the coelomic vesicles of the Enteropneusta could be 

 proved. 



It would then be evident that the two anterior coelomic sacs of the Echinoderm 

 larviB (the left of which is the hydrocoel) correspond with the two ccelomic sacs of 



