POSITION OF THE ASC1DIANS. 



387 



While all Tunicates, except Appendicularia, are more or 

 less degenerate, losing their vertebrate characters, in Appen- 

 dicularia these are retained. The heart is situated ventrally, 

 occupying nearly the same relation as in Fig. 386 1 . Accord- 

 ing to Glaus, "the elongated cerebral ganglion is divided 

 by constrictions into three parts; it is connected with a cili- 

 ated pit and an otolithic vesicle, and is prolonged into a 

 nerve-cord of considerable size. The latter is continued 

 into the tail, at the base of which it swells out into a gan- 

 glion; in its further course it forms several small ganglia, 



Fig. 386 1 . Diagram of embryo Lamprey. 



tic be & rn. 



Fig. 386 2 . Diagram of larval Ascidian. Lettering: as in Fig. 386'. m, mouth; i, 



digestive tract ; sp, spiracles in the pliaryngeal portion ; M.heart; e, eye; er, ear; 

 br, brain; nc, nervous cord; 6', b", mid-brain; cl, cerebellum; spn, spinal nerves; 

 n, notocord; ol, nasal cavity; s, suckers (their homologues also occur in young 

 garpikes and tadpoles). 



whence lateral nerves pass out. In consequence of a torsion 

 of the axis of the tail, the originally dorsally-placed caudal 

 nerve comes to have a lateral position. The segmentation 

 of the nerve-cord in the tail (as shown by the ganglionic 

 swellings) corresponds to the segrnental divisions of the 

 muscles, Avhich recall the myotomes of Amphioxus. The 

 large chorda (urochord), which extends along the whole 

 length of the tail, constitutes another point of resemblance 

 to Amphioxus." * 



* Also see the treatises of Kowalevsky, Kupffer, Batesou, etc. 



