VII 



MOL L USOA MUSCULATURE 



121 



1. Prosobranehia. 



The columellar muscle is here always developed in its typical form. 

 It is attached at one end to the columella in the last coil of the shell, 

 and at the other to the operculum, which lies on the dorsal side of the 

 metapodium. 



A few Prosobranehia, such as most Fissurellidce, Haliotidce, and Docoglossa, use 

 their foot chiefly as a sucker for 

 attaching themselves to some firm 

 surface. These forms have no 

 operculum. The columellarmuscle 

 descends vertically into the foot, 

 and by its contraction presses the 

 shell against the surface to which 

 it is attached. In Haliotis (Fig. 

 105), the ear-shaped shell of which 

 is coiled, this muscle is cylindrical 

 and is very highly developed ; it 

 runs somewhat to the right of the 

 median plane, at right angles to 

 the pedal disc, thereby pushing the 

 mantle cavity and the viscera to 

 the left. In many Fissurellidce 

 and the Docoglossa, the shell has 

 become cup - shaped and sym- 

 metrical ; the columellar muscle, 

 which is very much shortened, 

 descends direct from the inner 

 surface of the shell to the foot, 

 and is no longer cylindrical. The 

 whole muscle has the form of a 

 short truncated hollow cone, open 

 anteriorly, which is attached to 

 the shell by its upper horseshoe- FlG - 105. -Haliotis, from above, after removal of the 

 , . i ,. j i. shell, the mantle, and the entire dorsal integument (after 



shaped sectional surface, and, by Wegmann) . f)Snou t; sand p, salivary glands ; ft , lateral 

 its base of the same shape, to the pockets of the oesophagus ; i, mid-gut ; a, oesophagus ; r, 

 sucker-like foot. The viscera are rectum ; e, stomach with caecum (c) ; h, digestive gland 

 contained in its hollow axis (Fig. ( liver >' its right-hand portion which lies next the large 

 106). The same arrangement 

 occurs in all cases where the shell 

 is flatly conical, cup- or plate-shaped, as in the Hipponycidce and the Capulidce 

 among the Monotocardia. 



Heteropoda. In this order, in which the atrophy of the shell, the transformation 

 of the foot, and the gradual obliteration of all resemblance to a Gastropod can be 

 traced, step by step, the musculature deserves special attention. 



In Atlanta, where the head and foot can still be completely withdrawn into the 

 shell, the columellar muscle retains its typical form. It descends from the shell, 

 dividing into three strands ; the strongest median strand stretches out into the fin and 

 the sucker, the posterior into the operculum-bearing metapodium, and the anterior, 

 which is the smallest, into the head and snout. 



columellar muscle (m) is covered by the genital gland. 

 A fringed epipodium encircles the body. 



