and fibres, similar to that of jelly-fishes. The sense-organ of the
aboral pole is complex, and lies under a dome of fused cilia
shaped like an inverted bell-jar; it consists of an otolith, formed
of numerous calcareous spheroids, which is supported on four
plates of fused cilia termed balancers, but is otherwise free.
The ciliated ectoderm below the organ is markedly thickened, and
perhaps functionally represents a nerve-ganglion: from it eight
ciliated furrows radiate outwards, two passing under each
balancer as through an archway, and diverge each to the head
of a meridianal costa.
These ciliated furrows
stain deeply with osmic
acid, and nervous impulses
are certainly
transmitted along
them. Locomotion is
effected by strokes of
the paddles in an aboral
direction, driving the
animal mouth forwards
through the water: each
paddle or comb (Gr.
κτείς; hence Ctenophora)
consists of a
plate of fused or matted
cilia set transversely to
the costa. The myoepithelial
cells (formerly
termed neuro-muscular
cells), characteristic of
other Coelentera, are
not to be found in this
group. On the other
hand there are well-marked
muscle fibres
in definite layers, derived from special mesoblastic cells
in the embryo, which are embedded in a jelly; these in their
origin and arrangement are quite comparable to the mesoderm
of Triploblastica, and, although the muscle-cells of some
jelly-fish exhibit a somewhat similar condition, nothing so
highly specialized as the mesenchyme of Ctenophora occurs in any
other Coelenterate. The nematocysts being nearly absent from
their group, their chief function is carried out by adhesive
lasso-cells.
| |
|
Fig. 2.—Schematic drawing of a Cydippid from the aboral pole. (After Chun.) | |
| T | (centrally), Tentacular canal, and (distally) tentacle. |
| ♂, | Position of testes. |
| ♀, | Position of ovaries; other letters in fig. 1. The stomodaeum lies in the sagittal plane, the funnel and tentacles in the transverse or tentacular plane. |
The Ctenophora are classified as follows:—
| Sub-class i. Tentaculata, | Order | 1. Cydippidea, | Hormiphora. |
| ” | 2. Lobata, | Deiopea. | |
| ” | 3. Cestoidea, | Cestus. | |
| ” ii. Nuda, | ” | Beroë. |
The Tentaculata, as the name implies, may be recognized by the presence of tentacles of some sort. The Cydippidea are generally spherical or ovoid, with two long retrusible pinnate tentacles: the meridianal and paragastric canals end blindly. An example of these has already been briefly described. The Lobata are of the same general type as the first Order, except for the presence of four circumoral auricles (processes of the subtransverse costae) and of a pair of sagittal outgrowths or lobes, on to which the subsagittal costae are continued. Small accessory tentacles lie in grooves, but there is no tentacular pouch; the meridianal vessels anastomose in the lobes. In the Cestoidea the body is compressed in the transverse plane, elongated in the sagittal plane, so as to become riband-like: the subtransverse costae are greatly reduced, the subsagittal costae extend along the aboral edge of the riband. The subsagittal canals lie immediately below their costae aborally, but continuations of the subtransverse canals round down the middle of the riband, and at its end unite, not only with the subsagittal but also with the paragastric canals which run along the oral edge of the riband. The tentacular bases and pouches are present, but there is no main tentacle as in Cydippidea; fine accessory tentacles lie in four grooves along the oral edge. The sub-class Nuda have no tentacles of any kind; they are conical or ovoid, with a capacious stomodaeum like the cavity of a thimble. There is a coelenteric network formed by anastomoses of the meridianal and paragastric canals all over the body.
The embryology of Callianira has been worked out by E. Mechnikov. Segmentation is complete and unequal, producing macromeres and micromeres marked by differences in the size and in yolk-contents. The micromeres give rise to the ectoderm; each of the sixteen macromeres, after budding off a small mesoblast cell, passes on as endoderm. A gastrula is established by a mixed process of embole and epibole. The mesoblast cells travel to the aboral pole of the embryo, and there form a cross-shaped mass, the arms of which lie in the sagittal and transverse planes (perradii).
 | |
| Fig. 3.—Schematic Drawing of Cestus. (After Chun.) | |
| Subs, Subsagittal costae. Subt, Much reduced subtentacular costae. Subt, Branch of the subtentacular canal which runs along the centre of the riband. |
Pg, Continuation of the paragastric canal at right angles to its original direction along the lower edge of the riband. At the right-hand end the last two are seen to unite with the subsagittal canal. |
There can be but little question of the propriety of including Ctenophora among the Coelentera. The undivided coelenteron (gastro-vascular system) which constitutes the sole cavity of the body, the largely radial symmetry, the presence of endodermal generative organs on the coelenteric canals, the subepithelial nerve-plexus, the mesogloea-like matrix of the body—all these features indicate affinity to other Coelentera, but, as has been stated in the article under that title, the relation is by no means close. At what period the Ctenophora branched off from the line of descent, which culminated in the Hydromedusae and Scyphozoa of to-day, is not clear, but it is practically certain that they did so before the point of divergence of these two groups from one another. The peculiar sense-organ, the specialization of the cilia into paddles with the corresponding modifications of the coelenteron, the anatomy and position of the tentacles, and, above all, the character and mode of formation of the mesenchyme, separate them widely from other Coelentera.
 |
| Fig. 4.—Schematic Drawing of Beröe. (After Chun.) |
The last-named character, however, combined with the discovery of two remarkable organisms, Coeloplana and Ctenoplana, has suggested affinity to the flat-worms termed Turbellaria. Ctenoplana, the best known of these, has recently been redescribed by A. Willey (Quart. Journ. Micr. Sci. xxxix., 1896). It is flattened along the axis which unites sense-organ and mouth, so as to give it a dorsal (aboral) surface, and a ventral (oral) surface on which it frequently creeps. Its costae are very short, and retrusible; its two tentacles are pinnate and are also retrusible. Two crescentic rows of ciliated papillae lie in the transverse plane on each side of the sense-organ. The coelenteron exhibits six lobes, two of which Willey identifies with the stomodaeum of other Ctenophora; the other four give rise to a system of anastomosing canals such as are found in Beroë and Polyclad Turbellaria. An aboral vessel embraces the sense-organ, but has no external opening. Ctenoplana is obviously a Ctenophoran flattened and of a creeping habit. Coeloplana is of similar form and habit, with two Ctenophoran tentacles: it has no costae, but is uniformly ciliated. These two forms at least indicate a possible stepping-stone from Ctenophora to
