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The Evolutionary Biology Papers of Elie Metchnikoff pp 92–143Cite as

Comparative Embryological Studies (1881–1885)

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Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science ((BSPS,volume 212))

Abstract

The Geryonidae seem to be particularly useful in considering the formation of endoderm in the Metazoa; the fairly large size of their embryonic cells facilitates such a study. I studied the embryonic devlopment of Carmarina hastata as early as 1870, and found that “the blastoderm divides into two layers, with a transparent gelatinous mass between them.” [1] A year later, Folle [2] studied the development of Gyryonia (Carmarina) fungiformis and observed the same division of the blastula into two embryonic layers. Our data, however, was disputed by Kovalevsky in 1873, [3] who considered that the blastodem in Carmarina hastata becomes invaginated; this invagination, according to him, subsequently leads to the formation of endoderm. Kovalevsky observed the same division of blastoderm cells but interpreted it differently from Folle and myself. The following quotation is from Kovalevsky’s Russian text:

Cell division is very rapid and results in the forrmation of a one-layered blastoderm consisting of fairly elongated cylindrical, or more correctly truncated-pyramidal, cells surrounding a small cleavage cavity.2 The nuclei are located at the outer ends of the cells, while the inner parts are filled with transparent gelatinous matter. The separation of the outer and inner parts is soon observed; the former is transformed into surface epithelium, while the inner parts fuse with each other to form an almost completely homogeneous, gelatinous mass, which fills up the cleavage cavity to form a gelatinous mass in the young larva; a small invagination in the surface cells at one end of the embryo becomes the larval stomach; the ventral side of the outer layer, close to the mouth, thickens, and small rudiments of nodulose tentacles develop, and the formation of the umbrellar cavity begins.

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References

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  95. On this occasion I would like to turn attention of my colleagues to the fact that a sea fauna in Tangere is quite poor by all means; during my 10-week stay there (from Decenber 1884 to February 1885 ) I caught from pelagic animals only one Beroe, several Pelagia, one completely degenerated kornerot and several Craspedota and Euphausia; as for a coastal fauna which can be studied only in time of extremely low tides it is quite poor too. As one more complication I have to mention an absence of experienced and reliable fishermen who could supply specimens difficult to obtain by researchers themselves.

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  98. I have to mention in passing that the part played by these structures in the formation of the walls of the body cavity was not outlined by Al. Agassiz, as the Hertwig brothers claimed (Coelomtheorie,S. 127). This renowned American scientist mistook the described embryonic sacs for the water-vascular system, while I found, in 1868, that they form the walls of the cavity; in the same year, I argued for their morphological parallel with the gastrovascular apparatus (Bulletin de l’Acad. de St.Petersbourgh, 1968, XII, pp. 285, 298). I showed my preparations to my old friend A.Kovalevsky, with whom I was staying at that time in Messina, and he soon managed to extend this discovery to Sagitta. Since the Hertwig brothers’ mistake was adopted in other works (e.g. in Wadeyer’s paper in Deutsche med. Wochenschr.,N. 18, 1883), I have to draw attention to it.

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  102. Usually stages of development are marked according to the time passed from the moment of their artificial fertilization. In the meantime, the latter depends more on external consditions. Thus, for instance, creation of wandering cells in Strong. lividus in December, when temperature in my Tanger’s laboratory (located in an attic) in December was often about 40, occured only thirty hours after fertilization, while in Villefranca in April, the same result was achieved in the same species in just fourteen hours.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Belorussian University, Belarus

    Helena Gourko

  2. Liverpool University, UK

    Donald I. Williamson

  3. Boston University, USA

    Alfred I. Tauber

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  1. Helena Gourko
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Belorussian University, Belarus

    Helena Gourko

  2. Liverpool University, UK

    Donald I. Williamson

  3. Boston University, USA

    Helena Gourko  & Alfred I. Tauber  & 

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Gourko, H., Williamson, D.I., Tauber, A.I. (2000). Comparative Embryological Studies (1881–1885). In: Gourko, H., Williamson, D.I., Tauber, A.I. (eds) The Evolutionary Biology Papers of Elie Metchnikoff. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 212. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9381-6_6

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