Abstract
DESPITE the contributions of Lorleberg1, Hilton2, Hecht3, Cate4, Bacq6, and Das6, the picture of tunicate nervous relations is still incomplete. Although the central nervous system consists of only one compact intersiphonal ganglion and the peripheral system of a few nerves emanating from the former, the extreme sensitivity of monascidians to touch, vibrations, etc., is astounding. A person walking about in a room where expanded Ciona, Ascidiella, or Styelopsis are lying in a jar on a table is enough to make some of the ascidians contract. Lorleberg1 stated that Styelopsis had free nerve terminations, whereas Das6 found in Herdmania an extensive nerve supply, not only to the organs lying inside the mantle, but also to receptor cells of the test as well. I have now found these nerve fibres, ramifying into the mantle, the test, and ending in the receptor organs, in Ciona, Ascidiella as well as Styelopsis. Free nerve terminations have been found in Styelopsis and Ascidiella and probably occur in all Tunicata.
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References
Lorleberg, Z. wiss. Zool., 88, 212 (1907)
Hilton, Zool. Jahrb. Anat. Abt., 37, 113 (1913)
Hecht, J. Exp. Zool. Philadelphia, 25, 229 (1918)
Cate, Arch. Meerlaud Sc. La Haye, 13, 45 (1928)
Bacq, Bull. Acad. Belgique, Cl. Sci., (5) 20, 11 (1934)
Das, J. Morph. Philadelphia, 59, 589 (1936)
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DAS, S. Nervous Mechanism in Tunicata. Nature 162, 963 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/162963a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/162963a0
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