Abstract
A recent review of the hydrostatic skeleton in invertebrates by Chapman1 includes the following sentence about Arenicola : “Wells (1954) has shown that the three anterior septa are connected with the retention of the proboscis against the normal resting or tonus pressure maintained by the body-wall in the cœlom, which would otherwise be sufficient to cause protrusion of the proboscis”. This is untrue ; I did not show, or claim to show, what he ascribes to me. The paper to which he refers2 contains an analysis of the working of the very intricate proboscis mechanism. The first of the three anterior septa is differentiated into several parts and actively assists both the extrusion and the withdrawal of the proboscis, the details varying somewhat with the species ; the extent of its responsibility for keeping the resting proboscis in position is unknown. Neither of the other two anterior septa has anything to do with the movements or position of the proboscis.
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References
Chapman, G., Biol. Rev., 33, 338 (1958).
Wells, G. P., Quart. J. Micr. Sci., 95, 251 (1954).
Ashworth, J. H., Liverpool Marine Biology Committee Memoirs, xi (London, 1904). Wells, G. P., J. Mar. Biol. Assoc., 29, 1 (1950).
Guberlet, J. E., Proc. Fifth Pacific Sci. Congr., 5, 4213 (1934). Just, B., Z. vergl. Physiol., 2, 155 (1924). MacGinitie, G. E., and MacGinitie, N., “Natural History of Marine Animals” (New York, 1949). Wells, G. P., Symp. Soc. Exp. Biol., No. 4, 127 (1950). Werner, B., Helgol. wiss. Meeresunters., 5, 343 (1956).
Lillie, R. S., Mitt. zool. Sta. Neapel, 17, 341 (1905). Wells, G. P., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 114, 100 (1944).
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WELLS, G. Movements of Lugworms. Nature 182, 1107 (1958). https://doi.org/10.1038/1821107a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1821107a0
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