Preserved earthworms, the larger the better.
Observations.
- In what respects are the dorsal and ventral surfaces
alike? In what respects different? Why?
- Why are the right and left sides alike?
- In what respects are the two ends alike? In what
different? Why?
- How many somites are there from the anterior end to
the girdle? How many under the girdle? How many
from the girdle to the posterior end?
- Where are the setæ located in a somite? How are
they distributed over the body?
Suggested drawings.
- An earthworm, dorsal aspect.
- An earthworm, ventral aspect.
- An outline diagram of a cross section, to show the location
of the setæ, the blood vessels and the alimentary
canal.
Internal Morphology or Anatomy
Materials.
(1) Preserved earthworms, as large as you can obtain.
(2) Cross sections of earthworms. (3) Longitudinal sections
of earthworms.
Definitions.
- Body cavity,
- the space between the body wall and the
alimentary canal.
- Septa (singular, septum),
- the thin walls between somites,
seen when the worm is opened.
- Pharynx,
- the hard-walled, rather bulbous, anterior portion
of the alimentary canal.
- Esophagus,
- the portion of the alimentary canal extending
back from the pharynx with thinner walls and smaller
diameter.
- Crop,
- the short, wide portion of the canal back of the
esophagus.
- Gizzard,
- the hard-walled, short region, just back of the
crop.
- Stomach-intestine,
- the portion of the canal reaching from
the gizzard to the anus.
- Ventral nerve cord,
- a light-colored thread lying against
the inner surface of the ventral body wall.
- Nerve ganglia (singular, ganglion),
- slight swellings on
the ventral nerve cord.
- Nerve ring or collar,
- a pair of nerves extending from the
ventral nerve cord around the pharynx to a pair of ganglia
(often called the "brain") in the dorsal region of the
anterior end.
- Kidney tubes or nephridia,
- the excretory organs of the
earthworm, occurring as slender, paired tubes in nearly
every somite.
Directions.
Select a large worm and cut carefully through the body
wall along one side, midway between the dorsal and ventral
surfaces, from the anterior end to the posterior. Lay the
worm on any convenient fairly soft surface (a piece of
pine, cork, peat, paraffin), preferably under water, and pin
out the walls so that you can see into the interior.
Identify the structures defined above, as well as the
dorsal and ventral blood vessels and the "hearts."
The nephridia are not easily distinguished, though they
are very numerous. They are long, slender, coiled tubes,
two in each somite, lying in the body cavity, one on each
side of the alimentary canal. If possible, identify them.
Notice that most of the internal organs are free from
the body wall, lying free in the body cavity.
Questions.
- What is the extent of the body cavity, anteriorly and
posteriorly? What is its shape?
- What, in general, is the shape of the food canal?
How many external openings has it?
- Into what regions is the food canal differentiated?
Suggest one advantage of having these specialized regions.
- How is the alimentary canal of the worm kept away
from the body walls? Why have it thus supported?
- What is a septum? How many septa are there?
What vessels and tubes pass through a septum?
- Locate the nerve cord. How long is it? How frequently
do the ganglia occur on it? Which end of the
living worm is the more sensitive. Suggest the connection
between this fact and the location of ganglia.
Suggested drawings.
- Earthworm, showing structures mentioned in this
study.
Details of Structure—Microscopic Anatomy
Materials.
Sections of earthworms, preferably both cross sections
and dorso-ventral, longitudinal ones.
Directions.
In a section under a simple lens, identify the dorsal
and ventral surfaces, the body wall, the body cavity, the
alimentary canal, and, if possible, the dorsal and ventral
blood vessels and the ventral nerve cord.
Under a microscope identify the same structures.
Notice that the body wall consists of three layers of cells:
an outer single layer, the epidermis; a middle layer, the
circular muscles; and an inner one, the longitudinal
muscles.
The nephridia show as loosely scattered fragments in
the body cavity, at the right and left of the alimentary
canal.
If you happen to have a section which shows one or
more setæ, identify the muscles which operate it, and the
group of glandular cells at its inner end, which are known
as setigerous (from seta) cells.
Questions.
- Describe the epidermal cells. What is their probable
function? Among them notice larger cells, clear and
rounded. These are the mucous (slime) cells.
What is the use of mucus to the worm?
- Describe the muscle cells. In which direction do the
muscle fibers extend? What is their function? Which
layer of muscle cells is thicker, the circular or the longitudinal?
Why should it be?
- Notice the cells in the walls of the alimentary canal.
What layers do you find? How are they arranged?
- If the section you are studying is a cross section from
the region back of the gizzard, the alimentary canal will
look horseshoe shaped, indented from the dorsal surface.
What is the effect of this indentation upon the amount of
surface in the alimentary canal?
- Study the cells of the nerve cord. How do they
compare in size and shape with the muscle cells?
Suggested drawings.
- A diagram of a cross section, showing the relation of
the organs.
- A diagram of a longitudinal section, at least
through the body wall, to show the arrangement of muscle
fibers.
- A drawing of a portion of the body wall, to show
details.
Summary of Important Points in Study of the Earthworm
- Compared with a hydra, how many cells has an earthworm?
- Compared with a hydra, how much are the cells of an
earthworm differentiated?
- How are these differentiated cells usually arranged
with respect to one another? What advantage is there in
this arrangement?
- Recall the kinds of work done by paramecium,
sponge, hydra, and worm, and at the same time consider
also the efficiency of each. Can earthworms do any more
kinds of work than any of the others? Can they do any
more work? Can they do any of it better? Give the
probable reasons for this?
Comparative Study of Worms
Materials.
As many different kinds of worms as you can get, living
or dead.
Directions.
Identify your specimens. Then study as many as your
time will allow, using these general questions for each:—
Questions.
- How large is the specimen and what is its shape?
- Can you distinguish a head or a head end? If so,
by what peculiarities?
- State whether the body is segmented or not, and, if it
is, whether the segments are alike in form and appearance,
i.e. whether the segments are uniform.
- State whether the animal is bilaterally symmetrical,
radially symmetrical, or without symmetry.
- Compare this worm with the earthworm as to sense
organs.
- What organs for respiration has it?
- What special protective devices has it?
- If possible, find out and state where this worm lives.
What can you see in the structure of this worm which
enables it to live where it does?
Summary of the Comparative Study of Worms
- Name the different worms you have studied. What
characteristics have they in common?
- What different methods of obtaining food do they
show?
- What variations do they show in senses? in sense
organs?
- Which one seems to you best adapted to its habitat?
In what ways?
Suggested drawings.
- One drawing of each worm studied.
Review and Library Work on Worms
- What are the distinguishing characteristics of
worms?
- Give the classes of worms, and the authority for this
classification.
- What kind of soil do earthworms seem to prefer?
Why should they? How do they form their burrows?
What are the castings around the mouth of a burrow?
How are they placed there?
- In what ways do earthworms benefit the soil? How
great is their effect estimated to be?
- Give a brief sketch of the life of Charles Darwin,
noting especially the work he did with earthworms.
Why is Darwin's work on earthworms noteworthy: because it is
such a large proportion of the work he did, or because it is so much of
the work which has been done on earthworms?
- How are earthworms protected against the cold of
our winters? What limits the northern range of earthworms?
- Where are earthworms found geographically? Why
are they so widely distributed? By what means are they
extended from one locality to another?
- How do earthworms reproduce? What care do
they take of their young?
- What tissues or organs of earthworms correspond in
function with the ectoderm of hydra; with the endoderm?
Why does an earthworm need a system of blood
circulation more than a hydra does?
- Contrast the number of openings in an earthworm's
alimentary canal with the number in a hydra's digestive
cavity. Which plan seems a better one? In what
respects?
-
Contrast a cross section of hydra with one of earthworm
as to the number of cavities. Which seems to you
the better plan? Why?
- Why does a nereis need more respiratory surface
than an earthworm does?
- Comparing earthworm and nereis, in what respects
is the earthworm degenerate? How does it manage to
succeed so well with such a degenerate body?
- What is a parasite? How many hosts does a
typical parasite require for its development? Which
host is known as the intermediate one?
- Trace the history of a tapeworm from the egg to
the adult. At what stage are they most likely to be
destroyed? What provision is there for this? What
advantages are there to the host in the fact that a tapeworm's
egg cannot develop in the original host? What
advantages to the parasite?
- What organs has a parasite lost, if it ever had
them? How does it succeed without them? What connection
is there between parasitism and degeneration?
Can you decide which is cause and which is effect? If so,
which is?
- Why do worms so easily become parasitic? What
advantages are there in becoming a parasite? What
disadvantages?
- What is radial symmetry? Name two animals
which show it. What is bilateral symmetry? Name two
animals which show it. What is the relation between
locomotion and symmetry?
- What is meant in biology by the term "regeneration?"
To what extent have we this power? To what
extent have hydra and earthworm? What are the results
of this power?
-
Name various methods of locomotion among worms.
Give examples. Name a fixed or sedentary worm.
- What is the economic importance of worms? Consider
here not only earthworms and tapeworms, but also
the stomach worms of sheep, liver flukes, trichinæ, hookworms,
vinegar eels, and as many others as you have
time and books to look up.
5. THE CONNECTION BETWEEN STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION
A Review of the Work done on the First Four Groups of
Animals
Review all your studies on the protozoa, sponges,
cœlenterates, and worms. Write the results in the following
summary:—
- What work, i.e. labor, must an animal do to live?
- How many cells are necessary to do this work?
- When this work is divided among a number of cells,
what is the effect upon the quantity and quality of work
accomplished?
- When this work is divided among a number of cells,
how does the structure of the cells show it? How does
the arrangement of the cells also show it? Give examples.
- The technical expression for this specialization of
cells, giving them different functions, is "division of
labor." Formulate a clear definition for this expression,
giving an example to illustrate it.
- Is division of labor a good thing for an animal body,
or is it not? Give reasons for your opinion, with examples
for illustration.
CHAPTER IV
ADAPTATION TO SURROUNDINGS
A Study of Crustacea
To Show the General Adaptation of an Invertebrate to its
Surroundings
1. A STUDY OF CRAYFISHES
Materials.
Crayfishes, living and preserved. Some of the living
crayfishes should be established in conditions as natural
as possible i.e. in an inch or so of fresh water, with rocks,
weeds, etc., and left undisturbed. Small crayfishes are
desirable to show locomotion in water.
Living Crayfishes
Directions and observations.
- Observe living crayfishes in their usual habitat or
in a large aquarium, without disturbing them, and see
where they stay when they are free to choose. Notice
their position. What senses are on guard? What is
the color of the head and claws? How may this color
aid the animal in getting food or in escaping enemies?
Why is the color of the posterior region less important
than the color of the anterior?
- Offer them bits of meat. If one takes food, notice
the appendages it uses. How does it discover the food?
With what appendages does it grasp the food? How is
the food conveyed to the mouth? With what senses, if
any, does the animal test the food as it eats it?
- If the crayfishes are in plenty of water and you
startle them in any way, some of them may swim. Watch
for such an occurrence and notice it carefully. How is
swimming accomplished? Which end leads in swimming?
How far does the animal swim at a stroke? How long
does it continue to swim? Where does it go? Does it
see where it is going? For what purpose would this
method of locomotion be useful?
- Place a living crayfish in a tray with water to cover
it, and take it to your table. Watch the crayfish as it
walks about in the water, then take it out and let it walk
out of water. Compare the two processes. What causes
the differences?
- How many appendages are used in walking? What
order, if any, is there in moving the legs? Which method,
walking or swimming, does it use in going to some particular
spot, e.g. in going to find food or cover? Why?
- Gently turn the animal on its back and watch the
movements of its appendages as it rights itself. Which
appendages does it use and how does it use them? How
can it manage to use so many appendages in harmony,
for one result?
- For what different purposes have you seen the crayfishes
use their large claws? For which does the claw
seem best fitted? Can you think of any change which
would make it more efficient for its main purpose? If
so, describe the change and tell how it would work.
- Test the distribution of the sense of feeling. Is it
anywhere especially acute? If so, where? Why have
two pairs of feelers? Where is each pair carried when
the animal is at rest; when it is in motion? How much
territory can the two pairs guard?
- Touch the eyes. Compare their sensitiveness with
that of your own eyes. What movements can the eyes
perform? How are they protected? What range of territory
can they guard?
- What other senses, if any, do you think a crayfish
has? Why do you think so?
- Early in the spring crayfishes may be found carrying
eggs or young. If such a specimen is at hand, notice
where and how the eggs or young are attached. How
many are there? How are they cared for? Can the
young crayfish let go? If removed, can they attach themselves
again? How much care does the mother give
them when they are removed?
Morphology of a Crayfish
Definitions.
- Cephalo-thorax,
- the anterior half of the body, divided into
the head and the thorax.
- Cervical groove,
- the groove dividing the head from the
thorax.
- Abdomen,
- the posterior half of the body, consisting of a
number of somites.
Note.—The central part of the tail fin is usually included as a
somite.
- Carapace,
- the continuous shell-like portion of the exoskeleton
covering the cephalo-thorax.
- Rostrum,
- the sharp projection of the carapace at the
anterior end.
- Gill chamber,
- a pocket on each side of the thorax, covered
by a flap of the carapace.
-
Appendages,
- paired structures attached to the body.
They are named as follows:—
- Eyestalks.
- (These are not classed as appendages
by all students.)
- Antennules,
- the small feelers.
- Antennæ,
- the large feelers.
- Mandibles,
- the jaws, one on each side of the mouth.
- Maxillæ,
- the two pairs of small mouth parts just
back of the mandibles.
- Maxillipeds,
- the three pairs of appendages between
the maxillæ and the large claws.
- Chelipeds,
- the large claws or pinchers.
- Walking legs,
- the four pairs of appendages back of
the chelipeds.
- Swimmerets,
- the appendages on the abdomen.
- Openings,
- five on the ventral surface, as follows:—
- The openings from the excretory organs, through
small white cones on the bases of the antennæ.
- The mouth, farther back, between the maxillipeds.
- The anal opening, in the last segment of the abdomen.
- The opening from the reproductive gland, toward
the posterior part of the thorax.
Observations.
- How large is your specimen? How does it compare
in size with other crayfishes in the laboratory?
- Describe the shape of the body, contrasting the anterior
end with the posterior, and the dorsal surface with the
ventral.
- Study the amount of motion permitted in different
parts of the body. What prevents motion? What permits
it? Where is the body most flexible? Why?
Where is it most rigid? Why?
- How much of the surface is covered with exoskeleton?
What arrangement is there to permit the animal to
feel contact?
How can the animal grow with such an exoskeleton?
- Place a dead crayfish in dilute acid for a few hours.
What is the result? What has the acid done? Explain
the fact that crayfishes are often found alive and well with
a soft shell?
- Compare the cephalo-thorax with the abdomen as to
size, shape, and flexibility.
- How many somites are there in the abdomen?
Which way does it bend? Study the somite shells on
every side and then state what there is in their construction
which determines the direction and amount of their
motion. How are the somite shells arranged to protect
the body during bending? How is the ventral surface of
the abdomen protected?
- Where are the appendages attached? Study a walking
leg and describe its general construction, the number
and kind of joints, the direction of motion in each joint,
and the range of motion for the whole leg. Study an
antenna in the same way. What methods are used in the
crayfish to secure a wide range of motion? To secure
flexibility?
- Carefully split a crayfish into right and left halves.
To do this, first cut through the ventral exoskeleton from
end to end with scissors, then with a sharp knife or razor
cut through to the dorsal exoskeleton and cut that with the
scissors. Study one half, to get a better idea of the
attachment of the appendages. These may then be removed
and placed in order on a piece of paper upon which
a list of the appendages has been written.
- How many pairs of appendages are there? How
may they be grouped according to location; how grouped
according to function? How many pairs are there in each
group?
- What similarities of structure do you find in nearly
all of the appendages? Assuming a swimmeret of the
third, fourth, or fifth somite to be the least changed from
the primitive type, what changes were necessary to make
the sixth swimmeret; the third maxilliped; the walking
legs; the antennæ; the antennules?
- Remove the part of the carapace which covers a
gill chamber. What are the boundaries of the chamber?
Where does it open to the water?
- Describe the appearance and the texture of a gill.
How are the gills kept moist when the crayfish is in
water; when it is on land? Why should they be kept
moist?
- Would you class the gills as external structures or
as internal? Why do you think so? To what are they
attached? How are the gills affected by the motion of
the legs?
- What work goes on in the gills? How is the supply of oxygen
renewed? In this connection, try a live crayfish, kept quiet in water
just about deep enough to cover it. Float bits of paper near it or
carefully place a drop of ink in the water near it. By some such method
currents of water may usually be shown, and their direction determined.
Consider also the habitual motions of mouth parts and swimmerets, the
bubbles sometimes seen when a crayfish is dropped into water and the
habit crayfishes have of lying on one side, close to the surface of the
water.
Summary of the Study of Crayfishes
To summarize your study, write a connected account of
the relations of crayfishes to their environments, under
the following topics:—
- What are the varying conditions in their surroundings
which crayfishes must meet? Which are most important?
- What conditions must be maintained in order that
crayfishes may succeed, i.e. may live and reproduce?
- How does a crayfish know what are the conditions
around it?
- How is it fitted to meet these conditions? (Answer
in the following details):—
- How wide a food range has it, i.e. how many kinds
of food does it eat? How does it find its food? How
does it reach it? How does it take its food? How does
it make food small enough to be eaten?
- What are the organs for taking in oxygen? Where
are they? How are they attached? How is the supply
of oxygen kept up? How are the organs kept from drying,
from clogging, and from mechanical injury?
- What ranges of temperature can crayfishes endure?
What temperature is best? How do they avoid fatal extremes?
- What are the enemies of crayfishes? What protection
against these have they?
- How often do crayfishes reproduce? About how
many times during a normal lifetime? About how many
eggs are there and how many of them hatch? What care
is given to the eggs and to the young? About how many
of the young reach maturity? (Suggestion. Do the crayfishes
of a region vary noticeably in numbers from year to
year?)
-
What limits the range of crayfishes, north and south?
What limits it on land? What in water?
- When the crayfishes of a given locality are not well
adapted to it, what can they do?
Suggested drawings.
- The whole animal, dorsal surface, preferably without
appendages.
- One of each pair of appendages, except where they
duplicate.
- The tail-fin. Label the sixth swimmerets, the sixth
and seventh somites.
- The gill chamber, with gills in position. Show circulation
of water by arrows.
- A gill, to show construction.
2. COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CRUSTACEA
Materials.
Get together all the different specimens of crustacea you
can collect, and identify the material. Then study each
specimen as follows:—
Questions.
- Briefly describe the exoskeleton, if there is one.
- What region or regions are clearly segmented?
- How much of the body is covered by a carapace?
- Has it segmented appendages? Classify the appendages
as to their use.
- Are the cephalo-thorax and abdomen equally developed?
If not, which is more developed?
- How many antennæ has it? Are the eyes stalked,
or are they sessile?
- What organs of respiration has it? Where are they
attached?
-
How many thoracic appendages has it, if any?
- What methods of locomotion does it use?
Summary.
- Does this animal seem to be adapted to life on land
or in water, or both? Give your reasons for your opinion.
- What characteristics are common to all the crustacea
you have studied?
3. REVIEW AND LIBRARY WORK ON CRUSTACEA
- What are arthropods?
- Give the classes of arthropods with an example of
each.
- What are the distinguishing characteristics of the
class crustacea?
- In what respects are most of the appendages of the
crayfish homologous, i.e. alike in the plan of structure?
Which do you consider the simplest, and why do you?
Which do you consider the most specialized, and why?
- Which somite of the crayfish is without appendages?
How many somites are there in a crayfish's body, if each
somite bears only one pair of appendages, as many scientists
believe? How many of these are in the head; thorax;
abdomen?
- Compare the nervous system of the crayfish with that
of the earthworm as regards efficiency. Upon what do you
base your answer?
- Name two points in which earthworms and crayfishes
are alike. Name three in which they differ.
- How are crayfishes caught for market? Where do
those sold in Chicago usually come from? How are they
shipped?
- Compare the young forms of a crayfish and a crab.
-
Describe any five different crustacea.
- Describe the work done by the United States government
and by the state governments to protect and to
perpetuate the lobster. Why is it thought necessary to
do this?
- Discuss the process and the advantages and disadvantages
of molting, as seen in the crustacea.
- Name two advantages in having such a shell as
crustacea have. Name two disadvantages. On the whole,
is such a shell favorable to an animal's chances of success
or is it not?
- Give the curious myth about goose barnacles.
- What crustacea are parasitic? Give an account of
one.
- Why are barnacles classed among crustacea? Where
were they once classed? Why may they be considered degenerate,
even though not parasitic? How do they manage
to succeed? What is their economic importance? How
are their effects checked or prevented?
- Describe some of the odd means of self-protection
shown among crustacea.
- Describe a compound eye. Give two theories as to
what can be seen with a compound eye. Why do we not
know, instead of theorizing?
- What is the economic value of the very small crustacea?
- Discuss the value to man of the various forms of
crustacea.
CHAPTER V
ADAPTATIONS FOR PROTECTION FROM ENEMIES
A. The Exoskeleton
1. THE CLAM—A TYPE OF MOLLUSCA
To Show the Effect of a Heavy Exoskeleton
Materials.
Living clams in aquaria, with enough moist sand to
cover the clams, preserved clams, sets of matched clamshells,
a few shells with the hinge unbroken, evaporating
dishes, hydrochloric acid.
Definitions.
- Mollusca,
- a branch of the animal kingdom including
those animals with soft, unsegmented bodies, inclosed in
two folds of skin known as the mantle. They are often
called shellfish as most of the forms have a shell.
- Lamellibranchiata or Pelecypoda,
- names given to the class
of Mollusca to which the clam belongs. The former term
refers to the broad, flap-like gills and the latter to the
hatchet-like foot.
- Valve,
- one of two parts of the clamshell.
- Hinge ligament,
- the elastic structure which fastens the
valves together at the dorsal margin.
- Umbones,
- a pair of elevations near the anterior end of
the shell.
-
Lines of growth,
- concentric lines around the umbones.
- Siphons,
- two openings at the posterior end of the clam,
the upper opening is the excurrent opening and the lower
the incurrent. In the salt water clam the siphons form a
long tube, usually called the "neck."
- Hinge teeth,
- projections near the dorsal margin on the
inner surface of the shell. The anterior irregular structure
is the cardinal and the more posterior blade-like structure
is the lateral tooth.
- Muscle scars,
- scar-like markings on the inner surface of
the shell indicating the point where muscles were attached.
The large scar just in front of the cardinal tooth is the
anterior adductor muscle scar, and the one just back of the
lateral tooth is the posterior adductor muscle scar.
- Pallial line,
- a line connecting the two muscle scars.
- Mantle,
- folds of skin covering the body of the clam and
lying close to the inner surface of the valves.
- Foot,
- a hatchet-shaped structure extending from the ventral
edge of the body.
- Gills,
- broad flap-like structures for respiration, situated
each side of the body in the mantle cavity. They consist
of a double fold of membrane through which run many
perforations lined with cilia. The waving of these cilia
cause the current of water needed for respiration.
- Palps,
- small flap-like structures near the anterior end of
the clam. They surround the mouth. On their surface
are cilia which cause currents of water toward the mouth.
- Adductor muscles,
- large muscles extending from valve to
valve.
Observations.
Identify anterior and posterior ends, dorsal and ventral
surfaces, right and left sides.
-
Why may a clam be called a bivalve?
- What is the position of the clam in the mud? What
is the position of the foot if the clam is undisturbed?
Are the two valves tightly closed or slightly open at this
time?
- What changes take place in the shell as the clam
grows? What markings on the surface of the shell indicate
this?
- Where is the clam sensitive to touch or tactile stimulus?
Why has the clam no eyes? Zoölogists have found
a structure in clams which they have supposed to be an
ear. Where do you think the structure is located? Why
is the clam successful without eyes? (There are many
bivalves which have them.)
- Examine several clams until you find some with enlargements
in the gills. Break off a small part of an
enlargement with your forceps and examine under the compound
microscope. Describe what you see.
- Drop some powdered chalk or carmine in the water
just above the siphon, watch the siphons for several minutes,
and note what happens. What do you conclude to be
the use of the siphons? Recalling what took place in
sponges, what would you suggest as the probable cause of
these currents? What does the clam thus probably obtain?
How do the two siphons differ? Why?
- Place a clam in water sufficient to cover it and heat
slowly to about 40 degrees Centigrade, until the valves
open slightly. Remove and proceed as follows: Raise one
valve, separate the mantle from it, and then cut through the
two large firm structures (adductor muscles) found at each
end. What does the valve do when the muscles are cut?
What is the cause of this? State your theory as to how a
clam opens and closes its shell.
-
Note the texture of the mantle. How many lobes
has it? What is their extent? How are the lobes related
to the valves?
- Remove or lift up one mantle lobe. Identify the soft
body, the foot, the gills, the palps, and the mouth. Which
of these structures are arranged in pairs?
- Determine the structure and composition of the shell
as follows:—
- Break a thick clamshell and examine the broken
edge. Identify the inner or pearly layer and the outer or
chalky layers. What gives color to the shell in the living
clam?
- Burn a small piece of shell in an evaporating dish
over a bunsen burner. What is the appearance of the
shell after burning? What has been burned, animal or
mineral matter? What then is the residue?
- Place a small piece of shell in acid. What results?
Is there a large amount of residue? What constitutes the
greater part of the shell, animal or mineral matter?
- (Optional) Devise some method and determine the
approximate per cent of mineral and of animal matter in
the clamshell.
Summary.
- Why did we study the clam? (See title of exercise.)
- How has the heavy shell of the clam affected:—
- The character of the clam's body,
- the locomotion,
- the development of sense organs.
- What special problems has the clam as regards getting
food and oxygen? How are these problems solved?
- How does the clam protect the young clam during
development?
Suggested drawings.
- Dorsal margin of the clam.
- Side view of the clam.
- The clam with one valve removed or lifted back.
- The clam with one valve and one mantle lobe removed.
- The edge of a broken shell.
- Diagram of cross sections.
2. THE SNAIL—A TYPE OF MOLLUSCA
To show Another Type of Exoskeleton
Materials.
Specimens of pond snails, edible snails, and "slugs," and
other land snails, and a collection of shells of various
types.
Definitions.
- Gasteropoda,
- the name of the class to which the snail
belongs.
- Spire,
- the coiled portion of the snail shell.
- Aperture,
- the opening of the shell.
- Lip,
- the edge of the shell forming the margin of the
aperture.
- Whorl,
- a single coil of the spire.
- Suture,
- the depression between the whorls.
- Foot,
- the flat disk-like structure on which a snail creeps.
- Breathing pore,
- an opening in the mantle used in respiration.
- Lingual ribbon,
- the rasp or file like tongue of the snail.
Observations.
- Why is a snail called a univalve?
- Identify the head and mouth of the snail. Watch
the snail feeding and examine the mouth of the snail with
a lens. What do you notice? If your aquarium in which
the pond snail is living has a green coating (algæ) on the
side, describe its appearance after the snail has been crawling
up and down over it. Explain.
- How many tentacles has a pond snail? a land
snail? Where are the eyes located in each case? What
movements of the tentacles do you notice? What is their
purpose?
- How does the rate of locomotion of the snail compare
with that of the clam? Find out if the snail can creep
backwards or on the surface of the water. Does there
seem to be any tendency for the snail to go up and down
the sides of the aquaria vertically rather than to the right
or left?
- What does a snail do when disturbed? What is
gained by this action?
- Search for pond snail's eggs on the side of the aquaria.
Lift up the bits of cabbage on which the slugs are feeding
and search for eggs. Describe what you find in each case,
noting the size, appearance, and whether the eggs are laid
singly or in masses.
- Find the breathing pore. Describe its position and
appearance.
- Contrast the various types of shells, and note with
care in what respects they differ. Holding the shell with
the aperture toward you and the spire pointing up, determine
whether each shell has the aperture on the right
(right-handed shell) or on the left (left-handed shell).
Is the right-handed or the left-handed shell more common?
- (Optional) By means of some book in the laboratory,
determine the scientific name of each of the snails found
in the various aquaria in the laboratory.
Suggested drawings.
- Drawings to show the pond snail in various positions
in the aquarium.
- A drawing of the slug.
- At least three different types of snail shell.
Summary.
- In what respects does a snail show resemblance to a
clam?
- What are the chief points of difference?
- What reasons can you suggest for the better development
of the sense organs?
- What advantage has a snail over a clam in the matter
of getting food?
- How does the shell of the snail compare with that of
the clam as an organ for protection?
3. THE SQUID—A TYPE OF MOLLUSCA
To show the Effect of a Much Reduced or Rudimentary
Skeleton
Materials.
Small squids, and a few large specimens for comparison
and dissection.
Definitions.
- Cephalopoda,
- the name of the class to which the squid
belongs.
- Caudal fin,
- a horizontal structure at the posterior end of
the squid.
- Chromatophores,
- irregular cells in the mantle which give
color to the squid.
- Exhalent siphon,
- a funnel or tube opening on the ventral
side just below the base of the arms or tentacles.
-
Pen,
- a remnant of an exoskeleton imbedded in the mantle
along the dorsal side.
- Ink sac,
- a sac containing a dark, sticky liquid which may
be thrown out through the funnel into the water. The
opening is near the inner opening of the funnel.
Observations.
- What is the shape of the squid? To what is this
shape adapted?
- Identify the head and the well-developed eyes.
- How many arms or tentacles are there? How are
they arranged with reference to the mouth? What do you
find on the distal ends of the arms? How do the arms
vary as to size? What does the position and arrangement
of the arms suggest as to their function?
- Identify the exhalent siphon. Where may water
enter the mantle cavity? Recalling the action of the
siphons in the clam, suggest a method by which a squid
is propelled through the water. In what direction must it
swim?
- Split the mantle along the ventral surface and spread
apart. Identify the long plume-like gills, the ink sac, and
the inner opening of the exhalent siphon. How many gills
do you find?
Suggested drawings.
- The squid side view.
- The squid from the ventral side with the mantle split
open, arrows to show direction of water.
Summary.
- In what ways does a squid show relationship to the
clam and the snail?
- What has a squid gained through the reduction of its
exoskeleton? What has it lost? What changes were
necessary in its structure to offset the loss of an exoskeleton?
4. A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF MOLLUSCA
Materials.
Specimens of as many different kinds of mollusks as
possible, charts, books.
Observations.
- What is the symmetry?[3]
- Is the body segmented or unsegmented?
- Are lateral appendages present or wanting?
- Is an exoskeleton present or wanting? If present,
is it univalve or bivalve; if absent, what other means of
protection has been developed to take its place?
- Is the animal fixed, or is it free to move? If fixed,
in what way? If it moves, what is the method and organ
of locomotion?
- What are the organs of respiration? What is their
character?
- How is food obtained?
- What senses are probably present? What sense
organs are present?
- What is the habitat?
- In what ways if any does the animal show degeneration?
Summary.
- What characters are common to all mollusks?
- What is the principal means of protection among
mollusks?
- Name three causes of degeneration among mollusks.
5. MOLLUSCA: REVIEW AND LIBRARY EXERCISE
Characteristics.
- What are the general characteristics of mollusks?
- Name the principal classes and give the characteristics
of each.
Morphology.
- What is peculiar about the structure of a clam's
heart? What is its position? Contrast with the heart of
a crayfish.
- Make cross-sectional diagrams to show the arrangement
of parts in a clam: (a) in the region of the umbone;
(b) in the region just in front of the posterior muscle;
(c) in the region of the anterior muscle.
- Describe the various types of eyes found in mollusks,
and their location.
- Describe the tongue or lingual ribbon of the snail,
and its use.
- What is the operculum of snails? its use?
Physiology.
- Describe the circulation of water through the siphons
and mantle cavity of a clam. How is it caused? What
three uses has it?
- What are the principal facts about the development
of fresh-water clams?
- Describe the circulation of blood in a clam.
- What various methods of locomotion are found
among mollusca?
Economics.
Write a short account of the following:—
- Oyster culture.
- Typhoid-fever and oysters.
-
Clams, scallops, and other edible shellfish.
- Pearls and pearl fisheries.
- Fresh-water clams and the button industry.
- Sepia, Tyrian dye, etc.
- Harmful and useful mollusks.
- The work of U. S. Fish Commission in propagating
clams.
Natural history.
- Give the class, habitat, and some important fact
about each of the following: Pectens; wing shells; Tridacna
gigas; abalones; limpets; oyster drill; periwinkle;
mussel; cuttle fish; octopus; nautilus; argonaut.
6. A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF EXOSKELETONS
Materials.
Charts, specimens, etc. Since this is partly a review exercise,
your notes and drawings of invertebrates should be
at hand.
Definitions.
- Exoskeleton,
- a protective covering developed on the outside
of an animal.
Questions.
- What are foraminifera; radiolaria? How do they
differ from other protozoans? Of what two substances
are the shells of protozoans composed?
- How are the spicules formed in a simple sponge?
What are glass sponges? Give reasons why the skeletons
of sponges may or may not be considered exoskeletons?
- What are stone corals? What is the relation of the
coral polyp to the skeleton? What is the appearance of
the coral when expanded as compared with its appearance
when contracted? Of what substance is the coral composed?
- Describe the exoskeleton of a starfish. Contrast the
exoskeleton of the sea urchin and the starfish. Why does
a sea cucumber need no well-developed exoskeleton?
- What structure in an earthworm may be considered
an exoskeleton? What other types of exoskeletons are
found in segmented worms?
- Of what substance is the exoskeleton of arthropods
composed? What additional substance is found deposited
in the shell in the case of crustaceans? What advantage
in the arthropod type of exoskeleton?
- Why are mollusks so commonly called "shellfish"?
What advantage in the mollusk type of skeleton? What
disadvantages?
Summary.
- What type of exoskeleton is common among invertebrates?
- What are the general purposes of exoskeletons?
- What is the explanation of the various forms of exoskeletons
found?
- Of what substances are exoskeletons composed?
B. Protective Coloration
To show how Color may be Protective
Materials.
Specimens such as the Kny-Scheerer mimicry collections,
diagrams, etc.
Definitions.
- General protective resemblance,
- the general resemblance
between the color of an animal and its surroundings.
-
Variable protective resemblance,
- the changing of the color
of an animal to correspond to the change in its background.
- Special protective resemblance,
- the resemblance of an
animal to some object found in its background in color
and form.
- Mimicry,
- the resemblance of an unprotected animal to
a well-protected one.
- Warning colors,
- bright colors which protect animals by
causing other animals to avoid it.
Questions.
- Show how the transparent color of a paramecium,
the green color of a cabbage worm, or the green color of a
certain species of hydra may result in protecting an animal
from its enemies. Mention as many other examples as
you can.
- What is gained by the ability of a squid to change
its color? How is this change brought about?
- Explain the protective coloration of the following:
Dead-leaf butterfly, walking stick, geometrid larva. Hunt
up other examples.
- Explain the protective coloration in the following:
Hover flies, clear-winged moths, viceroy butterflies.
- Make a list of several invertebrates that are protected
by their bright color. Explain the reason for the bright
color.
- How may the difference between the color of the
upper and lower surfaces of animals be explained on the
basis of use to the animal?
- (Optional) Find out some other uses of color to an
animal aside from protection.
Summary.
- Name four uses of color.
- Name four ways an animal is protected by being like
its background.
- Name one way it is protected by being unlike its
background.
- What disadvantages in this method of protection?
C. Animal Associations
To show Another Method of Protection from Enemies
Materials.
Specimens, charts, etc., illustrating animal associations.
Definitions.
- Animal communities,
- associations of many animals of
the same species in communities in which there is a greater
or less division of labor.
- Gregarious,
- associations where there is but little division
of labor.
- Parasitism,
- an association where one animal lives at the
expense of the other. The animal on which the parasite
lives is called the host. If there are two hosts during the
life cycle of the parasite, the second host is called an intermediate
host.
- Symbiosis,
- an association where two animals live together
in mutually helpful relations.
- Commensalism,
- an association where two animals live
together in relations not mutually helpful but without injury
to either.
Observations and questions.
Note.—To find answers to many of these questions it will be necessary
to refer to the reference books in the laboratory.
-
Examine a specimen of Volvox. Why may this be
considered a colonial protozoan and not a many-celled animal?
What is gained by the colonial habit?
- Is the colonial habit common or rare in sponges and
cœlenterates? What is chiefly gained?
- Describe the community life in one of the insects in
each of the following groups:—
- ant, honeybee, termite.
- bumblebee, paper wasp, hornet.
- mining bee.
- carpenter bee, mud wasp, digger wasp.
- Name the host or hosts in the following cases:
trichina, liver fluke, malarial parasite, tapeworm, hook
worm. Give the life history of one or more of the parasites
just enumerated. What is the effect of parasitism
on the structure of the parasite?
- What is the relation between ants and plant lice?
Show how this relation is mutually helpful. Mention other
cases of symbiosis that you have come across.
- With what animal are barnacles often associated?
What is the habit of the pea or oyster crab? What are
"guest bees"? What structure is lacking that is found in
other bees? What are often found in the cavities of
sponges? Why are these associations called commensalism
rather than symbiosis?
Summary.
- Into what groups can animal associations be divided
based upon the number of species concerned?
- From the standpoint of protection, is this a good or a
bad method of protection?
- What disadvantages can you see in this method of
protection.
D. Protective Habits and Powers
Materials.
Specimens, charts, and books, showing habits of
invertebrates.
Definitions.
- Regeneration,
- the power to grow new parts of the body
when parts have been lost or injured.
- Masking,
- the covering of an animal by some object or
organism so as to hide its identity.
- Nocturnal habits,
- the habit of hiding in the daytime and
coming out at night to feed.
- Terrifying attitudes,
- the protective attitudes assumed at
times by animals in order to ward off attack.
Observations and questions.
- How are Sabella and Serpula protected? What advantages
and disadvantages in this habit? What changes
in structure are associated with this tube-dwelling habit?
- What two protective habits has the earthworm?
Name some other animals that have similar habits.
- Describe the protective habits of the caddis-fly larva;
of the leaf-roller moth. What benefit to the hermit crab is
the colony of hydractinia growing on the snail shell which
it inhabits? Give other similar cases.
- Name as many cases of regeneration as you can.
- What peculiar habits has a puss-moth larva? a
dragon fly? Give other examples.
Summary.
- Name the various protective habits.
- State any advantages or disadvantages you can with
reference to these protective habits.
E. Defensive Structures
Another Method of Protection from Enemies
Materials.
Specimens, charts, books, etc., to illustrate the various
defensive organs found among invertebrates.
Observations and questions.
- Describe the stinging hairs of the paramecium.
- Describe the action and structure of nettle cells.
Where are they located in the case of hydra; of jellyfish?
- What defensive organs are found among the
arthropods?
- What are stinkbugs? What peculiar organs of defense
have the caterpillars of the swallowtail butterflies?
- Where is the sting of a hornet located? To what in
a grasshopper does it correspond? Why does a hornet or
bee inflict so painful a wound?
- What peculiar organ of defense has a squid?
- Find other examples of defensive structures.
Summary.
- What advantages have organs of defense as a method
of protection?
- What disadvantages?
F. Thesis
To sum up the Important Points in the Study of Adaptations
for Protection
Directions.
Write a connected account of what you have found out
about protection of animals from their enemies, using the
following outline:—
-
The struggle for existence—
- its cause,
- its threefold nature,
- the various kinds of adaptations.
- The various methods of protection from enemies.
- The exoskeleton.
- Protective coloration.
- Animal associations.
- Protective habits.
- Defensive structures.
CHAPTER VI
VERTEBRATES
A. Studies of Fishes
THE LIVING FISH
Vertebrates adapted to Water Life
Materials.
Living goldfishes or other fishes in small aquaria for individual
study and a few fishes in a large aquarium where
they have considerable freedom of motion.
Definitions.
- Trunk,
- the portion of the body between the head and
the tail.
- Compressed,
- a term used to describe the shape of the
body when it is narrower from side to side than from dorsal
to ventral surface. When the opposite is true, the body is
said to be flattened.
- Median fins,
- the unpaired fins situated on the median
line, dorsal and ventral, including the tail or caudal fin, the
dorsal fin, and the anal fin.
- Paired fins,
- fins occurring in pairs of which the more anterior
are the pectoral fins and the posterior are the pelvic
fins.
- Fin rays,
- the framework or skeleton of the fins over
which membrane is stretched to form the fins. Fin rays
are of two kinds: those composed of bone and those composed
of cartilage.
- Lateral line,
- a sense organ extending along each side of
the fish in a line indicated by tubes or perforations in the
scales.
- Gills,
- respiratory organs adapted for taking oxygen from
the water.
- Operculum,
- the flaps covering the gills on each side of
the head.
- Pigment,
- a substance which gives color to an object.
Observations.
- Locomotion.
- Watch the fishes in the large aquarium
and determine which fins are most used and how they are
used (a) in swimming forward, (b) in swimming upward
and downward, (c) in maintaining balance, (d) in remaining
at rest, and (e) in guiding the movements of the fish.
- What advantages are there to the fish (a) in the power
to open and close the dorsal and anal fins, (b) in having no
neck, and (c) in having a compressed form?
- Enumerate the various ways by which the body of
the fish is adapted to rapid movement through the water.
- Feeding.
- What is the food of the fishes you are
studying? Feed them and watch them eat. Why is the
upper jaw often called a "lip"? What is the shape and
size of the mouth when opened in feeding? Does the fish
chew its food? Describe in detail the fishes' method of
feeding.
- Respiration.
- Identify the opercula and the gill openings.
Watch the movements of the opercula and mouth,
and determine what movements are concerned in breathing
and their order. Describe in detail the circulation of water
used in breathing and how it is caused.
-
Sense Organs.
- Identify the eyes, nostrils, and lateral
line. How many nostrils are there and where located?
What is the position and extent of the lateral line?
- Describe the location of the eyes. What is the shape
of the outer surface of the eyes? Why this shape? Can
the eyes be moved, i.e. can they be rotated, rolled, or retracted?
From what direction might an enemy approach
without being seen? How would such an enemy be detected?
- Protection.
- With what protective structures is the
body covered? Do they hinder the movements of the fish?
What are the advantages of the scale covering of fishes
over the shell covering of grasshoppers or crayfishes?
- In what other ways are the fishes you are studying
protected against enemies? Since you cannot account
for the red color of goldfishes on the basis of use to the
fish, then how do you account for this bright color?
- The Body.
- What is the symmetry of the fish? Into
what regions is the body divided?
Summary of the study of the living fish.
Enumerate in one column the different adaptations
which fit the fish for life in water and in a second column
state the special purpose of each adaption.
The External Structure of the Fish
Materials.
Freshly killed or preserved fish in dishes or shallow
pans with enough water to prevent drying. Simple or
compound microscopes, forceps, and a bristle.
Directions.
Examine the fins and identify the membrane and the
supporting rods, or rays, of bone or cartilage. Notice
how the ends of the cartilaginous rays keep the membrane
from tearing.
Investigate the scales as to their arrangement, number,
and size. Remove a small patch of scales along the
lateral line to find how they are attached, where the fish's
color is situated, and how access to the sensory organs of
the line is permitted. Examine a scale under the microscope.
Observe the eyes and identify the parts similar to those
of the human eye: lid, lash, tear-duct, cornea, iris, and
pupil.
In front of and between the eyes, find the nostrils. By
means of a bristle determine whether these are connected
and whether they do or do not open into the mouth or
the throat.
Questions.
- Make a list of the fins, classifying them according to
their structure.
- Bearing in mind the differences in structure and
consequent action,—what can you say regarding the
adaptation of the several fins for protection? for rigidity
or flexibility in locomotion?
- State how much of the body is covered with scales,
and where the largest and the smallest ones are found.
- How are the scales arranged with reference to each
other? What benefit is derived from this in protection?
in locomotion? If you have noticed any mucus or slime
upon the body, state its use.
- Do the scales or the skin bear the pigment? Give
the color pattern of the kind of fish used in class. How
would this be useful to the fish in its natural home?
- Describe the structure of a scale and state how it is
attached to the skin. In what way is the lateral-line scale
specialized?
- State how, when the fish is swimming, the nostrils
catch odors. By means of a diagram, with arrows show
the probable direction of the water current through the
nose.
- State which of the structures of your eye are present
in the fish's eye, and which are missing. Could a fish
weep? wink? How would a fish sleep?
- Inasmuch as light penetrates water but a little way, so that
objects can be distinguished only within about thirty feet, would the
fish be nearsighted or farsighted?
Suggested drawings.
- A side view of the entire fish, fully labeled.
- A bony rayed and a cartilaginous rayed fin.
- A scale, showing its minute structure.
- A dorsal or a lateral view of the head, showing the
sense organs.
The Mouth and the Gills of the Fish
Materials.
The same materials as those used in the preceding
exercise may be used here.
Directions.
The mouth, its structure and its action, can be seen by
pulling the upper jaw upward and forward until the mouth
and the gill chambers open fully. Examine the structure
and action of the jaws, the tongue, the throat, and the
teeth on each jaw and on the roof of the mouth.
Investigate the breathing apparatus from the throat side
and from the exterior, noting the number, form, and structure
of the gills, their attachment and their protection.
The mouth may be kept open by a short splinter or a
ball of paper.
The pupil should identify the following structures:—
- 1. Gill,
- an organ for breathing the air dissolved in
water.
- 2. Gill arch,
- an arch of bone or cartilage supporting the
gills.
- 3. Gill filaments,
- fringe-like structures attached to the
gill arches, forming the gills.
- 4. Gill raker,
- lateral projections from the gill arches.
- 5. Gill-slits,
- openings between the gill arches for the
passage of water.
- 6. Operculum,
- the flap-like covering of the gills on
each side of the head.
Questions.
- Compared with the size of its body, how wide can
the fish open its mouth? What do you infer as to the
size of its "bite"?
- Are the jaws rigidly affixed to the skull? Why
should they be so attached, or why not?
- Of how many pieces is the upper jaw composed? the
under jaw?
- Where are the teeth? Judging from their form,
size, and situation, what do you think must be their use?
- Do you think the tongue is used to assist in mastication?
in tasting? in speech? in swallowing?
- How many gills are there, and where are they
situated? How are they attached? Which one is not free
from the body throughout its length?
- What probably causes the color of the gill filaments?
What is there in their number and texture which fits them
for their function?
-
What is the direction of the water current through
the gill chamber? Of what use are the gill rakers?
- How are the gills protected?
Summary.
Write a complete account of how the fish eats and how
it breathes.
Suggested drawings.
- A front view of the fish's face, with the mouth fully
open.
- A side view, as above.
- A ventral view of the head, with both gill-chambers
wide open and the gills separated from each other. Indicate
currents by arrows.
- A single gill.
The Alimentary Canal and the Circulatory System of the Fish
Materials.
Small fresh fish, shallow pans or dishes of water, forceps,
and scissors.
Directions.
If the instructor has not opened the fish previously, this
is to be done by the student as follows: On the ventral
side, insert the scissors in the vent (in front of the anal fin)
and cut straight forward to a point between the opercula.
Care must be exercised in opening the chamber about the
heart; this lies between the gill chambers.
The various organs, so far as possible, should be carefully
drawn out and separated, in order that their structure may
be distinguished.
The pupil should identify the following parts:—
- Body cavity, the entire internal space, divided by a
membrane, false diaphragm, into a large abdominal cavity
and a small chamber, pericardial chamber, between the
gill chambers.
- Liver, a large red or pink mass lying at the front
end of the abdominal cavity, and divided into two unequal
lobes. The gall-bladder, thin-walled and green, may be
seen between these lobes.
- Alimentary canal.
- Mouth.
- Esophagus, in the fish a very short tube.
- Stomach, white and muscular, beginning with
a very short esophagus and ending as a blind sac.
If it is much distended, open it to see what the fish
may have eaten.
- Small intestine, thin-walled, tubular, and somewhat
coiled.
- Large intestine, a short, thin-walled expansion
at the posterior end of the small intestine; usually
less than half an inch long.
- Cœca, from two to several small pouches
attached where the small intestine leaves the
stomach.
- Spleen, a reddish brown globule between the folds of
the intestine.
- Swim bladder, an elongated chamber lying against
the backbone, partitioned off from the cavity below by a
delicate membrane.
- Peritoneum, the delicate, silvery membrane which
lines the abdominal cavity and enfolds the viscera. Note
its spots of pigment.
- Pericardial chamber, the chamber around the heart;
see § 1 above.
- Heart. As the fish is placed belly upward in the pan
the ventricle faces you, pink, conical, and muscular.
Posterior to it, on the dorsal side, is the auricle, a membranous
sac.
- Ventral aorta, arising on the anterior surface of the
ventricle as a white muscular "cord" (really a tube) which
is enlarged close to the heart into a bulb, the arterial bulb.
You should follow up this aorta until you see it divide
right and left to send its branches outward into the gills,
the branches being called gill arteries.
Questions.
- The fish frequently swallows its food alive. Why
should the stomach be muscular? Why is it better that
the intestine does not leave the stomach at the end opposite
the esophagus?
- Of what use can the cœca be? What structure of
the human intestine do you recall that is at all like them
in form or use?
- How many times the length of the body is the length
of the alimentary canal? Does this indicate that the fish
is compelled to eat a great deal of poor food or that its
food is highly nutritious, so that little need be taken?
- Near which end of the fish's body is the heart? Is
this the usual or the unusual condition among animals you
know about? What advantages can you think of in this
arrangement?
- What advantages are there in having the heart in a
chamber separated from the other vital organs?
- Of how many chambers does the heart consist? Why
should at least one of them be muscular?
- How many times does the blood pass through the
heart in making a complete circuit of the body? Would
you call this a single or a double circulation?
- Does the heart force the blood onward or does it
draw blood into itself, i.e. is the heart a force pump or is
it a suction pump?
- How is circulation made complete? If the heart is a
force pump, is its power sufficient to drive blood through
artery, capillary, vein, and into auricle, if the capillaries
can stand the pressure, or is another action concerned? If
it is a suction pump, why does the blood leave the heart?
Suggested drawings.
- The body cavity, with viscera undisturbed.
- The alimentary canal extended.
- The anterior end of the fish with the sinus held open,
to show the general situation of the parts.
- The heart in its chamber, with the outgoing vessels
as far as dissected. Use arrows to show direction of
circulation.
- A copy of some good diagram or chart which illustrates
the heart of the fish with the connecting veins and
arteries.
Fishes: A General Review and Library Exercise
- Food and the feeding habits of young and of adult
fishes.
- The diet and habits of cod; lantern-fish; swordfish;
ramora; hagfish; angler; gar-pike; sturgeon; shark;
sawfish; paddle-fish.
- The variations, real or apparent, in the breathing
habits of the porcupine-fish; the climbing-fish; the lung-fish.
- Peculiarities in swimming as seen in the flying-fish;
the flounder; the sea-horse.
- Intensity of sound under water, and the corresponding
structure of the fish's ear.
-
Light and sight under water (as in 5).
- Protection of fishes: sting-ray; torpedo; coral-fish;
sturgeon; lava-fish; swordfish; sawfish; pipefish.
- The social instinct of fishes, and "schools."
- The breeding habits of salmon; eel; stickle-back;
sturgeon; whitefish; shark; sea-horse; sunfish.
- The fishing industries of the Great Lakes or of the
cold oceans, with a list of the fishes caught and their
values.
- Fish nets and traps: seine; gill-net; pound-net;
trawl, French or English; fish-wheel; fish-weir; spear;
dip-net; set-line; spoon; fly.
- The U.S. Bureau of Fisheries: its locations, its
problems, and its methods.
- The State Fish Commission, as above.
- Game and fish laws; their purpose and their enforcement.
- Game fish of the fresh waters; trout, bass, pickerel,
and muskellunge.
- Game fish of the ocean: tarpon, tuna, sea-bass,
swordfish, and bluefish.
- Fish as food.
- Fish diet and leprosy.
- Fish diet and parasitic worms.
- Fish nuisances: carp, catfish, and dogfish.
- Commercial products of fishes, their preparation
and their uses: caviar, shagreen, cod liver oil, isinglass, and
glue.
- The geographic distribution of fishes, with means of
dispersal and restriction.
- The faunal regions of the lake (or ocean), with
characteristic forms.
- Fishes of ancient times; of the Devonian period.
-
The story of the early life of Louis Agassiz; of
D. S. Jordan; of C. H. Eigenmann; of Bashford Dean.
- Goldfish: their origin; how to care for them.
- Fashions in fish tails, old and new.
- Development and variation in scales; fashions in
scales.
- The common orders of fishes, with examples.
Primitive Chordates
Materials.