Figs. 367–70—Metamorphosis of the five arterial arches in the human embryo (diagram from Rathke). la arterial cone, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 first to fifth pair of arteries, ad trunk of aorta, aw roots of aorta. In Fig. 367 only three, in Fig. 368 all five, of the aortic arches are given (the dotted ones only are developed). In Fig. 369 the first two pairs have disappeared again. In Fig. 370 the permanent trunks of the artery are shown; the dotted parts disappear, s subclavian artery, v vertebral, ax axillary, c carotid (c′ outer, c″ inner carotid), p pulmonary.
The heart also, the central organ of circulation in all the Craniotes, shows an advance in structure in the Cyclostomes. The simple, spindle-shaped heart-tube, found in the same form in the embryo of all the Craniotes, is divided into two sections or chambers in the Cyclostomes, and these are separated by a pair of valves. The hind section, the auricle, receives the venous blood from the body and passes it on to the anterior section, the ventricle. From this it is driven through the trunk of the branchial artery (the foremost section of the ventral vessel or principal vein) into the gills.
In the Selachii an arterial cone is developed from the foremost end of the ventricle, as a special division, cut off by valves. It passes into the enlarged base of the trunk of the branchial artery (Fig. 363 abr). On each side 5–7 arteries proceed from it. These rise between the gill-clefts (s) on the gill-arches, surround the gullet, and unite above into a common trunk-aorta, the continuation of which over the gut corresponds to the dorsal vessel of the worms. As the curved arteries on the gill-arches spread into a network of respiratory capillaries, they contain venous blood in their lower part (as arches of the branchial artery) and arterial blood in the upper part (as arches of the aorta). The junctures of the various aortic arches on the right and left are called the roots of the aorta. Of an originally large number of aortic arches there remain at first six, then (owing to degeneration of the fifth arch) only five, pairs; and from these five pairs (Fig. 364) the chief parts of the arterial system develop in all the higher Vertebrates.
The appearance of the lungs and the atmospheric respiration connected therewith, which we first meet in the Dipneusts, is the next important step in vascular evolution. In the Dipneusts the auricle of the heart is divided by an incomplete partition into two halves. Only the right auricle now receives the venous blood from the veins of the body. The left auricle receives the arterial blood from the pulmonary veins. The two auricles have a common opening into the simple ventricle, where the two kinds of blood mix, and are driven through the arterial cone or bulb into the arterial arches. From the last arterial arches the pulmonary arteries arise (Fig. 365 p). These force a part of the mixed blood into the lungs, the other part of it going through the aorta into the body.
Fig. 371—Heart of a rabbit-embryo, from behind. a vitelline veins, b auricles of the heart, c atrium, d ventricle, e arterial bulb, f base of the three pairs of arterial arches. (From Bischoff.)
Fig. 372—Heart of the same embryo (Fig. 371), from the front. v vitelline veins, a auricle, ca auricular canal, l left ventricle, r right ventricle, ta arterial bulb. (From Bischoff.)
From the Dipneusts upwards we now trace a progressive development of the vascular system, which ends finally with the loss of branchial respiration and a complete separation of the two halves of the circulation. In the Amphibia the partition between the two auricles is complete. In their earlier stages, as tadpoles (Fig. 262), they have still the branchial respiration and the circulation of the fishes, and their heart contains venous blood alone. Afterwards the lungs and pulmonary vessels are developed, and henceforth the ventricle of the heart contains mixed blood. In the reptiles the ventricle and its arterial cone begin to divide into two halves by a longitudinal partition, and this partition becomes complete in the higher reptiles and birds on the one hand, and the stem-forms of the mammals on the other. Henceforth, the right half of the heart contains only venous, and the left half only arterial, blood, as we find in all birds and mammals. The right auricle receives its carbonised or venous blood from the veins of the body, and the right ventricle drives it through the pulmonary arteries into the lungs. From here the blood returns, as oxydised or arterial blood, through the pulmonary veins to the left auricle, and is forced by the left ventricle into the arteries of the body. Between the pulmonary arteries and veins is the capillary system of the small or pulmonary circulation. Between the body-arteries and veins is the capillary system of the large or body-circulation. It is only in the two highest classes of Vertebrates—the birds and mammals—that we find a complete division of the circulations. Moreover, this complete separation has been developed quite independently in the two classes, as the dissimilar formation of the aortas shows of itself. In the birds the right half of the fourth arterial arch has become the permanent arch (Fig. 365). In the mammals this has been developed from the left half of the same fourth arch (Fig. 366).