This same relation between the number of segments cut off from the anterior end and the number that is regenerated seems to hold good throughout the whole group of annelids, although the maximum number that comes back may be different in different species. Thus in lumbriculus six or seven or even eight new segments come back if more than that number have been removed.
If we examine the method of regeneration from the posterior end of a piece of an earthworm, we find that when several or many posterior segments have been removed a new part comes back, composed at first of a very few segments. The terminal segment contains the new posterior opening of the digestive tract. New segments are now formed just in front of the terminal segment, the youngest being the one next to the end-segment. The process continues until the full complement of segments is made up ([Fig. 3], C, D, E). Comparing these results with those described above for the anterior end, we find, in both cases, that only a few segments are at first formed, but in the posterior regeneration new segments are intercalated near the posterior end. This process of intercalation is the characteristic way in which many annelids add new segments to the posterior end, as they grow larger and longer.
Amongst the flatworms the fresh-water planarians show remarkable powers of regeneration. If the anterior end is cut off at any level, a new head is produced ([Fig. 4], C). The new worm is at first too short, i.e. the new head is too near the pharynx, but changes take place in the region behind the new head that lead to the development of new material in this part. The new head is, in consequence, carried farther and farther forward until the typical relations of the parts have been formed, when the growth in the region behind the head comes to an end ([Fig. 4], C¹). Similar changes take place when the posterior end is cut off, as shown in [Fig. 4], B, B¹. The new part contains the new pharynx that is proportionately too near the head, but the pharynx is carried farther backwards by the formation of new material in front of it, until it has reached its typical distance from the head. In these planarians the results are somewhat complicated, owing to the old part changing its form, especially if the piece is not fed; but the main facts are given above, and a more complete account of the changes that occur will be given in another place.
Fig. 4.—A-E. Planaria maculata. A. Normal worm. B, B¹. Regeneration of anterior half. C, C¹. Regeneration of posterior half. D. Cross-piece of worm. D¹, D², D³, D⁴. Regeneration of same. E. Old head. E¹, E², E³. Regeneration of same. F. P. lugubris. Old head cut off just behind eyes. F¹. Regeneration of new head on posterior end of same.
LATERAL REGENERATION
Not only does regeneration take place in an antero-posterior direction, but in many animals also at the side. The regeneration of the limb of the salamander is, of course, a case of lateral regeneration in relation to the animal as a whole, but in a longitudinal direction in regard to the limb itself. Lateral regeneration of the limb would take place if the limb was split lengthwise into two parts and one of the parts removed. If the entire salamander were cut in two lengthwise, each half would most certainly die without regeneration, if for no other reason than that the integrity of the median organs is necessary for the life of the different parts. If, however, a planarian is cut lengthwise into a right and left half, each piece will complete itself laterally and make a new worm ([Fig. 13]½, A-D). Even a narrow piece cut from the side will produce a new worm by regenerating laterally, as shown in Fig. 19, a, b, c. In hydra, also, a half-longitudinal piece produces a new animal, but in this case not by the addition of new material at the side, but by the cut-edges meeting to make a tube of smaller diameter. Subsequently the piece changes its form into that characteristic of hydra.
REGENERATION OF TERMINAL PORTIONS OF THE BODY
In most of the preceding examples the behavior of the larger piece of the two that result from the operation has been described; but there are some important facts in connection with the regeneration of the smaller end-pieces. The leg, or the tail, that has been cut from the salamander soon dies without regenerating. The life of the leg can be maintained only when the part is supplied with certain substances from the body of the animal. It does not follow, of course, that, could the leg or the tail be kept alive, they would regenerate a salamander. In fact, there is evidence to show, in the tail at least, that, although it may regenerate a structure at its anterior end, the structure is not a salamander, but something else. This has been definitely shown in certain experiments with the tail of the tadpole. It is possible to graft the tail of one tadpole in a reversed position, i.e. with its anterior end free, on the tail of another tadpole ([Fig. 54], A-D), or even on other parts of the body. Regeneration takes place from the free end, i.e. from the proximal end of the grafted tail. The new structure resembles a tail, and not a tadpole. If it be objected that the experiment is not conclusive because of the presence of the old tail, or of the use of the newly developing part, the objection can be met by another experiment. If, as shown in [Fig. 56], A, a triangular piece is cut out of the base of the tail of a young tadpole, the cut being made so deep that the nerve-cord and notochord are cut in two, there develops from the proximal end of the tail a new tail-like structure that is turned forward, or sometimes laterally. In this case the objections to the former experiment do not apply, and the same sort of a structure, namely, a tail, is produced.