[The Central Nervous System of a Sipunculid]
WILLIAM A. HILTON
A number of specimens of the genus Phascolosoma were obtained at Laguna Beach. These were preserved in various fluids. Flemming’s fluid and mercuric chloride, were especially valuable for study. The nerve cords were dissected out and mounted after staining. Some were imbedded, sectioned and stained. The stain which brought out the cells with greatest clearness was copper haematoxylin.
The general character of the nervous system of sipunculids is well known, and the specimens examined at this time were typical as to the form of the brain and cord. The brain is imbedded in the proboscis just below the tentacles. It has a similar appearance in section to the photographs of Spengel, 1912. The brain is small. Two main branches supply nearby tentacles and muscles. There is a pair of small branches from the connectives. Extending from the epithelium of the tentacular region is a pair of tubes leading into the brain, the cerebral organs. These epithelial tubes lead to a pigmented area on each side, and these pigmented areas in section look like simple eyes. A few irregular spots of pigment were found near the larger masses. The epithelium at the outer end of the tube was also deeply pigmented.
Throughout the body the ventral nerve cord kept about the same width, although the muscle bands at the sides increased somewhat. The strands connecting the muscles and nerves to the animal’s body were more or less regularly arranged. In specimens with the proboscis drawn in, the nerve cord is of course doubled back on itself. In the specimen drawn at the junction of the two parts, that of the proboscis and that of the ventral body-wall, there is a lack of lateral branches, as shown in the upper portion of the second line of the drawing. Towards the caudal end the lateral branches come off more irregularly.
When the animal is contracted the nerve cord seems to be segmented, but sections show that this appearance is due to the slight folding of the nerve cord within the muscle bands; the nerve tissue does not seem to be elastic.
Very little has been written on the histological structure of sipunculids. Haller, 1889, discusses a number of points, especially in sipunculus nudus, relating to the ventral cord only. I find a number of differences in this form. I did not find any very clear evidence of special neuroglia cells, such as described and figured by Haller, such elements may be present, but at least they are not evident, not so evident as in many other invertebrates which I have examined. Nerve cells may anastomose with each other as shown in Haller’s figure, but of this I can not be sure. If fibres do not unite they are in very intimate contact.
In the ventral cord no small fibrils were seen only rather small fibers which may have been fibrils. The lack of connective material in part at least, perhaps because the nervous system is often extended and folded, shows the cell processes with great distinctness. This may be why a clearer picture than usual is presented of the relationship of cells.