| Bickley:... Do you want the podium? Do you want that stand? |
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Robert Evan Snodgrass: No...no, don't think so. Well,
we'll… we'll go back to where we left the embryo the last time… I'll put
this diagram up... |
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| Remember that the embryo has that rather large head. Well,
that doesn't apply only to the insect head… but to the head of all crust…
all of the arthropods. Well, as I say, that probably doesn't mean anything
except that gives the sense organs -- the brain inside the head -- a chance
to get an early start. So, I don't suppose that the ancestors of the insects
and the arthropods were big-headed animals. Well, then, that's followed
up, see, by this series of segments in which the appendages grow out. Well, the question is… that I left you with the last time… are there segments up in that head lobe? Well, as I said, there are these embryologists who claim that that region is segmented, because they found in it two or three pairs of small cavities in the mesoderm. And they claim that wherever there are cavities like that in the mesoderm, called coelomic sacs, that that means… that is segmentation. But I contend that that is not necessarily segmentation unless you've got evidence of segments in the body wall itself. Because we know the segments of any arthropod or insect; it's the subdivision of the body wall [that is] independently musculated and independently moveable. And, therefore, you might call them motor units [1]. Well, so, it all depends on definition, since there's no evidence externally of segmentation in that part of the head. And another thing that's rather embarrassing to the … to the coelomic-sac interpretation is that a number of investigators have found a pair coelomic sacs in the labrum itself, and yet they do not admit that the labrum is a segment. I mean, those that base their interpretation on the coelomic sacs, they accept the two pairs corresponding with the antennae and the preantennal pair as evidence of segmentation, but they won't accept those in the labrum as segments, so there's an inconsistency in their own argument. |
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| Well, today I was going to show you how some of these difficulties
can be gotten around by theoretical interpretations. Well, there are two
European entomologists, Holmgren [2] and Hanstrom [3], who
contend that that head lobe there corresponds with the anterior head lobe
of the polychaete… or annelid worms which is called the prostomium. You
know the anterior end of segmented worms is... |
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| Well, that's their theory, and they back it up with a comparative
study of the brain in the annelid worms and the arthropods, and they find
that there's a very close similarity, or almost identity of structures,
in the two. Which is a good reason for this theory that the head lobe of
the arthropod is the prostomium of the worm. Well, now, some of these …
take these polychaete ocean worms… and they look like this… The larva is
a little thing something like that… It's divided in two here by a circle
of cilia, and the mouth is right there. And the brain is formed up in that
part and this part later becomes segmented. So, there's a good imitation
at least of this arthropod embryo. That's called a trochophore, because
of that circle of cilia around here. Trochophore literally means "wheel
bearing", because this circle of cilia around the body is by which they
move. So there's more evidence from the worm that gives a very striking
likeness to the arthropod embryo. And the young crustacean is very much
like that, because it ... It doesn't have much of a body. It starts off
with.... like that... antenna, labrum, mandible .. and it has only three
segments to begin with. And there's another thing you see all three of those
things there [i.e., arthropod embryo, trochophore, nauplius] are
essentially alike, except that they .. in the insect and the myriapods,
the body becomes longer at once, while the crustacean has to grow. So, it
seems to me that that theory is about the simplest that you can get, and
the most satisfactory one that has been proposed on the relationship of
the arthropods to the annelid worms. And almost everybody admits that ...or
thinks that the worms and the arthropods are related organisms, but I don't
believe their so closely related as some think. We'll get to that later.[5]
So, if anybody wants to know what theory I recommend, I'd say that of Holmgren and Hanström. Hanström is the author of the large textbook I have on the comparative structure of the arthropod nervous system [3]. Because then when you consider that the ...the identical structure... the internal structure of the brain of all these forms, why it gives extra reason for accepting this theory as the most probable one we have. But if anybody wants to put ... as embryologists do ... they want to put their faith in a cavity in the mesoderm. It might be very simply be for the accumulation of waste products, even in the embryo. So, I don't think you can put too much faith in the presence of a cavity in the embryo of being necessarily an indication of segments. Because otherwise you'd have to suppose that that lobe here that once was composed of two or three moveable segments besides the prostomium. |
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| Well, that's one theory, but we've had other theories on the market... lately, in particular. One emanating from the west -- Stanford University -- commonly known as the Ferris-Henry Theory. Because Professor [Gordon Floyd] Ferris [6] out there, who died a short time ago, originated the idea, but Miss [Laura] Henry working with him, she did most of the work... on the other... most of the anatomical work and most of the writing about it. So, in that paper, last paper of mine, which I called "Facts and Theories of the Insect Head," I had to take most of what I said out on her. But the theory, however, does sound, at first, logical. And if you've encountered it -- as you must have done so in reading -- you probably have been rather mystified as to why it isn't right. But, anyway, no morphological arthropodist has accepted it that I know of. But still, as I say, it seems logical, because it's based on what we know about the nervous system in other parts of the body. |
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| The segments of the thorax and abdomen in the insect ...
have a ganglion in each segment.... eight in the abdomen ... ventral ..[and
three of these in the] thorax. Now each ganglion you see gives off its nerves
to its own segment... ??? ... there's three segments. Well, that's the generalized
pattern of the insect body, nervous system. And, as I say, in the generalized
condition the nerves from each ganglion go to the segment that that ganglion
belongs to. But these ganglia have a tendency to migrate forward and to
unite. So that in some cases ... |
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<DRAWING> [?]... There's the clypeus and labrum hanging down here, and the mouth is there, and the esophagus curves back that way and goes to the back of the head. And the brain lies back in here. But the brain is turned backward and is composed of three parts. The third part here straddles the esophagus and that innervates the part of the brain down here ... Well, so, the brain usually turns backward in the head because this central [?] part there innervates the antenna and this part in the front [?] but the antenna begins in development behind the eyes. But the brain [?] regardless of that. That would be ocular center, [?] center.. That is what you call the tritocerebral ganglion. It isn't necessarily so big as that; it straddles the esophagus, more or less. Well, now, this ganglion down here you see is part of the nerve chain of the gut. This is the subesophageal ganglion down here. Well, now there's another ganglion that lies up in here called the frontal ganglion, and it's innervated from the tritocerebrum … This little ganglion on each side of that [?] and then from this the nerve that connects with the tritocerebral ganglion, there's a nerve that goes down here and to the labrum … Now, if you draw that… draw that down from the top it'll show better ... Suppose there we have the tritocerebral ganglion [it has all the other ganglia on top of it?] And this frontal ganglion would be up here and its connectives would go up in this fashion… and then from these connectives…There's the labrum ... Nerves come off from those… Now, looking at that pattern of nerve connections and
branchings without knowing anything else about it… We've always said --
all the books, papers about the nervous system of the head…. Well, I've
said the same thing, I think -- that nerves ... a pair of nerves comes
off from the tritocerebral ganglia and divides into two. The median branch
goes to the frontal ganglion and the outer branch goes to the labrum.
Well, that simply describes what you see, and ... on ... but ... from
that apparent fact why Ferris and Henry have, borrowing what they have
over here in the abdomen -- I mean, taking that general principle "segments
can be identified by the nerve that goes to them" -- they claim that the
labrum, being innervated from the tritocerebral ganglia, is the segment
of the head. Does sound logical on the face of it, but considering
the innervation and the law of innervation of the ... relation between
nerves and ganglia, segments. it sounds quite logical. Well, if any of
you have encountered it...I don't doubt that it's rather ... well, it's
rather confusing. I know that [?] students have been puzzled to know what's
wrong with the theory. It certainly doesn't sound right. And no morphological
entomologists have accepted it that I know of, and most of them say it's
ridiculous. But it follows the general rule of nerves, so what're you
going to do about it? |
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| Well, the real fallacy though is this, I think. These so-called
nerves... I mean, nerves that are said to go up to the labrum don't do that
at all. A lot of the descriptions of the anatomy of the nervous system in
the insect have shown that those nerves are sensory nerves, and it's well
known that sensory nerves begin in the epidermis and grow inward. You see,
these motor nerves that we talked about here in the body have their central
cells of origin in the ganglia and then grow out from the ganglia. But the
sensory nerves, especially in the epidermis, ... this is a piece of epidermis...
some of these epidermal cells become nerve cells and the axon of that nerve
cell grows in like this ... [?] So, it's altogether wrong to say that those nerves grow out from the ganglia to the labrum. They grow just the other way. [Sir Vincent B.] Wigglesworth [7] just recently has had two papers or publications showing just how sensory nerves do grow in from the epidermis. The real nerve cells... epidermal cells have become nerve cells. So, it's quite wrong, then, to say that those nerves grow out to the labrum. Just the opposite is true; they grow in toward the ganglion, and they unite with the connectives of the frontal ganglion in order to get into the ganglion. And, you see, sensory nerves have to connect with the motor system in the nervous centers. Because, they're insects, they don't simply don't feel or smell, the way we do, they give a reaction which has to.... The stimulus of a sensory nerve has to produce some kind of motion. It either goes after something because ... either its food or it has to avoid it, one way or the other. So, I say, with the insect, the collection of sensory nerves, especially from the... is to produce a motion of the animal that will be advantageous to it one way or another. |
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| So, I think that that… And then, more than that, there are ... there have been integumentary sensory nerves described in other arthropods that come from a long way back in the body, come up and join the brain [at the] tritocerebral ganglion. And in Limulus it's long been known a sensory nerve begins way back in the thorax [opisthosoma], runs forward and connects with the tritocerebral ganglion of the brain. So, as I say, there's plenty of evidence that sensory nerves do not identify the segments that they go to or the ganglion that they enter. Well, since Ferris is gone, I don't suppose I'll have to put my idea across to him. And I haven't heard from Miss Henry, though I sent her a copy of my paper a while ago. But one man from the coast told me that he recently did a Masters devoted to the theory, but nobody believed it anyway. But, as I say, it must be puzzling to teachers and students, because at first sight it sounds perfectly logical. |
| William Bickley: Dr. Snodgrass, where is the motor nerve to the labrum? |
| Snodgrass: Oh, that comes from the frontal ganglion. Yeah, motor nerves for both the clypeus and the labrum here, come from the frontal ganglion [8]. |
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| Well, now there's…after ... The theory was, as I say, wasn't
accepted by many entomologists, but a modification of it was presented by
Dr. [Ferdinand H.] Butt from Cornell. He resigned ... or retired
from Cornell about a year ago and went out west. But before he left he published
a paper on the head of the insect or arthropods ... in which he had a totally
new concept based on the same idea that the labrum is innervated from the
tritocerebral ganglia [9]. And therefore somehow or another [?].
He assembled evidence to show that many of the insects ..that's the front
of the head, the mouth here.. in many insects the labrum does begin as two
little lobes up there on the side of the mouth or right behind the mouth
and move forward and unite in front of the mouth to form the labrum. It
isn't general, but there's plenty of evidence from different writers that
that does occur in a number of insects, [but] not in any of the other arthropods.
And yet the labrum is a preoral lobe that goes clear back to the trilobites.
But anyway, since he didn't accept the Ferris-Henry idea, that the labrum
is the segment of the tritocerebral ganglion but still being innervated
from those ganglia back there, he got ... he proposed the idea that those
labral lobes are the appendages of the tritocerebral segment which
have moved forward and united in front of the mouth. Well, of course, the
same objection applies to that that these nerves are sensory and grow back
in the other direction. [They] don't start in the ganglion. And anyway,
the labrum, you see, is in some insects undoubted is formed by two lobes
that come together here and unite into a single lobe in front of the mouth,
but not in any other arthropods. So, his theory is open to the same objection
as the Ferris-Henry and, more than that, they ... there are in a few cases
have been examined... observed ... very minute appendage vestiges on the
tritocerebral segment, that is, that's the premandibular segment, which
in the embryo, vestiges of former appendages. But early in the crustacean,
those appendages of that segment become the second antennae. Well, now if
we look at the labral lobe in the early embryo of a crustaceans we see something
like this. [?] labrum develops up there and they begin very small. But all
that segments have those lobes..[?] Embryos of crustaceans pass stage there
called a nauplius. Well, now, that's perfectly good evidence that the tritocerebral
appendages are present in the Crustacea along with a well-developed labrum.
And yet he contended that when you get to the Crustacea that the labrum
must be formed by the bases of the second antennae. But there's no evidence
for that at all. So, all together, I think his theory or idea is just...
He got carried away by a new idea, like most ... a lot of us easily can
do. So, we can go back, then, to the original idea. We can eliminate all these funny theories, except that of Holmgren and Hanstrom, which I think is worth considering as the most probable way of explaining this. But otherwise, as I say, we can go back to our old-fashioned ideas we don't have to accept any of these new fangled ways of explaining things. But, as I say, more morphologist are ready to propose, or think, or have a great desire sometimes to be revolutionary if they can. Get out a new idea that's going to upset everything else that went before it. And it's really pathetic to read some of Ferris' dissertations on this subject in which he deplores the dark ages that went before him in which we were floundering in ignorance before he made his wonderful discovery about the labrum being the first segment, and so on... Well... Have I used up the time? |
| Bickley: About three more minutes. |
| Snodgrass: Three more minutes. Well... |
| Bickley: Do you want to answer some questions? |
| Snodgrass: I was going to say, I'll answer any questions. Next time I think I'll take up the subject of the evolution of the arthropods, which we can develop very nicely from this embryo. Any questions? |
| Questioner: Did either Ferris or Henry contend that the labrum was originally a postoral structure which had migrated... |
| Snodgrass: No they never said anything like that at all. And, more than that, they took this as the second segment, then the ocular and the antennal region was the third segment. But here's another point I forgot to mention, that these labral nerves that come from the labrum. I mean, these nerves here, not only come from the labrum but they come from the overall surface of the ....??? ... of the mouthparts of the head. They're just sensory nerves that all come together ... in single strands there. So, that the group that goes to the labium ... labrum itself has no specific meaning. |
| Theodore Bissell: Dr. Snodgrass, aphids ... certain... they typically have one pair of setae, dorsal setae on each abdominal segment going forward on the thorax. I think two pairs on the prothorax and then on the head it may have as many as five pairs of dorsal setae. |
| Snodgrass: What animal is that? |
| Bissell: Aphids… certain, certain aphids. I wondered if they have any indication ... make any indication of the internal segmentation of the head, ... these setae? |
| Snodgrass: Well, I don't believe so, because the ... Of course, we know that, as I said last time, that there are four segments up there in the composition of the head. |
| Bissell: Five? |
| Snodgrass: Four. I mean there's the premandibular, mandibular and the two maxillary segments. They undoubtedly had …premandibular and mandibles formed here, but all that, you see, is combined in the adult head. But they are so integrated [and] consolidated that there's no trace left of the lines between them. And the muscles seem spread all over everywhere. And some muscles ... mandibular muscles are so big that they spread all over. Doesn't look as if they keep within any segmental limits. <BELL> So, I've got to use other kinds of evidence to show the segmentation of the head. Except that the embryo does show those four segments. But [the composition of that lobe is where we still have questions?]... Preoral lobe, four postoral segments all grow together in the head ... the head of the insect. As I explained last time that doesn't happen in all ... all of the arthropods. Some of the crustaceans add only one segment. Anything else? [I] heard the bell ring, so I guess I'll have to quit. Well, next time I'll go over some ideas about the ... |
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APPLAUSE
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END
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NOTES
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1. The term "segment"
may give the impression of a distinct unit of the body with well-defined
borders, like one bead among a string of beads. This occurs in some animal
groups, such as tapeworms, but does not describe
the condition in arthropods very well. Rather, the body shows a clear
spatial periodicity that apparently results from the cyclical activation
of a developmental program. Consequently, it is not really clear where
one segment begins and another ends, and different workers tend to define
segments and segmental borders based on their research interests or on
features that seem obvious in some way. Thus, embryologists have tended
to focus on such things as the formation of mesodermal somites and coelomic
sacs; functional morphologists focus on Snodgrass's "motor units"
or appendages; developmental geneticists focus on the expression of the
gene engrailed; neuroanatomists focus on the structure of ganglia
and the trajectory of motor nerves and so forth. Rather than using the
term "segment," it may be more precise to use terms like myomere
for spatial periodicity in muscles, appendomere for appendages, cardiomere
for the heart, etc. For example, the apparent external segmentation
of most hard-bodied arthropods are scleromeres and reflect the periodicity
of the sclerites, but the external segments of soft-bodied arthropods
(e.g., caterpillars) reflect the sites of muscle attachment and
therefore correspond to the underlying myomeres. Not all "segments"
are the same. 7. Sir Vincent B. Wigglesworth (1899-1994), renowned
insect physiologist and author of the seminal text The Principles of
Insect Physiology. Follow these links for biographical information: 8. Recent work indicates that the cell bodies of
the motoneurons of the labrum occur in the tritocerebrum in insects and
crustaceans (Haas et al., 2001). |