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Bible Encyclopedias
Mollusca
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
or one of the great " phyla," or sub-kingdoms, of the animal pedigree or kingdom. The shell-bearing forms belonging to this group which were known to Linnaeus were placed by him (in 1748) in the third order of his class Vermes under the name " Testacea," whilst the Echinoderms, Hydroids and Annelids, with the naked Mollusca, formed his second order termed " Zoophyta." Ten years later he replaced the name " Zoophyta " by " Mollusca," which was thus in the first instance applied, not to the Mollusca at present so termed, but to a group consisting chiefly of other organisms. Gradually, however, the term Mollusca became used to include those Mollusca formerly placed among the " Testacea," as well as the naked Mollusca.
It is important to observe that the term µaXaiaa, of which Mollusca is merely a latinized form, was used by Aristotle to indicate a group consisting of the cuttle-fishes only.
As now classified, the Mollusca consist of the following subdivisions: - Grade A. - Isopleura.
Class I. - Amphineura (see Chiton).
Grade B. - Prorhipidoglossomorpha.
Class II. - Gastropoda.
Class III. - Scaphopoda.
Class IV. - Lamellibranchia.
Grade C. - Siphonopoda.
Class V. - Cephalopoda.
History of Classification
The definite erection of the Mollusca into the position of one of the great primary groups of the animal kingdom is due to George Cuvier (1788-1800), who largely occupied himself with the dissection of representatives of this type. l * An independent anatomical investigation of the Mollusca had been carried on by the remarkable Neapolitan naturalist Poli (1791), whose researches 2 were not published until after his death (1817), and were followed by the beautiful works of another Neapolitan zoologist, the illustrious Delle Chiaje.3 The embranchement or sub-kingdom Mollusca, as defined by Cuvier, included the following classes of shellfish: (1) the cuttles or poulps, under the name Cephalopoda; (2) the snails, whelks and slugs, both terrestrial and marine, under the name Gastropoda; (3) the sea-butterflies or winged-snails, under the name Pteropoda; (4) the clams, mussels and oysters, under the name Acephala; (5) the lamp-shells, under the name Brachiopoda; (6) the seasquirts or ascidians, under the name Nuda; and (7) the barnacles and sea-acorns, under the name Cirrhopoda.
The main limitations of the sub-kingdom or phylum Mollusca, as laid down by Cuvier, and the chief divisions thus recognized within its limits by him, hold good to the present day. At the same time, three of the classes considered by him as Mollusca have been one by one removed from that association in consequence of improved knowledge, and one additional class, incorporated since his day with the Mollusca with general approval, has, after more than forty years, been again detached and assigned an independent position owing to newly acquired knowledge.
The first of Cuvier's classes to be removed from the Mollusca was that of the Cirrhopoda. Their affinities with the lower Crustacea were recognized by Cuvier and his contemporaries, but it was one of the brilliant discoveries of that remarkable and too-little-honoured naturalist, J. Vaughan Thompson, of Cork, which decided their position as Crustacea. The metamorphoses of the Cirrhopoda were described and figured by him in 1830 in a very complete manner, and the legitimate conclusion as to their affinities was formulated by him. 4 Thus it is to Thompson (1830), and not to Burmeister (1834), as erroneously stated by Keferstein, that the merit of this discovery belongs. The next class to be removed from Cuvier's * These figures refer to the Bibliography at the end of the article.
Mollusca was that of the Nuda, better known as Tunicata. In 1866 the Russian embryologist Kowalewsky startled the zoological world with a minute account of the developmental changes of Ascidia, one of the Tunicata, 5 and it became evident that the affinities of that class were with the Vertebrata, whilst their structural agreements with Mollusca were only superficial. The last class which has been removed from the Cuvierian Mollusca is that of the Lamp-shells or Brachiopoda. The history of its dissociation is connected with that of the class, viz. the Polyzoa or Bryozoa, which has been both added to and again removed from the Mollusca between Cuvier's date and the present day. The name of J. Vaughan Thompson is again that which is primarily connected with the history of a Molluscan class. In 1830 he pointed out that among the numerous kinds of " polyps " at that time associated by naturalists with the Hydroids, there were many which had a peculiar and more elaborate type of organization, and for these he proposed the name Polyzoa. Subsequently 6 they were termed Bryozoa by Ehrenberg (1831).
Henri Milne-Edwards in 1844 demonstrated the affinities of the Polyzoa with the Molluscan class Brachiopoda, and proposed to associate the three classes Brachiopoda, Polyzoa and Tunicata in a large group " Molluscoidea," co-ordinate with the remaining classes of Cuvier's Mollusca, which formed a group retaining the name Mollusca. By subsequent writers the Polyzoa have in some cases been kept apart from the Mollusca and classed with the " Vermes "; whilst by others they have, together with the Brachiopoda, been regarded.as true Mollusca. Increase of knowledge has now, however, established the conclusion that the agreement of structure supposed to obtain between Polyzoa and true Mollusca is delusive; and accordingly they, together with the Brachiopoda, were removed from the Molluscan phylum by Lankester in his article in the 9th edition of this work (on the which present article is based). Further details in regard to this, the last revolution in Molluscan classification, will be found in the article Polyzoa.
As thus purified by successive advances of embryological research, the Mollusca were reduced to the Cuvierian classes of Cephalopoda, Pteropoda, Gastropoda and Acephala. Certain modifications in the disposition of these classes are naturally enough rendered necessary by the vast accumulation of knowledge as to the anatomy and embryology of the forms comprised in them. Foremost among those who between 1840 and 1880 laboured in this field are the French zoologists Henri Milne-Edwards° and Lacaze Duthiers, 10 to the latter of whom we owe the most accurate dissections and beautiful illustrations of a number of different types. To Kolliker,ll Gegenbaur, 12 and more recently Spenger, l3 amongst German anatomists, we are indebted for epoch-making researches of the same kind. In England, Owen's anatomy of the pearly nautilus,14 Huxley's discussion of the general morphology of the Mollusca,17 and Lankester's embryological investigations, 19 have aided in advancing our knowledge of the group. Two remarkable works of a systematic character dealing with the Mollusca deserve mention here - the Manual of the Mollusca, by Dr S. P. Woodward, a model of clear systematic exposition, and the exhaustive treatise on the Malacozoa or Weichthiere by Professor Keferstein of Gottingen, published as part of Bronn's Klassen and Ordnungen des Thier-Reichs. The arrangement adopted by Ray Lankester in the 9th edition of the Ency. Brit. (art. " Mollusca "; 1883) was as follows: Of the four Cuvierian classes mentioned above, the Pteropoda were united with the Cephalopoda, on account of the apparent similarity of the cephalic tentacles in some of the former to the arms of the latter. An additional class was instituted for the reception of Dentalium and its few allies, and for this class Bronn's name Scaphopoda was used. The Chitons and their allies were placed under the Gastropoda, as a distinct branch called Isopleura, and for the Acephala de Blainville's name Lamellibranchia was substituted. The latter were regarded as forming a distinct branch, equivalent in rank to the other three classes together, the latter all possessing the radula which is wanting in Lamellibranchs.
Since the 9th edition of the Ency. Brit. was published important advances have been made in our knowledge of the Mollusca, as the result of researches largely due to the interest excited in the subject by Lankester's article. Attention has been especially directed to the investigation of the most primitive forms in each group, and accordingly we can now form much more definite conceptions of the phylogeny and evolution of the various classes. The most important and extensive contributions to this progress have been made by the Belgian zoologist, Dr Paul Pelseneer, who has made the Mollusca his special study.
The Chitonidae and the Aplacophora are now separated from the Gastropoda and raised to the rank of a distinct class, under the name of Amphineura. On the other hand, Boas and Pelseneer have shown that the Pteropoda have nothing to do with the Cephalopoda, but are Gastropoda modified for a pelagic life; they are therefore now united with the Gastropoda. The Lamellibranchia are no longer regarded as a distinct branch in contrast to the remaining Mollusca; according to Pelseneer they are allied to the Gastropoda and Scaphopoda, all three classes being derived from a common hypothetical ancestor, called Prorhipidoglossum. These three classes have therefore been united by Grobben into one branch or grade, the Prorhipidoglossomorpha.
General Characters of the Mollusca
The forms comprised in the various groups, whilst exhibiting an extreme range of variety in shape, as may be seen on comparing an oyster, a cuttle-fish, and a sea-slug such as Doris; whilst adapted, some to life on dry land, others to the depths of the sea, others to rushing streams; whilst capable, some of swimming, others of burrowing, crawling or jumping, some, on the other hand, fixed and immobile; some amongst the most formidable of carnivores, others feeding on vegetable mud, or on the minutest of microscopic organisms - yet all agree in possessing in common a very considerable number of structural details which are not possessed in common by any other animals.
The structural features which the Mollusca do possess in common with other animals belonging to other great phyla of the animal kingdom are those characteristic of the Coelomata, one of the two great grades (the other and lower being that of the Coelentera) into which the higher animals; or Metazoa as distinguished from the Protozoa, are divided. The Metazoa all commence their individual existence as a single cell or plastid, which multiplies itself by transverse division. Unlike the cells of Protozoa, these embryonic cells of the Metazoa do not remain each like its neighbour and capable of independent life, but proceed to arrange themselves into two layers, taking the form of a sac. The cavity of the two-cell-layered sac or diblastula thus formed is the primitive gut or arch-enteron. In the Coelentera, whatever subsequent changes of shape the little sac may undergo as it grows up to be polyp or jelly-fish, the original arch-enteron remains as the one cavity pervading all regions of the body. In the Coelomata, on the other hand, there is another cavity, dividing the body-wall into two layers: an internal layer surrounding the gut, and an external layer. This cavity is excavated in a third mass of cells distinct from the cells lining the gut, forming the endoderm, and the cells covering the surface of the body, the ectoderm. This third mass of cells is the mesoderm. The Mollusca agree in being coelomate with the phyla Vertebrata, Platyhelmia (flat-worms), Echinoderma, Appendiculata (insects, ringed-worms, &c.), and others - in fact, with all the Metazoa except the sponges, corals, polyps, and medusae.
In common with all other Coelomata, the Mollusca are at one period of life possessed of a prostomium or region in front of the mouth, which is the essential portion of the " head," and is connected with the property of forward locomotion in a definite direction and the steady carriage of the body (as opposed to rotation of the body on its long axis). As a result, the Coelomata, and with them the Mollusca, present (in the first instance) the general condition of body known as bilateral symmetry; the dorsal is differentiated from the ventral surface, whilst a right and a left side similar to, or rather the complements of, one another are permanently established. In common with all other Coelomata, the Mollusca have the mouth and first part of the alimentary canal which leads into the met-enteron formed by a special invagination of the outer layer of the primitive body-wall, not to be confounded with that which often, but not always, accompanies the antecedent formation of the archenteron; this invagination is termed the stomodaeum. Similarly an anal aperture is formed in connexion with a special invagination which meets the hinder part of the met-enteron, and is termed the proctodaeum.
The coelom is primarily and essentially the generative cavity: the reproductive cells arise from its walls, i.e. from the coelomic epithelium. True nephridia do not primarily open into the coelom, as was formerly taught, but are intra-cellular ducts in the mesoderm. Such organs are absent in Mollusca in the adult state, but a pair of nephridia usually occurs in the larva. The coelom opens to the exterior by ducts which are primarily genital ducts by which the ova or sperms are discharged. These ducts, however, as well as the coelomic epithelium, may assume excretory functions. In Mollusca the coelom is reduced and consists of two parts, the pericardial cavity which surrounds the heart, and the cavity of the gonads or generative organs. There is usually one pair of coelomic ducts leading from the pericardium to the exterior, and these are the excretory organs or kidneys, formerly known as the organs of Bojanus. The walls of the pericardium are also excretory in parts, these parts forming the pericardial glands. In the majority of Mollusca the gonads are provided with a pair of ducts of their own. There are thus two pairs of coelomic ducts. This fact gives rise to the question whether the Mollusca are to be regarded as primitively segmented animals or not. In animals which exhibit typical segmentation or metamerism, such as segmented worms (Chaetopoda), each segment or metamere possesses its own coelomic cavity, a pair of coelomic ducts, and a pair of nephridia. The structure of the Mollusca in the greater number of cases agrees with the hypothesis that the primitive form was unsegmented, and therefore had but one pair of coelomic ducts and one pair of nephridia. In existing forms the latter disappear in the adult. In the most primitive forms of several classes there are no distinct genital ducts, the gonads when mature discharging into or through the kidneys. Among the Gastropoda, in the Aspidobranchia, there is no genital duct, and the gonad opens into the right kidney; in the more modified forms the left kidney alone is functional, the right has been converted into the genital duct. Among the Lamellibranchia again the kidneys serve as genital ducts in the Protobranchia and some Filibranchia. In the higher forms the opening of the gonad is shifted more and more towards the external aperture of each kidney until finally it is situated on the external surface, and thus the gonad secondarily acquires an independent aperture. In the Scaphopoda there is no distinct genital duct, the relations are as in Aspidobranchia. Among the Amphineura we find one pair of coelomic ducts in the Aplacophora, two pairs in the Chitons. In the former the genital coelom and the pericardial coelom are continuous and the reproductive cells escape by the renal ducts. In the Chitons or Polyplacophora, on the other hand, the two cavities are separate, and there are independent genital ducts. It is possible therefore to regard the latter condition as secondary, and to conclude that the separate genital ducts have been derived from the original single pair of coelomic ducts, as in Lamellibranchs.
The Cephalopoda, however, do not harmonize so well with this view. The earliest forms of this class geologically are the Nautiloidea. Assuming that these ancestral forms resembled the existing Nautilus in their internal anatomy, they had two pairs of renal ducts and one pair of genital ducts, which would apparently indicate, not a single metamere or unsegmented body, but three metameres. There are however only two pairs of branchiae. The Dibranchia, with only one pair of branchiae, one pair of renal organs, and one pair of genital ducts, are much more recent, not appearing till the end of the Secondary epoch, and therefore must be regarded as descended from the Tetrabranchia. The latter are represented in the Upper Cambrian formations, together with Lamellibranchia and Gastropoda, and there are no earlier Molluscan fossils than these. Palaeontology therefore throws no light on the question whether the metameric or the unsegmented Mollusca were the earlier. The development of the Cephalopoda affords at present no better evidence that the metamerism is secondary. That of Nautilus, which would be most important in this inquiry, is unfortunately still unknown. In the Dibranchia true nephridia have not been detected in the embryo, nor has it been shown that the genital ducts are derived from the renal tubes. On the other hand, there is no evidence that the forms which show no metamerism, such as the Gastropoda, are descended from metameric ancestors. On the whole, then, the most probable conclusion is that the original ancestral form of the Mollusca was unsegmented, possessed one pair of true nephridia, and one pair of coelomic ducts whose function was to conduct the generative products to the exterior. The chief types of Mollusca were already differentiated at the beginning of the geological record, and the metamerism which occurs in the Cephalopoda has been evolved within the limits of that class.
External Characters
The characteristic organs of Mollusca are the mantle and shell, the foot, the ctenidia and the radula, of which all but the last are external. The original form was bilaterally symmetrical, and this symmetry is retained in all the classes except the Gastropoda. At the anterior end the head is differentiated; it bears the sense-organs, and contains the muscular pharynx within which is the radular apparatus. The rest of the body consists of the foot ventrally and the visceral mass dorsally. The foot is a muscular mass without cuticle or skeleton, excepting certain cuticular structures such as the byssus of Lamellibranchs and the operculum of Gastropods, which do not aid in locomotion. The foot is usually the pnly organ of locomotion. It corresponds to the ventral part of the body-wall in other animals. The muscular tissue of the dorsal body-wall is much reduced and the integument here is thin and FIG. i. - Ctenidia of various Mollusca (original).
A, Of Chiton: f.t., fibrous tissue; a.b.v., afferent blood-vessel; e.b.v., efferent blood-vessel; g.l., laterally paired lamellae.
B, Of Sepia: letters as in A.
C, Of Fissurella: letters as in A.
D, Of Nucula: d, position of axis with blood-vessels; a, inner: b and c, outer row of lamellae.
E, Of Paludina: i, intestine running parallel with the axis of the ctenidium and ending in the anus a; br., rows of elongate processes corresponding to the two series of lamellae of the upper figures.
