The gastrulation of Amphioxus

Abstract

MATERIAL for a study of the process of gastrulation of Amphioxus was collected in 1895 at Faro, Sicily, and at the Stazione Zoologica in Naples.'A part of the material was stained at once and surface preparations made ; another part, after staining, was imbedded in paraffine, and the remaining eggs were preserved in alcohol.Kowalevski's and Hatschek's account of the gastrulation left many points still unsettled, and Lwoffs description of the process was so different from those of his predecessors that the entire problem appeared in a new light.Since our work began, no less than three papers have appeared dealing with the gastrulation of Amphioxus.It might seem, under these circumstances, that turther work would be superfluous ; yet the more we have studied the process in Amphioxus the more difficult has the problem appeared, and none of these authors seem to us to have reached a satisfactory conclusion.1 For further details, see Morgan ('96).