Page:Scientific results HMS Challenger vol 18 part 1.djvu/38

xviii as "bilaterally symmetrical" in the strictest sense of the term. This is the most important ground-form in the animal kingdom, inasmuch as it obtains almost exclusively among the higher animals (Vertebrata, Articulata, Mollusca, Vermes). The body consists of only two antimeres, which correspond to the two symmetrical halves of the body. Of the three dimensive axes two are allopolar, one isopolar; the oral pole of the longitudinal main axis is different from the aboral; the dorsal pole of the sagittal axis is different from the ventral; but the right pole of the frontal axis is equal to the left. The right antimere is usually precisely similar to the left (Eudipleura), more rarely it is slightly dissimilar or asymmetrical (Dysdipleura). Among the Radiolaria this ground-form is entirely wanting in the Porulosa or Holotrypasta ( and ), but on the contrary it is very common in the Osculosa or Merotrypasta ( and ). In the it is of special importance, for the typical Cortina (the combination of the primary sagittal ring with the basal tripod) exhibits the zygopleural ground-form clearly sketched out; indeed it is usually clearly seen even in the sagittal ring itself, for its ventral segment is more strongly curved than the dorsal; its basal (or oral) pole is always different from the apical (or aboral). Of the three feet of the basal tripod the unpaired (caudal) one is directed dorsally and backwards, the two paired (pectoral) ones ventrally and forwards. The majority of the may be regarded as modifications of this original ground-form. Its relation to the primitively triradiate tripod presents a still unsolved problem, and the numerous relations of the zygopleural to the multiradiate ground-forms in the are exceedingly complicated. The zygopleural ground-form is less widely distributed among the, though it is very characteristically developed in the rich and varied group of Challengerida (Pl. 99). (See Gener. Morphol., Bd. i. pp. 507-527.)

39. Synopsis of the Geometrical Ground-Forms:—