The two caudal lobes, and the very marked groove between them, are seen at _ts_. The front end of the notochord became indistinct, and I could not see its exact termination. The epithelium of the alimentary canal (_al_) is seen closely underlying the notochord and becoming continuous with the epiblast at the hind end of the notochord.
The first visceral cleft (1_vc_) and eye (_op_) are just commencing to be formed, and the cranial flexure has just appeared.
Fig. 10. Section through the dorsal region of an embryo somewhat older than the one represented in fig. 9. (Magnified 96 diam.)
It shews (1) the formation by a pinching off from the top of the alimentary canal of a peculiar body which underlies the notochord (_x_); (2) the primitive extension of the pleuro-peritoneal cavity up to the top of the vertebral plates.
Fig. 11_a_, _b_, and _c_. Three sections closely following each other from an embryo in which three visceral clefts are present; _a_ is the most anterior of the three. (Magnified 96 diam.) In all of these the muscle-plates are shewn at _mp_. They have become separated from the lateral plates in _b_ and _c_, but are still continuous with them in _a_. The early formed mass of muscles is also shewn in all the figures (_mp´_).
The figures further shew (1) the formation of the spinal nerves (_spn_) as small bodies of cells closely applied to the upper and outer edge of the neural canal.
(2) The commencing formation of the cells which form the axial skeleton from the inner (splanchnopleuric) layer of the muscle-plate. Sections _b_ and _c_ are given more especially to shew the mode of formation of the oviduct (_ov_).
In _b_ it is seen as a _solid knob (ov)_, arising from the point where the somatopleure and splanchnopleure unite, and in _c_ (the section behind _b_) as a _solid rod (ov)_ closely applied to the epiblast, which has grown backwards from the knob seen in _b_.
N.B. In all three sections only one side is completed.
Fig. 12_a_ and _b_. Two transverse sections of an embryo just before the appearance of the external gills. (Magnified 96 diam.)
In _a_ there is seen to be an involution on each side (_pwd_), while _b_ is a section from the space between two involutions from the pleuro-peritoneal cavity, so that the Wolffian duct (at first solid) (_wd_) is not connected as in _a_ with the pleuro-peritoneal cavity. The further points shewn in the sections are--