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Journal of Experimental Biology 16,96-120 (1939)
Published by Company of Biologists 1939

Studies on Amphibian Metamorphosis : XVI. The Development of Forelimb Opercular Perforations in Rana temporaria AND Bufo bufo

O. M. HELFF ¹

¹ Department of Biology, University College, New York University

(1) Opercular integument, homoplastically transplanted to the back and side of R. temporaria larvae, underwent a process of partial degeneration. The histolysis was not confined to any localized region of the transplant.

(2) Autoplastic transplantation of opercular integument to the back and side produced a variety of results. Normal histological structure was maintained in certain transplants, generalized degeneration was observed in others, while in several instances localized histolysis resulting in perforation formation occurred.

(3) Homoplastic and autoplastic transplantation of back and side skin to the opercular region resulted in histolysis and perforation formation in such transplants during larval involution.

(4) The right forelimbs (in early stages of development) with attached portions of the shoulder girdle were extirpated in R. temporaria and B. bufo. During subsequent metamorphosis, normal opercular histolysis followed by perforation formation in many cases was observed. In most instances, serial sections of the peribranchial cavity revealed the absence of cutaneous glands.

(5) Extirpation of the right forelimb only was made in the same two species. Opercular histolysis subsequently occurred in all instances, resulting in perforation formation in the great majority of cases during larval involution. In many of the B. bufo animals two separate perforations developed, one filled with limb stump and the other with gill tissue.

(6) It is concluded that in R. temporaria a particular area of the operculum may in some individuals possess self-degenerative potentialities conducive to histolysis and perforation formation during metamorphosis. In both R. temporaria and B. bufo histolytic influences emanating from the atrophying gill tissue and the cutaneous glands of the forelimb are probably also responsible for opercular histolysis and perforation formation. Limb pressure must be considered a supplemental factor.

(7) The results are discussed in general and attention called to the fact that opercular histolysis and perforation formation are "doubly assured" in some species and possibly even "triply assured" in others. Emphasis is placed on the evidently wide divergence between species as regards the particular combination of factors responsible for opercular histolysis and perforation formation. Apparently, no one explanation can serve to account for the phenomenon as it occurs in various species of anurans.