Note 119 — Chapter XIII

It is not difficult to picture a possible derivation of delamination from invagination; while a comparison of the formation of the inner layers (mesoblast and hypoblast) in Ascetta (amongst the Sponges), and in the Echinodermata, shews a very simple way in which it is possible to conceive of a passage of delamination into invagination. In Ascetta the cells, which give rise to the mesoblast and hypoblast, are budded off from the inner wall of the blastosphere, especially at one point; while in Echinodermata (fig. 199) there is a small invaginated sack which gives rise to the hypoblast, while from the walls of this sack amœboid cells are budded off which give rise to a large part of the mesoblast. If we suppose the hypoblast cells budded off at one point in Ascetta gradually to form an invaginated sack, while the mesoblast cells continued to be budded off as before, we should pass from the delaminate type of Ascetta to the invaginate type of an Echinoderm.