The changes in the central nervous system during the life history of the beetle, Passalus cornutus fabricius

Abstract In early embryonic stages of Passalus there are, in addition to the brain and suboesophageal ganglion, three thoracic and ten abdominal ganglia; one ganglion to each body segment. Before hatching the tenth, ninth and eighth abdominal ganglia coalesce. During the three larval instars the terminal ganglion remains in the sixth abdominal segment and only minor changes occur. By the end of the third day of pupal life the adult form of the nervous system is practically assumed. All abdominal ganglia are fused into a single, solid, elongated ganglionic mass. Connectives have disappeared between meso‐ and meta‐thoracic and between metathoracic and abdominal ganglia; and with exception of the brain, sub‐oesophageal and prothoracic ganglia, the entire ventral chain has come to lie in the mesothorax. The peripheral nerves still arise from the ganglia and ganglionic mass in their same relative positions and still supply the same segments in which they were originally located.