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Acknowledgments

Marilyn Anness helped with the photography and analysis of a portion of this work, which is greatly appreciated. For one of us (D.G.A.) the initial interest in the nematode was sparked by S. Ward in whose laboratory the first half of the reconstruction was done. Discussions with John White on both anatomy and function have contributed to the interpretation of how the pharyngeal nervous system works. Sydney Brenner, kindly provided laboratory space and encouragement. Part of the work was supported by NSF grant no. GB 36970 to S. Ward. The completion of the work was done during the tenure of a Research Fellowship of Muscular Dystrophy Associations of America to D.G.A.

References

Bird, A. F. 1971 The structure of nematodes. New York: Academic Press.
Brenner, S. 1973 The genetics of behaviour. Br. med. Bull. 29, 269-271.
Chitwood, B. G. & Chitwood, M. B. 1938 An introduction to nematology. Baltimore: Monumental Printing Co.
Coggeshall, R. E. 1971 A possible sensory-motor neuron in Aplysia California. Tissue & Cell 3, 637-648.
de Coninck, L. 1965 Généralités. In Traité de zoologie, anatomie, systématique, biologie, Tome IV (ed. P.-P. Grassé). Paris: Masson et Cie.
Doncaster C. C. 1962 Nematode feeding mechanisms. I. Observations on Rhabditisand Pelodera. Nematologica 8, 313-320.
Epstein, H. F., Waterston, R. F. & Brenner, S. 1974 A mutant affecting the heavy chain of myosin in Caenorhabditis elegans. J. molec. Biol. 90, 291-300.
Horridge, G. A. 1968 The origins of the nervous system. In The structure and function of nervous tissue (ed. G. H. Bourne), vol. I. New York : Academic Press.
Lee, D. L. 1968 The ultrastructure of the alimentary tract of the skin-penetrating larva of Nippostrongylus brasiliensis (Nematoda). J. Zool., Lond. 154, 9-18.
Reger, J. 1966 The fine structure of fibrillar components and plasma membrane contacts in esophageal myoepithelium of Ascaris lumbricoides (var. suum). J. Ultrastruc. Res. 14, 602-617.
Rosenbluth, J. 1965 Ultrastructural organisation of obliquely striated muscle fibres in Ascaris lumbricoides. J. Cell Biol. 25, 495-515.
Sulston, J .E. 1976 Post embryonic development in the ventral cord of Caenorhabditis elegans. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 275, 287-297.
Ward, S., Thomson, N., White, J .G. & Brenner, S. 1975 Electron microscopical reconstruction of the anterior sensory anatomy of the nematode Caenarhabditis elegans. J. camp. Neur. 160, 313-338.
Ware, R. W., Clark, D., Crossland, K. & Russell, R. L. 1975 The nerve ring of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans: sensory input and motor output. J. camp. Neur. 162, 71-110.
White, J .G., Southgate, E., Thomson, J. N. & Brenner, S. 1976 The structure of the ventral nerve cord of Caenarhabditis elegans. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 275, 327-348.
Yuen, P. H. 1968a Electron microscopical studies on Ditylenchus dipsaci. II. Oesophagus. Nematalogica 14, 385-394.
Yuen, P. H. 1968b Electron microscopical studies on the anterior end of Panagrellus silusiae(Rhabditidae). Nematalogica 14, 554-564.

Note added in Proof, 20 April 1976

Recently, pale yellow fluorescence seen cytologically by the formaldehyde induced fluorescence technique of Fuxe & Jonsson (1973) has been found localized over the position of the NSM cells in the pharynx (J. Sulston, personal communication). This pale fluorescence which can be distinguished from the dopamine fluorescence seen in the nematode (Sulston, Dew & Brenner 1975) suggests that the NSM cells might contain serotonin.

Fuxe, K. & Jonsson, G. 1973 The histochemical fluorescence method for the demonstration of catecholamines. J. Histochem. Cytochem. 21,293-311.
Sulston, J., Dew, M. & Brenner, S. 1975 Dopaminergic neurons in the nematode Caenarhabditis elegans. J. comp. Neur. 163, 215-226.

Web adaptation, Thomas Boulin, for Wormatlas, 2002, 2003