KITABBUDDY

Unit 1

Q.No 1:- Describe general classification of Annelida.

Ans. The Annelids are found chiefly in aquatic, marine, or freshwater some
terrestrial, burrowing or tubicolous, sedentary or free-living, and some
commensal and parasitic. The body is elongated, triploblastic, bilaterally
symmetrical, truly coelomate, and vermiform. The body is metamerically
segmented, externally by transverse grooves and internally by septa into
several divisions, each is called a segment, metamere, or somite. The body
organization is of organ grade system. The body wall is contractile or dermo-
muscular consisting of outer muscle fiber circular and inner longitudinal. The
appendages are jointed when present. Locomotory organs are segmentally
repeated chitinous bristles called setae or chaetae, embedded in the skin.

Classification:- Barnes (1987) divided Annelida into 3 classes:-

(i) Polychaeta (ii) Oligochaeta (iii) Hirudinea

(i) Class Polychaeta

The polychaetes are cosmopolitan and most of the species are common on the
Indo-Pacific coasts. Many species have a worldwide distribution and the inter-
tropical are the same in all the oceans. Thus the distribution of Polychaeta is
mainly limited by temperature. The Polychaetes are chiefly marine, some
freshwater. They are carnivorous and body segmentation is internal and
external. The head consists of prostomium and peristomium and bears eyes,
tentacles cirri, and palps. The setae are numerous on lateral parapodia. The
clitellum is absent. Cirri or branchiae or both may be present for respiration.
The coelom is spacious usually divided by intersegmental septa. The
alimentary canal provided the eversible buccal region and protrusible
pharynx. The excretory organ is segmentally paired with nephridia. The sexes
are separate.

Examples:- Aphrodite—sea mouse, Phyllodoce Syllis, Autolytus Dendronereis,

Nereis, Chaetopterus(paddle worms).

2. Class Oligochaeta

1
KITABBUDDY

Most species of Oligochaetes are found in freshwater or terrestrial habitats, a

few species are marine. They have a streamlined body with well-developed
segmentation and a simple prostomium without sensory appendages, such as
eyes, and tentacles. The head is indistinct and the clitellum is present. In this
class the parapodia and cirri are absent. Setae are less distributed along the

body. Usually, no respiratory organs except a few species (e.g., Dero,

Branchiura, etc.) possess true gills. Gas exchange takes place by diffusion
through the moist body wall. The excretory system is metanephridia type.
Brain simple type with ventral nerve cords. They are hermaphrodites.
Fertilization (cross-fertilization) occurs externally. Development direct takes
place within the cocoon secreted by the clitellum. The reproduction is usually
asexual, common in freshwater species, and involves the transverse division of
the adult body. No larval stage in the life cycle. Testes are anterior to ovaries.
Examples: Lumbriculus, Aelosoma, Megascolex.

3. Class Hirudinea

The Hirudineas are either free-living or permanently or intermittently

ectoparasites. In freshwater large number of species prey on invertebrates
rather than blood-sucking species but most marine species are ectoparasites
on fishes. The body consists of a definite and limited number of segments. The
trunk has 21 segments with a preclitellar region, clitellum, and post-clitellar
region and the clitellum includes 3 segments and is never conspicuous except
reproductive period. Segments are marked externally by secondary rings or
annuli. Usually with a small suctorial anterior sucker and a large powerful
posterior sucker. Parapodia and head appendages are absent. The coelom is
generally reduced by the presence of connective tissue, called botryoidal
tissue, and muscles. Both sinuses and muscular blood

vessels are present. Excretory organs include segmentally arranged 10 to 17

pairs of metanephridia. Asexual reproduction absent. 11. Hermaphrodite.
Gonads and gonoducts are restricted to anterior few segments. Fertilization
internal. The development direct takes place within cocoons secreted by
clitellum.

Q.No 2:- Explain the excretion in Annelida.

Ans. The excretion is the process of removal of nitrogenous waste which is

produced during metabolism. In Annelida excretion takes place using minute
coiled tubes which are segmentally arranged and are called Nephridia.
Nephridia are internally ciliated and open in the coelom through an opening
called Nephrostome that receives body fluid. The cells of the Nephridia
separate the waste products by way of ultrafiltration from the haemocoelomic

2
KITABBUDDY

fluid. The Nephridia also remove the excess water from the body and thereby
regulating the osmotic pressure of the haemocoelomic fluid.

Nephromixia: Coelomoducts may remain fused partially or wholly with

nephridia to form Nephromixia. It serves for both excretions as well as the exit
of gametes. Three types:-

Protonephromixia: When a protonephridium is fused with a coelomoduct, the

combination is called Protonephromixium.

Metanephromixium: When metanephridium remains fused with

coelomoducts, it is known as Metanephromixium.

Mixonephridium: Nephridium and coelomoduct are intimately fused to form

a simple organ. In this form, the coelomoduct forms the funnel, and the
nephridium forms the ducts.

Physiology of Excretion

Nephridia help in the removal of excretory waste both from blood and
coelomic fluid. It is richly supplied with blood vessels. The dissolved
nitrogenous waste from blood diffuses into the lumen of the nephridia from
where they move to the nephridial ducts. As the fluid travels through these
tubes, nutrients and water are reabsorbed while the concentrated waste fluid
is released directly

to the exterior by nephridiopores or into alimentary canals. Water is

reabsorbed through the wall of the alimentary canal and again utilized by the
animal. Thus, excessive loss of water is checked by the enteronephric system
which is advantageous to the animal found in dry conditions. Nephrostome
found in metanephridia, is the funnel by which the nephridia communicate
with the coelom. By the ciliary action of the nephrostome and tubules, the
nitrogenous waste is drawn into the nephridia from the coelom and passed
out.

3
KITABBUDDY

Unit 3

Phylum Arthropoda

Q.No 1:- Describe General Classification of Arthropods.

Ans. Arthropods are the largest group of animals, comprising over 1,000,000
terrestrial and aquatic species. Arthropods are found flying thousands of feet
above the surface of the earth and thousands of feet below the ocean surface,
and just about everywhere in between. Arthropods are bilaterally
symmetrical, metamerically segmented animals having a chitinous
exoskeleton. Moulting is necessary for growth. All arthropods possess a
jointed exoskeleton composed of a polysaccharide, chitin, secreted by the
epidermis.

Classification

1. Subphylum Trilobitomorpha

Fossil arthropods have a body divided into 3 longitudinal lobes, one median
lobe, and two lateral pleural lobes.

Class Trilobita

Appendages were biramous and had gills attached to them. They were
abundant during Cambrian and Ordovician periods. The body was divided
into cephalon, trunk, and pygidium. They also possessed segmented antennae
and a pair of compound eyes.

2. Subphylum Chelicerata
4
KITABBUDDY

The first appendages are modified as chelicerae for feeding and the second
ones are modified as pedipalps. The body is divisible into prosoma and
opisthosoma, the latter is sometimes divided into mesosoma and metasoma.
There are no antennae in these arthropods.

Class Merostomata

Body is divisible into prosoma, mesosoma and metasoma. They are marine
scavengers in which abdominal appendages carry gills and telson is long
spike-like.

Class Arachnida

There are one pair of chelicerae and one pair of pedipalps and 4 pairs of
thoracic legs in these arthropods. The abdomen is without legs. Breathing
takes place through the book lungs or tracheal system or both. Ex. Scorpions.

Class Pycnogonida

They are commonly known as sea spiders that measure 1-10 mm in length.
The cephalothorax is large and segmented while the abdomen is highly
reduced. Legs long for crawling on the sea bottom. They are carnivores that
feed on cnidarians and worms. Ex. Nymphon, Pycnogonus.

3. Subphylum Crustacea

They possess two pairs of antennae and their body is divisible into
cephalothorax and abdomen. Eyes are simple or compound. Appendages are
variously modified.

Class Cephalocarida

Horse-shoe-shaped body without a carapace and eyes. They are marine

bottom-dwellers having long antennae for food gathering. Ex.
Hutchinsoniella.

4. Subphylum Uniramia

Class Insecta (hexapoda)

The body is divided into the head, thorax, and abdomen. There is one pair of
antennae, 3 pairs of legs, and both compound and simple eyes. Respiration
takes place with the tracheal system and excretion with malpighian tubules.
They are the only flying arthropods.

Class Chilopoda
5
KITABBUDDY

Medium to large carnivorous animals that live beneath stones and logs and
whose body is dorsoventrally flattened and divided into head and trunk. The
first maxillipeds are modified as poison claws. One pair of mandibles and one
or two pairs of maxillae are present. Respiration occurs through the tracheal
system and excretion with malpighian tubules. One pair of compound eyes
and one pair of antennae are present. Ex. Scolopendra, Scutigera.

Q.No 3:- Explain Metamorphosis in insects.

Ans. The insect life cycle is generally complex involving several stages of
larval and pupal development. Adults are generally quite different from the
larval forms. When the larvae undergo considerable change to become adults
it is called metamorphosis.

Insects show various types of metamorphosis as described below:-

1. PALEOMETABOLA, AMETABOLA OR ANAMORHOSIS 

This type of metamorphosis occurs in orders Protura, Diplura, Collembola,

and Thysanura that include insects such as telson-tails, campodeids,
springtails, and silverfish. The nymph upon hatching from the egg is similar to
the adult in general morphology but there are only 8 abdominal appendages
and cerci are lesser in number. The size is small. As the nymph grows and
molts its segments in the abdomen increase gradually to become 11 in adults.
These nymphs live in the same environment as the adult and feed on the
same diet as the adult. The insects are wingless both in larval as well as in
adult stages. Some biologists do not consider it as metamorphosis or called it
Anamorphosis as there is little change during development. 

2. HEMIMETABOLA

There are 15 orders of insects that demonstrate this kind of metamorphosis in

which juveniles are similar to the adults and there is a gradual change from
6
KITABBUDDY

nymphs to adults. The transformation takes place in the growth of wings as

external buds and the development of secondary sexual characters. Nymphs
generally live in the same environment as  adults. Examples are grasshoppers,
locusts, cockroaches, dragonflies, Mayflies, earwigs, lice, bugs, thrips, etc.

Hemimetabola includes two categories as given below:- 

(i) HETEROMETABOLA 

These insects do not show any dormant stage during development and
nymphs are active throughout their growth stage. Wings develop externally. 

(a) Archimetabola:- Those insects whose larvae are aquatic while adults are
flying terrestrial insects show differences in the morphology of their nymphal
stages owing to their aquatic habitat. Such nymphs are called NAIADS which
are generally carnivorous inhabitants.

(ii) NEOMETABOLA

This type of metamorphosis is found in Thysanoptera and coccids. Nymphs

live in the same environment as adults and feed on the same kind of food. But
they have a dormant or resting stage after the larval development is
completed. This dormant stage is different from the pupal stage of the
Holometabolous insects as there is no covering or cocoon or pupal case
outside the resting larva. Owing to this unique development thrips 

are assigned a different category of Neometabola. 

3. HOLOMETABOLA

7
KITABBUDDY

This type of metamorphosis is found in endopterygotes, namely,

Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, Coleoptera, Siphonoptera, Diptera, Trichoptera
etc. Larvae and adults are completely different in general features and eat
different types of food and live in different types of habitats. The larva after
completing its development transforms into a dormant stage called pupa,
which is sometimes enclosed inside a cocoon made of silken threads. The
development of the adult takes place inside the pupal case and cannot be seen
from the outside. The adult is a flying insect that emerges after rupturing the
pupal case. This type of development can be seen in silkworms, butterflies,
houseflies, and beetles.

Q.No. 5. Explain Social Life of Honeybee.

Ans. Honey bees are social or colonial insects that visit flowers, collect nectar
and convert it into a golden-yellow aromatic viscous fluid called honey, which
is also called the liquid gold of nature. Nearly 17,000 species of bees are found
all overworld out of which only 100 species are honey bees and some are
stingless social bees that make a permanent house made up of sheets of wax.
In the spring, a honeybee colony that has grown sufficiently large will split in
two, with the old queen and half her worker along with a daughter who will
become a new queen making chambers in the ground on a cliff, and in a
hollow tree. 

The worker bees produce wax for the formation of the new hive and are known
as builders. A new hive is made hanging vertically from rock buildings or
branches of trees and consists of thousands of hexagonal chambers of cells
made up of wax secreted by the builder's abdomen. The resins and gums
secreted by plants are also used for the construction and repair of the hive. 

The colony of honeybees consists of three castes, Queen Drone and workers. A

bee colony has about 20,000 workers, one queen, and about two dozen
drones. If there is more than one queen in a hive, as happens in the breeding
season, then the phenomenon is known as pleometrosis. 

Caste Differentiation

8
KITABBUDDY

1. QUEEN(Gyne)- Queen is a fertile female only that can lay up to 3000 eggs
per day, which is twice the weight of her body but normal fecundity is about
600 eggs per day. The size of the queen

is the largest among other castes of bees Queen can be easily identified by its
long abdomen strong legs and short wings. The queen has an ovipositor on the
tip of the abdomen It is the egg-laying organ. The contribution of the queen
for its scullery is to lay eggs. 

Queen produces several pheromones which attract workers and keeps the
colony together. The secretions of mandibular glands, tergal and tarsal
glands of the queen are licked by the

workers and passed to other members of the colony and larvae through food
exchanges called trophallaxis. If a queen is killed, workers in the absence of
queen pheromones, rear a new queen from the developing female larvae. If a
queen dies or disappears, workers rear a new queen by selecting a larva and
modifying its cell to make a queen cell and feed it exclusively with royal jelly. 

2. DRONE (Aners) 

Males members are called drones, which are darker, robust and hairy,
and larger than workers. Drones are haploid fertile males the size of a drone
is smaller than a queen but larger than sterile females' i.e. workers. They
are developed from unfertilized eggs. There are about two dozen of them in a
hive and chase the queen in the air every time she ventures on the nuptial
flight. The secretions of mandibular glands and that of the sting apparatus of
the queen attract drones during the nuptial flight. They copulate with the
queen and fertilize her eggs. Drones are not tolerated in the hive once the
queen is fertilized and are generally driven out of the hive, where they
eventually die of starvation. 

3. WORKERS(Ergates) 

These are diploid sterile females and are the smallest in size. They are sterile
because of the diet effect, queen substance, and pheromone. Their number in
9
KITABBUDDY

the colony is the highest The workers are genetically females but sterile as they
are not fed on royal jelly in the larval stage. They have a lifespan of 6 weeks,
the first half of which is spent in the hive attending to household chores,
secreting wax and building the hive, producing a highly nutritious royal jelly,
and converting nectar into honey. They become foragers in the later part of
life and tirelessly collect nectar and pollen throughout life. Workers possess
numerous morphological adaptations to carry out their duties efficiently.
Nuptial Flight 

The most interesting part of the life cycle of the honeybee is its way of mating.
Mating takes place during a flight called a nuptial flight. Virgin queen takes a
flight followed by males. A few males only succeed in mating. Queen and other
males return to their comb. But now worker bees allow only the queen and all
males have been driven away and they die in nature. Polyandry is relatively
rare in insects where a single female mates with several mates. But polyandry
is a common phenomenon in the honeybee. Queen honey bee mates with
several drones in succession during her nuptial flight. 

2) The Waggle Dance 

As the food source becomes more distant the round dance is replaced by the
waggle dance. There is a gradual transition between the round and waggle
dance, taking place through either a figure eight or sickle-shaped pattern. The
waggle dance includes information about the direction and energy required to
fly to the

10
KITABBUDDY

goal. Energy expenditure or distance is indicated by the length of time it takes

to make one circuit. For example, a bee may dance 8-9 circuits in 15 seconds
for a food source 200 meters away, 4-5 for a food source 1000 meters away,
and 3 circuits in 15 seconds for a food source 2000 meters away.

Unit 5

Phylum Mollusca

Q.No. 1:- Explain general character and classsification of Mollusca.

Ans. The Molluscs are soft-bodied, bilaterally symmetrical, segmented,

coelomate animals, shell has a mantle, ventral foot, anterior head, and a
dorsal visceral mass. They are essentially aquatic mostly marine, with few
freshwater and some terrestrial form. They may be found as hidden parasites
in the interior of other animals. The size varies from giant squids and clams to
little snails, a millimeter long. Have at least two characters radula and mantle
not found elsewhere. They have tissue-system grade of body organization. The
body consists of the head, foot, mantle, and visceral mass. Body is clothed
with a one-layered of ciliated epidermis. The body is commonly protected by
an exoskeleton calcareous shell of one or more pieces secreted by the mantle.
The Head is distinct, bearing a mouth, eyes, and tentacles. The ventral body is
modified into a muscular plough-like surface, the foot which is variously
modified for creeping, burrowing, and swimming. The mantle or pallium is a
fold of a body wall that leaves between itself the main body, the mantle cavity.
The visceral mass contains the vital organs of the body in the compact form
taking the form of dorsal humps or domes. The body cavity is hemocoel. The
11
KITABBUDDY

coelom is reduced and represented mainly by the pericardial cavity, gonadial

cavity, and nephridia. The digestive tract is simple with an anterior mouth and
posterior anus but in gastropods, scaphoids, and cephalopods the intestine
becomes U-shaped bringing the anus to the anterior part. The circulatory
system is open type except in cephalopods. Respiratory organs contain
numerous gills or ctenidia usually provided with osphradiuma at the base. The
lung is developed in terrestrial forms. Haemocyanin is their respiratory
pigment. The excretion is by paired metanephridia. The nervous system
comprises paired cerebral, pleural, pedal, and visceral ganglia joined by
longitudinal

and transverse connections and nerves. Ganglia usually form a circumcenter

ring. Sense organs consist of eyes, statocysts, and receptors for touch, smell,
and taste. The sexes are usually separate (dioecious). Fertilization is external
or internal. The development is direct or with metamorphosis through the
trochophore stage called veliger larva.

Classification

Mollusca is classified into 6 classes:- 

Class 1. Monoplacophora 

The body of monoplacophora is bilaterally symmetrical and segmented.

The mantle is dome-shaped. The shell comprises a single piece or valve. The
head is without eyes and tentacles. The mantle encircles the body as a circular
fold of the body. The foot is broad and flat, with 8 pairs of pedal retractor
muscles. Gills are external, with 5 pairs of gills in pallial grooves.

Class 2. Amphineura 

The body elongated with a reduced head. Radula present. Shell as 8 dorsal
plates or as spicules. Ventral foot, large, flat, and muscular.
12
KITABBUDDY

Non- ganglionated nerve ring around the mouth with 2 pairs of

interconnected nerve cords. The fertilization is external.

Class 3. Scaphopoda 

These are exclusively marine. The body is bilaterally symmetrical, elongated,

and enclosed in a tusk shell that opens at both ends. No head; mouth with
tentacles, no eyes. Conical foot, radula present; no gills. The mantle is tubular
completely enclosing the body. The mouth is surrounded by lobular processes
or outgrowths. The heart is rudimentary. Kidneys paired; gonad single. Sexes
separate(dioecious). Trochophore larva is seen.
Examples: Dentalium, Cadulus, Pulsellum.

Class 4. Gastropoda 

The habitat is marine, freshwater, terrestrial, and a few parasitic on

echinoderms. Body of Gastropoda unsegmented, asymmetrical typically with
univalve, spirally coiled. Head distinct bearing tentacles, eyes, and mouth. The
foot is ventral, broad, flat, and muscular forming the creeping sole and often
bearing dorsally a hard piece, the operculum on its posterior
end. Torsion (coiling) of body mass at sometimes in development. The mantle
is a collar-like fold of the body wall lining the body leaving a space, the mantle
cavity, between itself and the body.

Class 5. Pelecypoda 

Pelecypoda is found in aquatic, mostly marine, and some freshwater forms.

The body is bilaterally symmetrical and laterally compressed. Bivalve shells
hinged together and mid-dorsally. The Head is not distinct; the pharynx, jaws,
radula, and tentacles. The

13
KITABBUDDY

foot is ventral, muscular which is plough share. The mantle is bilobed,

consisting of paired, right, and left lobes. Gills or ctenidia are paired, one on
each side. The coelom is reduced to a dorsally placed pericardium. The
alimentary canal is coiled with large paired digestive glands. The heart is
contained within the pericardium and comprises a median ventricle and two
auricles.

Class 6. Cephalopoda 

Found in Marine and free swimming. The body is bilaterally symmetrical with
the head and trunk. Body elongated dorso-ventrally. Shell external, internal,
or absent. Head distinct and large with well-developed eyes and mouth. The
trunk consists of a symmetrical and uncoiled visceral mass. The mantle
encloses posteriorly and ventrally a large mantle cavity. The foot altered into a
series of suckers bearing arms or tentacles encircling the mouth. Moth bears
jaws and radula. 2 or 4 pairs of bipectinate gills. Circulatory system closed,
heart with 2 or 4 auricles.

Q.No. 2. Describe Respiration in Mollusca.

Ans. In Mollusca, the process of gaseous exchange occurs through the body
surface, particularly through the mantle and in specialized respiratoryorgans
such as ctenidia, secondary gills, and lungs. Respiration in aquatic members of
mollusks is performed by gills or ctenidia. The members of the terrestrial
habitat perform pulmonary respiration. The feather-like gills are filamentous
and provided with cilia. The ctenidia/gills are located on opposite sides of the
mantle cavity and are arranged so that the cavity is functionally divided into
an incurrent chamber and an excurrent

chamber where the water enters through the bottom exit near the top. There
are three cilia sets, one set makes the water current into the mantle cavity, and
two other sets keep the ctenidia clean. If the osphridia detects any unfavorable
entry, the ciliary beating stops and prevents current water entry. The gills are
supplied with blood vessels connected to the hemocoel. Cilia between gill
filaments propel many leaf-like gill filaments project from the central axis, and
water and blood diffuse from an afferent vessel in the central axis through the
filament to an efferent vessel. The direction of the blood flow is opposite to the
water current, thereby establishing a counter-current exchange mechanism.
14
KITABBUDDY

Gaseous exchange in different Mollusca

Aplacophorans

In the aplacophorans, gills are usually absent or, if present, form a ciliated,
lamellar pouch arising directly off the posterior region of the pericardial
chamber Caudofoveatans have a similar posterior gill.

Monoplacophoran 

Monoplacophoran gills are similar to those of gastropods, but they occur as

three to six pairs, aligned bilaterally within the pallial groove, reminiscent of
chitons. Well-developed lamellae occur only on one side of the
monoplacophoran gill axis, similar to the monopectinate condition of
advanced gastropods. 

Polyplacophorans 

In the polyplacophorans (chitons), the mantle cavity forms a pallial groove

extending along the body margin and encircling the foot. A large number of
simple gills lie laterally in this groove. The mantle is held tight against the
substratum, largely enclosing this pallial chamber. However, the mantle is
raised on either side at the

anterior end to form current channels and is raised in one or two places at the
posterior end to form excurrent areas. Water enters the inhalant region of the
pallial chamber lateral to the gills, then passes medially between the gills into

15
KITABBUDDY

the exhalant region along the sides of the foot. Moving posteriorly, the current
passes over the gonopores, nephridiopores, and anus before exiting. 

In Cephalopoda, the body has become greatly elongated along the

dorsoventral axis, and as a result of a change in the method of locomotion this
axis has become the functional anteroposterior axis. A ring of tentacles lies at
the anterior end of the body and the visceral hump is posterior, the original
mantle cavity has become central.

Q.No.4. Describe Pearl Formation.

Ans. Pearls are organic gemstones formed inside living pearl-producing

molluscs. Pearls are formed when molluscs secrete thousand of very thin
concentric layers of nacre, a secretion of calcium carbonate in a matrix that
finally coats an irritant either man-made or natural. The pearl-producing
molluscs are the members of class Bivalvia. The most historically important
source of a fine natural pearl is the Persian Gulf, where pearl oysters were
once found in great abundance off the coast and island of present-day
Bahrain. 

Types of Pearls:-

(a) Natural pearls:- Natural pearls may be formed within the oyster by either
accidental entrance of a solid or accidental wound within the shell muscles or
tissues. Pearls so produced are called natural pearls and are very rare because
of their accidental origin.

(b) Cultured pearls:- Cultured pearls are produced by human interference

when the pearls are produced through the process of the culture of pearl-
producing oysters.

(c) Artificial pearls:- Such pearls are cheap imitations made of plastics, glass,
fish scales, etc. with an artificial luster.

16
KITABBUDDY

Formation of Pearl

Natural pearl 

The epithelial cells of the outer layer of the mantle which remains just below
the shell are responsible for the formation of pearl. Sometimes a foreign
particle accidentally enters between the shell and mantle, of the oyster. These
foreign particles are sand grain or parasites or a small insect etc. This foreign
body acts as a nucleus and happens to adhere to its mantle. The epithelial
layer in the mantle once encloses the foreign body like a sac. Thus the foreign
body is closed by mantle epithelium and forms a pearl sac. Now, this foreign
body acts as an irritant and stimulates epithelial cells of the mantle. Then the
epithelial cells of the mantle secrete nacre which surrounds this foreign body
in the concentric layers. The concentric layers of nacre gradually completely
enclose the foreign body. These layers of nacre when harden become a natural
pearl.

The size of the pearl is directly proportional to the degree of irritation which is
caused by foreign particles. The Time taken for the formation of a pearl of
average size is 5 years.

17
KITABBUDDY

18