Groundwork for a New Kind of African

Metaphysics: The Idea of

Predeterministic Historicity Aribiah
David Attoe
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Groundwork for a New
Kind of African
Metaphysics
The Idea of
Predeterministic
Historicity

Aribiah David Attoe

 Praise for Groundwork for a New Kind of African
Metaphysics

“In this important work of African metaphysics, Aribiah Attoe does not simply
recount views typically held by indigenous sub-Saharan peoples, and instead draws
on some of their salient beliefs to construct a new ontology that he argues is more
attractive. Forgoing any appeal to imperceptible agency (‘the spiritual’), Attoe
nonetheless invokes other resources from the African metaphysical tradition, such
as singularity, relationality, and destiny, to offer fresh ways to understand being,
God, causation, responsibility, and death. The result is a creative materialist-
determinist ontology with an African pedigree that merits serious consideration.”
—Thaddeus Metz, Professor of Philosophy, University of Pretoria, South Africa

“Attoe makes an interesting, thought provoking and revealing contribution to

discourses in African metaphysics. His theory of predeteministic historicity is
surely going to challenge longstanding conceptions of African metaphysics, and
it promises novel ways to imagine some of our basic beliefs in relation to God,
ancestors, causality, relationality, death and determinism.”
—Motsamai Molefe, Senior Researcher, University of Fort Hare, South Africa

“A revolutionary and audacious book that is likely to cause a paradigmatic shift

in our notion of God, determinism, freedom, being and relationality.”
—Samuel T. Segun, Research Fellow, School for Data Science and Computational
Thinking & The Department of Philosophy, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
 Aribiah David Attoe

Groundwork
for a New Kind
of African Metaphysics
The Idea of Predeterministic Historicity
Aribiah David Attoe
Philosophy
University of the Witwatersrand
Johannesburg, South Africa
The Conversational Society
of Philosophy
Calabar, Nigeria

ISBN 978-3-030-91108-9 ISBN 978-3-030-91109-6 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91109-6

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022

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 To the Anonymous Traditional African Philosophers : Despite the
violence, epistemic and otherwise, your ideas still inspire us. Like the
eternal linkage symbolized by our umbilical cords and our predetermined
history, no violence can ever truly sever your views from ours.
To Innocent Asouzu: for showing me that novelty in African philosophy is
possible.
To Jonathan Chimakonam and the Conversational Society of
Philosophy: For equipping me and directing me towards that novelty, new
opportunities, new friends and new vistas of thought.
To Thaddeus Metz: For all you have taught me, and for giving me a
chance.
To Marshall Mathers: For showing me, through your music, that it was
possible – even necessary – to challenge the established order.
To Ikike Attoe and to my parents : I love you. Thank you for always being
there for me.
 Foreword I

Sometime in the last decade of the twentieth century, a new brand of

philosophizing emerged in eastern Nigeria. The point of convergence was
the University of Calabar, Nigeria; hence, the movement was originally
known as the Calabar School. Their style of philosophizing thrives on the
study and examination of the notion of relationship as it exists between
realities. By the beginning of the second decade of the twenty-first
century, this style was christened “conversational philosophy” and advo-
cates are popularly known as the conversationalists (Chimakonam 2014;
2019). Some of the notable members of this school include Innocent
Asouzu, Pantaleon Iroegbu, Chris Ijiomah, Godfrey Ozumba, Jonathan
Chimakonam and Mesembe Edet, and quite an increasing number who
are emerging as part of the third generation. Aribiah Attoe belongs to the
third generation of this school. In this phenomenal book, he builds on
Asouzu’s ontological theory to put forward his own ideas on the eternal
problems of being, God and evil. Like the conversationalists before him,
the notion of relationality was central to his study and the weaving of
his theory of pre-deterministic historicity of being. The following “tale
of three strangers” paints a picture of his original contribution, his effort
to historicize being and, more importantly, his attempt to move away
from the bandwagon that so often misrepresents the kernel of the African
episteme.

vii
viii FOREWORD I

Three strangers were having a conversation on the substance of African

philosophy. The first one said to the rest, “come now, and I will show
you what African philosophy looks like”. And the other two lent him
their ears. He said, “African philosophy is like the accumulated wisdom
of ancient Africans south of the Sahara. It is their beliefs, their stories,
retold for a thousand years in its beauty and unspoilt grandeur”. But
the other two were not impressed. So, the second stranger interrupted
the first. “This is no African philosophy, comrade. It is not even philos-
ophy. What you have described is a worldview… the many voices of the
African world. As beautiful as the story sounds, it lacks rigor and the
authenticating creativity of individual authorship. If you keep focusing on
the African worldview, comrade, you will look in vain for African philos-
ophy. In fact, you cannot find African philosophy anywhere because it
does not yet exist. If you are seriously affected by its absence, you would
have to create it. And as a tip, be sure to employ any of the methods
created in the west, especially the analytic method. Through the prism
of this method, we can begin to imagine what African philosophy would
look like”. “Well”, interjected the third stranger. “If the African world-
view contained no philosophy, as you said, and I do not doubt your
authority, it could at least supply cadaver for the African philosophical
inquiry. Perhaps, we just have to create it as you said, good friend, but it
has to come from somewhere. In fairness to Africans, we can choose to
create some of it from their worldview. Such traditional tombs like ukama
and the old lady ubuntu, can harbor some fleshy remains, smelly though,
they may be, but a presentable cadaver for our rigorous examination. For
when we apply the western methods on such a cadaver, as you rightly
suggested, we will be able to move from something of little importance
to something of great value. The anointing oil of western methods may
not bring the cadaver back to life, for it was always dead even when it
lived, but it can create a new life that can stand on the cadaver. We may
call this African philosophy—a gift of the Western mind. This, my dear
comrades is what we can expect African philosophy to look like”.
As the three strangers pondered and argued on what each had said, a
gentle and enlightened woman, who is deeply informed on the function
of philosophy, and versed in African culture and intellectual history, called
out to the three. But they were so engrossed in their individual attempts
to foist their crooked ideas on the world. She stood before them like a
good teacher, but they could not see her. The first stranger looked down
at her like he would a child. He had always thought of himself as an
 FOREWORD I ix

infallible African elder. A sage and the custodian of all there is to be known
about Africa. His pride was too great that he could not hear the gentle
voice of the deeply enlightened woman. The second stranger also looked
down on her but with a sense of indignation. He was bitter and jealous
that a woman could challenge his authority. He had always prided himself
as one tutored in the west and by the west. He wore this bondage like
a medal of honour everywhere he went and expected all to bow to his
intimidation. He could understand and take in the recalcitrance of the
first stranger but would have none of it from a woman. Yet, the woman’s
gentle voice continued to pierce through the air, from coast to coast,
and could not be silenced. The third stranger had always known how
to silence the first by simply dismissing his views as mere folk wisdom.
The second stranger was his pupil and was tutored to fall in line. So, he
always felt like a god whose word was law and who always gazed everyone
into submission. Yet, in the presence of the gentlewoman, he felt his gaze
reflected back. He buckled and folded, again and again.
That woman said to the three, “you are all strangers to African philos-
ophy”. She turned to the first, who goes by the name traditionalist, but
who is caricatured by the self-styled modernist as ethnophilosopher and
said, “you are blinded by your rage and craven to prove a point to the
third stranger that you hold so firmly to the stories told by your fathers
for a thousand years. In the process, you have been estranged from your
responsibility to not just recount the stories but to interrogate them.
Listen to brother Amilcar Cabral (1973) and return to the source”. Then,
calmly, she turned to the second stranger who goes by the flamboyant
name, the universalist or modernist, and said, “your situation is worse
than all, but thankfully, one can only blame you to a point. Your tute-
lage at the feet of the third stranger has estranged you from the things
that actually matter. You not only have forgotten your duty to retell the
stories of your fathers and interrogate them, you no longer see them as
possessing any value. You don’t even interrogate them; you simply dismiss
them outright. In their place, you now tell the stories, which the third
stranger’s fathers have told for a thousand years. You tell it as if they were
your ancestors. You tell it as if they were your stories. We may have to ask
brothers Frantz Fanon and Emefiena Ezeani for an explanation of your
predicament. While Fanon (1961) described you as a “colonized intellec-
tual”, Ezeani (2014) diagnosed you with “colonialysis”. I am an African
woman, the one they call the conversationalist—a full-breasted African
mother who suckles a whole village. Suckle and be healed!” Finally, she
x FOREWORD I

turned to the third stranger, the European African philosopher, and said,
“you, who have destroyed these two brothers with your cunning, I do not
doubt that you can know African philosophy, but you have to suckle to
grow and learn. Your sly disrespect for Africa has estranged you from the
true contours of African philosophy. To conceal your ignorance, you have
done the unthinkable. You dismissed the African narrative without ques-
tioning. You ignore the African culture-inspired methodologies as if they
do not exist. You deploy your protégé as a henchman to bully the tradi-
tionalist and bury the African narrative just so you could employ Western
methods and attempt to westernize African philosophy. But look at me
now and tell me who folds. You gaze, yet you fold!”
This book by Aribiah Attoe is a bold afront on the strangers in African
philosophy. His contribution can be grounded in the conversationalist
motif. To the universalists, he has reminded them of the industry of those
Innocent Asouzu (2004) described as the “anonymous African philoso-
phers”. To the traditionalists, he has reminded them that the efforts of the
anonymous philosophers are to be interrogated and not simply recounted
and praised. To the European African philosophers, he has reminded
them of the need to respect the African traditional episteme as a valuable
resource and not just a cadaver. Taking the African resource on board,
he has projected the complementarist vision leading to his new theory of
being that provides new ideas on the concepts of God, free will, causality,
determinism, death and evil in the universe.
Following the conversational style, Attoe goes beyond the usual
dichotomies of substance and accident in formulating a new under-
standing of being as singular complements; he employs the idea of
complementary relationship to articulate a metaphysical vision in which
God is stripped of the luxurious attributes endowed it by Western Judeo-
Christian scholars. This enables him to open new vistas on concepts such
as determinism and free will, the latter of which has for years under-
lined the argument that presents a morally perfect God as consistent
with the existence of evil. This book is important in many respects. It
contributes to the new project of metaphysical thinking from Africa;
advances the conversational method as a formidable decolonial method-
ology for philosophizing; contributes to the new wave of scholarly
resistance to systemic misrepresentation, misinterpretation and distortion
of the Africa intellectual history. The book will be relevant to scholars
 FOREWORD I xi

and researchers in philosophy, specifically metaphysics and African studies

generally. It is yet another clear demonstration that the epistemologies of
the south have come of age. Let the conversation begin!

University of Pretoria Jonathan O. Chimakonam

South Africa 33,000 ft above the Mediterranean
August 2021
 Foreword II

The present collection of inter-connected chapters provides fresh, albeit

controversial views, on some fundamental themes in African metaphysics.
Comprising of six chapters, the collection brings together critical reflec-
tions on metaphysical problems in the African place. Aribiah David
Attoe’s Groundwork for a New Kind African Metaphysics: The Idea of
Predeterministic Historicity is a readable and unencumbered critical survey
of some fundamental questions and issues in traditional African metaphys-
ical discourse. Written in an academic style free of un-explicated technical
terminology, the book articulates the nature of reality within a highly
deterministic frame and shows its broad implications on meaningful
human existence.
A significant part of the book perceptively discusses the notion of God,
being and causality, while some others interrogate the nature of freedom,
freewill and responsibility in a predeterministic world. Specifically, a non-
gendered and non-spiritual notion of God understood more in terms of
a first cause is defended in this piece. Other chapters in the book engage
with death, immortality and life meaningfulness. African metaphysics
is explored from a logical and materialistic perspective without neces-
sarily silencing or ignoring the alternatively predominant non-materialistic
voices on the nature of reality in many African contexts. Attoe continually
draws attention to what he calls “Predeterministic Historicity” (PDH)—
a metaphysics depicting reality as a function of necessary interactive

xiii
xiv FOREWORD II

relationship between things-in-the-world and preceding the existence of

phenomena.
Discussions in the book are done in ways that critically reflect the
conversational method of African philosophy, where there is an intel-
lectual struggle between the author and opposing viewpoints, real or
imagined. This book converses with some of the extant notions and
ideas in African metaphysics, including theoretical entities such as God,
gods, ancestors, spirits and force. The author also provides penetrating
non-mythical analysis of the nature of things-in-the-world (understood
as singular realities), which the author tells us are bounded by inter-
active relationships, within the context of what he terms “singular
complementarity”.
By building on some of the existing perspectives in African metaphysics
such as Ada Agada’s “consolationism”, Panteleon Iroegbu’s “Uwa ontol-
ogy”, Innocent Asouzu’s “complementarism” and Mogobe Ramose’s
ubuntu orientation, this book is an important contribution to the disci-
pline. The book presents a force de tour in contemporary African
metaphysics. I, therefore, warmly welcome and recommend it to students
and scholars in African philosophy and beyond, especially to anyone
interested in the subject-matter of metaphysics.

Ago-Iwoye, Nigeria Oladele Abiodun Balogun

August 2021
 Acknowledgements

I wish to acknowledge the valuable contributions of Dr. Chad Harris,

Emmanuel Ofuasia, Dr. Adeolu Oyekan, Dr. Tony “Dangler” Shabangu,
Dr. Motsamai Molefe and an anonymous reviewer, who provided me with
their expert opinion for various chapters of this book, and Dr. Molefe,
specifically, for encouraging me to complete this book. I would like to
also thank the Palgrave reviewers for their useful insights. I would like
to thank Dr. Samuel Segun, who was constantly available to listen to my
ideas and offer his critique and opinions. My conversations with you, Dr.
Segun, gave me the confidence to pursue the more radical ideas in this
book. I would like to acknowledge the contributions of Dr. Ada Agada in
exciting my foray into African metaphysics with his award-winning book,
Existence and Consolation, and for taking the time to review some of
the chapters of this book. I would like to also acknowledge the contri-
butions of Dr. Enyimba Maduka in his review of all the chapters of this
book, offering me his insightful thoughts both as a philosopher and as
a clergyman. I acknowledge the support of Dr. Jonathan Chimakonam,
who did not hesitate to read through, and write the preface (Foreword
1) of, this book, and who constantly encouraged me to complete this
important project, from the moment I discussed it with him. Our old
discussions about what true immortality meant formed the inspirational

xv
xvi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

spark for the last chapter of this book. Finally, I acknowledge the support
of Prof. Oladele Balogun, who did not hesitate to write the Foreword
for this book, and whose comments (after reading the whole manuscript)
have aided the development of the book. Indeed, all these efforts have
allowed me to complete the book you are going to read now.
 About This Book

African ideas about the nature of being, God, causality, death, etc., have
largely remained the same and unchallenged, mainly due to the hesitancy
of some African scholars to question these suppositions or build beyond
them. The need to project mostly precolonial traditional African views
without a sustained critique or revamp (especially in African ethnophilo-
sophical circles) encourages the unwillingness to move beyond traditional
views and explore new/alternative metaphysical paradigms. Beyond chal-
lenging the existing viewpoints, not a whole lot has been done with
regard to building up and/or reconstructing new metaphysical systems
in African philosophy, apart from works like Mogobe Ramose’s Ubuntu
metaphysics (1999), and the works of some conversationalist thinkers
such as Pantaleon Iroegbu’s Uwa ontology (1995), Innocent Asouzu’s
Ibuanyidanda metaphysics (2004, 2007), Ada Agada’s Consolationism
(2015) and recently, Jonathan Chimakonam and Lucky Ogbonnaya’s
Nmekoka metaphysics (2021). The unwillingness by some to deconstruct
traditional metaphysical thought, reconstruct newer and more contempo-
rary metaphysical systems on the foundation of the more traditional ideas,
and the need to explore other ontological perspectives, has necessitated
this book.
This book, therefore, provides the groundwork for an alternative
African metaphysics that first interrogates some of the important notions
held by some traditional African thinkers, and then builds on some
plausible core ideas of anonymous traditional African philosophers to

xvii
xviii ABOUT THIS BOOK

propose a largely materialistic account of reality from the African place.

At the forefront of this alternative account is what is termed “singular
complementarism”. Singular complementarism rejects or plays down the
substance-accident dichotomy or other forms of essentialization and
instead views reality as made up of singular realities, each engaged in
a predetermined relationship with one another. This predeterminism is
built on the foundationalist notion of God found in African philosoph-
ical literature as well as the African view that being-alone (the alternative
to nothingness in African philosophy) is the most unattractive mode of
being—with a decidedly material being serving as the (at least) regres-
sively eternal foundation from which the universe springs from and
continues to evolve. On the basis of this idea, the book re-imagines and
reconstructs the idea of God, being, causality, determinism and death in
African metaphysics, tackling some of the problems associated with these
concepts in African thought.
This book, as has been said, explores a materialistic understanding of
metaphysics, which is rarely seen in African metaphysical discourse. In
the light of this, this book would not only garner debate in the African
philosophical space with regard to the merits of its ideas, but it also
opens up new vistas of thought, while engaging and encouraging African
metaphysicians to explore a previously ignored perspective.
 Contents

1 Introduction 1
References 11
2 Existence and the Thing We Call God 15
What Does It Mean to Be or to Exist? 16
The Conscious Gaze Towards God: The Existence of God 21
The Conscious Gaze Towards God: The Nature of God 26
References 38
3 Being, in Singular Complementarity 41
From Aristotle’s Metaphysics to Asouzu’s Complementarity 43
Singular Complementarity 48
Being as Singular Complements 52
References 56
4 From Causality to Predeterministic-Historicity (PDH) 59
Causality and the Traditional African View 60
Predeterministic-Historicity: An Introduction 66
On the Nature of Predeterministic Relationships 69
References 74
5 Determinism and the Death of Free Will 77
Our (Pre)deterministic World 80
Ethics/Responsibility in Our (Pre)deterministic World 90
References 95

xix
xx CONTENTS

6 Death in Our Predeterministic World 97

References 107
7 Conclusion 111

Index 115
 About the Author

Aribiah David Attoe is currently a Lecturer at the University of the

Witwatersrand. He is also currently a co-recipient of the Global Philos-
ophy of Religion Project grant from the John Templeton Fund, in
collaboration with the University of Birmingham, and hosted by the
Centre for Leadership Ethics in Africa. He was formerly a postdoc at
the Centre for Leadership Ethics in Africa, University of Fort Hare, and
earned his Ph.D. in African Philosophy, at the University of Johannes-
burg, South Africa. He was also a recipient of the Global Excellence
Stature scholarship from the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.
He also holds a Master’s degree in Philosophy of Mind and a Bach-
elor’s degree (Hons.) from the University of Calabar, Nigeria. He has
authored several articles and co-authored a book, some of which include:
New Conversations on the Problems of Identity, Consciousness and Mind
(Springer, 2019), “A Systematic Account of African Conceptions of the
Meaning of/in Life,” South African Journal of Philosophy (2020) and “An
Essay Concerning the Foundational Myth of Ethnophilosophy,” Filosofia
Theoretica: Journal of African Philosophy, Culture and Religions (2016).
He also guest-edited the first ever book-length literature/special issue on
“African Conceptions of the Meaning of Life”, published by the South
African Journal of Philosophy. He is also a member of the prestigious

xxi
xxii ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Conversational Society of Philosophy, and is the Editor-in-Chief of one of

its Journals; Arumaruka: Journal of Conversational Thinking. His major
research areas of interest span across: African metaphysics, Neurophilos-
ophy, Ethics and Meaning in/of life, and he has given various talks on
areas related to his research areas at different international forums and
conferences.
 CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Abstract In this chapter, I provide a general overview of the African

metaphysical landscape and offer a brief description of the problems I
identify with the current trajectory of African metaphysical discourse. I,
then, situate the ideas expressed in this book (the idea of singular comple-
mentarity/predeterministic historicity) as an alternative view that is built
on some aspects of the dominant African metaphysical viewpoints, but
radically different in many ways. Finally, I provide a synopsis of the ideas
expressed in each chapter of the book.

Keywords African · Anonymous traditional African philosophers ·

Conversationalism · Metaphysics · Materialism

The job of the metaphysician, African or not, has always been to discern
the true face of reality, and what a fearsome face it can be! With the scalpel
of logic, the tedious task of dissecting reality to its bare bones in other to
see what makes it tick, what makes it behave the way it does, and what
makes it express itself the way it does has been the one desire of philoso-
phers around the world—and oh, how they have tried. Unfortunately,
peering into those eyes often reveal the most unpalatable, and yet most
magnificent, of truths. There are those who would resist the truth and
paint over a more palatable picture of reality for themselves and for those

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 1

Switzerland AG 2022
A. D. Attoe, Groundwork for a New Kind of African Metaphysics,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91109-6_1
2 A. D. ATTOE

around them, and there are those who revel in the ugliness and accept
the dour, mechanical and fearsome nature of reality in its full glory.
For the African metaphysician, the journey towards unveiling the true
nature of reality did not begin with contact with European philosoph-
ical culture; it couldn’t have. This is because human beings are extremely
curious beings and nothing is more curious than the beauty and ferocity
that envelops the environment we happen to live in. There is nothing as
curious as looking up to the sky to see a fiery disc, a pale shining rock
and dots of twinkling lights, or looking around to see imposing moun-
tains and beautiful valleys, and even the complex reality that is the human
being. One only needs to manipulate the neck muscles, to perceive these
realities and ask: why are these here and why do they express themselves
the way they do? Africans have always had necks and a body that perceives,
and so these philosophical questions were at no point beyond them. And
so, in conversation 1 with their peers, they theorized about these sorts
of questions—not just in the casual commonsensical way that laymen
do, but in deep and thoughtful ways, such that their ideas became an
integral part of communal thought and conversation (Hallen 2002, 52).
Their thoughts, although not written by pen on paper, became written
in the minds of their progenitors, through artefacts, through aspects
of culture and through oral literature passed down from generation to
generation. The reality of these thinkers or, even more specifically, their
thoughts about reality allowed post-colonial thinkers in Africa to discuss
things like consciencism and Ujamaa, and modern African thinkers to
discuss communitarianism and personhood, etc. It is no wonder Inno-
cent Asouzu (2004) was quick to refer to them as anonymous traditional
African philosophers, saluting their ideas, despite not being able to always
name names.
In their gaze towards the awesome and complex nature of reality,
these anonymous traditional metaphysicians theorized that something as
complex and fantastic as reality could not be the work of the phys-
ical/material things they saw around them. How is it that the vast
mountains, thousands of feet below sea level, could be the work of any
material reality? How was it that seeds in the ground could suddenly
spring forth as massive fruit-bearing trees? How was it that the rivers
surrounding their communities flowed with such ferocity, sometimes

1 See Chimakonam (2014, 2016, 2017a, 2017b, 2018).

 1 INTRODUCTION 3

overflowing their banks and wiping out entire sections of the commu-
nity? How is it that the fiery disc in the sky never fell to the ground? Or
how is it that a bolt of lightning could locate and so devastate a man
that he died? As far as some of them thought, the human being was
above all animals, plants and inanimate things, in the hierarchy of being,
yet in their exalted status, they could not come close to replicating the
power of nature, or even its expression. Coming to this realization, these
philosophers could only come to the conclusion that reality, and the fero-
cious expression of reality, could only be the handiwork of very powerful
beings that are above the human being in the hierarchy of beings, and that
are capable of taming, manipulating, maybe even creating such ferocity.
Also, because these beings could not be readily perceived, like the more
obvious things in the world, they could only be otherworldly beings; and
since their actions so obviously affected how reality expressed itself, their
otherworldliness could not be so far removed from this world.
For the philosopher, the recognition of the conscious self as inside the
material body only encouraged the view that there is something within
the flesh that, given the limited but interesting capacities of the human
being, could only be related to the otherworldly entities. So, in an inter-
esting way, the belief in the tacit interplay between spirit and matter in
the African worldview is based on an empirical approach to metaphysics.
We see this in thoughts about spirit beings (Idoniboye 1973; Musanga
2017), ancestors (Mbiti 1990), lower deities/gods (Ekeke 2009), etc.
This is why Alexis Kagame or Noah Dzobo can talk about a spir-
itual “vital force” pervading all that exists in the material realm, even
though this vital force emanates from an otherworldly being—God. With
God being the supreme being, the anonymous traditional African philoso-
phers were quick to admit that this being must have been the first cause
(Mbiti 1975). In another analysis, Kwasi Wiredu presupposes that the
anonymous philosophers in the Akan tradition did think that creation
was possible with the use of some raw materials since creation out of
nothing did not make sense to these metaphysicians (Wiredu 1998, 29–
30). This, then, makes me wonder whether these anonymous thinkers
considered these raw materials as also all enduring as the first cause, God,
since creation out of nothing was impossible. Did these materials possess
the same status or enduring qualities as God? Was God, at all, part of the
equation or just a metaphor for something else?
Another important theme in the ontology of many of these anonymous
traditional African philosophers was the idea that despite the hierarchy
4 A. D. ATTOE

of being there was a harmonious communal relationship among various

beings in the world. This communal ontology is even powerful enough
to flow strongly towards ethical considerations. Since harmony must be
achieved, and disharmony was always a possibility among sentient and
rational beings, sentient and rational beings ought to (be made to) behave
in a way that ensured harmony and community. Even ancestors and lesser
gods were held to such accountability. Any sign of their impotence in
ensuring the harmony of a community ensured their abandonment and
“death”. This fascination with communal ontology is a strong theme
in African philosophy and metaphysics, and contemporary scholars like
Mogobe Ramose (Ramose 1999) and Innocent Asouzu (2004, 2007)
have built whole metaphysical enterprises on the idea of harmony and
relationships.
While the philosophical strides of the traditional African philosophers
have been impactful, much of contemporary African metaphysics today
has failed to move beyond the ideas of these anonymous traditional
African philosophers. Apart from the works of scholars like Ramose
(1999) and the systematic theories of metaphysics that have been put
forth from the stables of the Conversational Society of Philosophy2 with
the works of Asouzu (2004) mentioned earlier, and others like Panta-
leon Iroegbu, Ada Agada (2015), Jonathan Chimakonam and Lucky
Ogbonnaya (2021), all emerging from that school, much of what has
been presented over the decades as African metaphysics has been more
often an ethnophilosophical rehash of the thoughts of anonymous tradi-
tional African philosophers. One can trace the reasons for this back to
the post-colonial desire by African scholars to reclaim their intellectual
heritage that was truncated by centuries of insults, slavery, colonialism
and epistemic marginalization. In a bid to show the uniqueness of African
metaphysical thinking and in a bid to show that ancient Africans did think
philosophically, contemporary African metaphysicians have become more
interested in writing expositions about the views of anonymous tradi-
tional African philosophers rather than building new ideas on the already

2 Also known as the Calabar School of Philosophy and/or the Conversational School of
Philosophy, the Conversational society of Philosophy properly emerged as a formal school
of thought sometime in 2014, promoting what it calls conversationalism or conversational
thinking, grounded on the indigenous Ezumezu logic. Founded by the African philoso-
pher, Jonathan Chimakonam, the school’s aim has been pushing the frontiers of African
philosophy with novel ideas and theories.
 1 INTRODUCTION 5

laid foundation and/or interrogating that foundation. It is not that these

expositions are not useful—indeed they are—but African metaphysics has
barely moved forward from its pre-colonial rendering, with only a handful
of metaphysicians moving the discipline forward by a couple of steps.
Indeed, moving the discipline forward would involve deconstructing
the metaphysical viewpoints that have so far pervaded the African meta-
physical space and reconstructing a more plausible metaphysics from
what remains from that deconstruction. For me, this route to building
a plausible African metaphysics is necessary, if one must move the disci-
pline forward, and one way to start is by conversing with the various
notions and ideas that are pivotal to what we currently take to be African
metaphysics. Like Terry Eagleton (2007) says, reality is like a hardened
criminal, only serious interrogation and conversations would reveal the
truth. So, I converse these notions and force them to bear witness against
themselves. One such notion is the preponderance of “spiritual” entities
in African metaphysical thoughts. From God to lower deities and then to
ancestors, the belief in otherworldliness is shockingly taken for granted.
So much so that the slightest interrogation of that notion leads to one
being labelled “western” and “un-African”. Even more disconcerting is
the desire to ignore scientific facts on the basis of the inability of science
to epistemologically account for all the relations that exist in the world.
The argument being that since science, with its parsimony, cannot begin
to fathom the full nature of all of reality, the (sometimes) un-interrogated
theories of anonymous traditional African philosophers and the myths that
characterize cultures must be true or plausible. Wilfred Lajul’s comments,
here, encapsulate what I am talking about:

Mythology is not a belief in mental categories, but a belief in the exis-

tence of realities beyond those that can be mentally verified, although they
are mentally perceivable. All scientific discoveries and inventions were at
one time mythologies in the sense that they were initially only mentally
perceivable, and only years later were they scientifically verified. Building a
world system that acknowledges realities that are both verifiable and those
that are not verifiable is not contrary to reason but rather is a supplement
to human rationality. The Western world of science, purporting to be built
only on verifiable realities, can be robotic and inhumane since even the
human person is so complex that nobody has succeeded in scientifically
verifying all that he or she is. (Lajul 2017, 23–24)
6 A. D. ATTOE

What then is the point of philosophizing, if wishful thinking must

count as truth because of the inadequacy of science? Beyond the general
epistemological concern, the more specific concern with the idea of
spirituality and otherworldliness—even in constant interaction with the
material world—is, itself, deeply problematic. While anonymous tradi-
tional philosophers have laid down some properties they believe constitute
the nature of certain spiritual entities like God, spirits, vital force, sunsum,
etc., not many in contemporary have sought to interrogate the ascription
of these properties to beings that are largely outside the scope of our
perception—perhaps, except Chimakonam and Ogbonnaya (2021, 32).
Take God for instance; Mbiti (1975, 42–53) says that for most Africans,
God is seen as merciful, holy, all-powerful, omnipresent, limitless, etc.,
but one can also admit that having never experienced God in totality, the
ascription of these properties to God would not only be suspicious but
also manufactured. No wonder puzzles like the problem of evil continue
to plague African religious philosophy. When we attach powers we wish
our God to have onto a being that may not have such powers, the
disparity with reality becomes apparent. Albert Camus would surely be
eager to remind us that this is absurdism, even from his grave. Further-
more, African metaphysicians have rarely engaged with the question of
why the trajectory of knowledge has been moving away from the mytho-
logical and spiritual to the logical and materialistic. For instance, while the
anonymous traditional African philosophers speculated about the sunsum
as the human spirit that is responsible for cognition and judgement, today
we discover that the brain is the fatty organ responsible for cognition and
judgement. While they talked about an ethereal/spiritual vital force as
an integral animating component of the human being, some like Noah
Dzobo (1992) and Thaddeus Metz (2012) are now speaking in terms of
well-being and creative power.
If this change in trajectory offers new insight rather than the rehash
of traditional views, wouldn’t it be worthwhile to explore African meta-
physics from a logical, scientific and materialistic perspective? I believe
it would be worthwhile to do so, and that is what I intend to do in
this book. This is not to say that the views of the anonymous tradi-
tional African philosophers are unimportant or illogical (indeed, much
of what is proposed in this book draw inspiration from their views), what
I am saying is that perhaps exploring an alternative approach would be
worthwhile. Barry Hallen captures my sentiment when he, in describing
Wiredu’s view of what (African) philosophy should be, states:
 1 INTRODUCTION 7

For, as we have seen, he [Wiredu] conceives of philosophy as a dynamic

endeavor whose aim is to encourage the introduction of novel, warrantedly
assertible truths about the origins of our beliefs, as well as to reevaluate,
revise, or discard old beliefs and to introduce new ideas that might possibly
achieve the status of truth. (2002, 27)

Perhaps, we must also take into account, what the great Tsenay
Serequeberhan says:

African philosophic practice has to engage in the systematic and critical

exploration of indigenous forms of knowledge: practical and theoretic. …
It must be done by sifting through our legacies: retaining that which is
alive, casting off that which is lethargic, and critically fusing the heritage
of the past with modern scientific conceptions. (Serequeberhan 2000, 55)

It is, indeed, this approach that has led me to what I now call the
metaphysics of predeterministic historicity. This book is, thus, not a
recount of the history of traditional African metaphysics (arguably a
worthwhile task), this book is an attempt at distilling a new brew of
African metaphysics—an attempt to curate something original from the
African place.
Deconstructing some of the cardinal ideas in African metaphysics, such
as the idea of God and the nature of being, has led me to the ideas that
inspire this new metaphysical theory. The idea of God as a first cause is
one property that I believe is necessary for a description of God. Like
the anonymous traditional African philosophers had already shown, the
idea that reality emanated from nothingness in its purest form is incom-
prehensible (Wiredu 1998). Also, since an infinite regress cannot explain
nature logically, the necessity of an (at least) regressively enduring “first
cause” becomes necessary if reality must be explained. The anonymous
traditional African philosophers already knew this (Mbiti 1975), and so
did their counterparts elsewhere. However, what is most interesting is
the necessary interactions that must exist between existent things, and for
which God participates. Within this framework, being-alone is unattrac-
tive, while a relationship with others is necessary. And so, within God
and/or between God and the environment he exists in, the interaction
that must occur represents the first steps towards the proliferation of
8 A. D. ATTOE

nature as we perceive it today.3 The outcome of this godly interaction

(the first state of affairs) eventually progressed, through more interactions,
into what now manifests as the world of things.
Curiously, the interaction within God and/or between God with the
environment required no magical or spiritual powers, just the indifferent
and non-intentional determinism that grounds the relationship between
interaction and outcome, between a state of affair and a newer state
of affairs. Due to these interactive and relational links between states
of affairs, a fully deterministic world becomes more apparent, traceable
through history, up until the first cause, which determined the trajec-
tory of reality by simply existing in exactly the way it did. This is where
predeterminism comes in; for if the nature of God were different in some
form than the way it was, the world (if it would have existed) would
have been surely different. In this way, the very nature of God prede-
termined the trajectory of reality. In all this, as I have earlier stated,
spiritual powers were not necessary. Even cognitive power and conscious-
ness are not necessary in this understanding of reality, and so I stripped my
notion of God of all the metaphysical/religious garb of merciful, holy, all-
powerful, omnipresent, limitless, etc., and laid bare a simple God whose
powers lie strictly in being what it is—a thing and a first cause.
The concept of God, as seen in this book, need not be that of a
personalized deity, so I refer to God as an It (expressing it as neuter
or non-gendered). Since my idea of God is not spiritual or otherworldly,
and since I showed that it was necessary for God to be an existent thing
for reality to be, my very simple concept of God could only view It as a
material being, and I often wondered whether enduring things like energy
could not be an aspect of what I called God.
Even more powerful than the notion of God is the power of rela-
tionships and interaction. Asouzu had noted that the anonymous African
philosophers of the complementary and conversational school of thought
strongly believed that all that exists, all the actors and factors that made
up the world, served as missing links of reality. In my metaphysics, I take
this to be true, and so for me the bifurcation of reality into essence or
substance and accidents, as Aristotle did, or important and most impor-
tant, like Asouzu does, is not seen in my metaphysics. If all that exists is

3 Ada Agada had hinted at something similar in his description of the interaction
between joy and sadness in the Eternal Mood in his consolationist metaphysics.
 1 INTRODUCTION 9

important to fully grasp reality, then we must abandon such bifurcations,

since all that exists are equally important.
Thus, a cardinal thesis in the metaphysics of predeterministic historicity
(PDH) is the idea that being must be seen strictly in terms of a conglom-
eration of singular realities. These singular realities are the most basic
or simple forms of reality, which interact to form more complex forms
of reality. Being part of a state of affair, these realities are necessarily
part of a relation of things, and what binds them is not causality, in
the conventional sense, but the interactive relationships that necessarily
occurs between things-in-the-world. In other words, it is not enough
that A causes B; the outcome “B” is not just the function of “A” alone,
but the relationship that exists in the state of affairs to which A belongs,
and the state of affairs to which A was a product. The idea being that
any alteration change in A’s deterministic history would have produced
an outcome other than “B” and/or a different state of affairs to which
A would have belonged. One could say that “a thing becomes a thing
through the necessary relationships that preceded it”. From this rigid
understanding comes the idea of a rigid deterministic world, indifferent
to the human being and for which the human being is merely a passing
outcome.
The theory of predeterministic historicity is different from the various
established ontological systems in African philosophy in various ways. No
doubt, this idea is significantly inspired by the views of anonymous tradi-
tional African philosophers. It is also inspired by some of the more robust
metaphysical theories that have emerged from African metaphysics (in
general) and the conversational school (most particularly), both in the
positive sense (in terms of the incorporation of the relational ontology
in the theory, the retention of the idea of a first cause, the empirical
approach used) and in the negative sense (in that much of what I present
in this book arises from my deconstruction of the traditional viewpoint)
the theory is markedly different from the traditional view since it rejects
spirituality or otherworldliness and is a thoroughgoing materialism. The
theory is also different from the more dominant African metaphysical
systems such as Asouzu’s “complementarism”, Ada Agada’s “consola-
tionism”, and Chimakonam and Ogbonnaya’s nmekoka in that it rejects
the bifurcation of being (viewing complex beings as a conglomeration
of singular realities) and views the expression of nature in a strictly and
rigidly deterministic sense.
Another random document with
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Napoleon. His soldiers in drinking at pools sucked up the small leeches not thicker
than a horse's hair, whose presence in the hinder part of the mouth cavity produced
divers objectionable results, such as spitting of blood and hindered respiration.

Fam. 2. Herpobdellidae.—Pharynx without denticulate jaws, with three unarmed

chitinous plates.

A characteristic genus of this family is Trocheta, which is so common at the

Zoological Society's Gardens and in the Regent's Park, and which has been met
with in other places near London; it is in this country an introduced species, but is
found in many parts of the continent. It is a land-leech, and lives upon earthworms.

The genus Haemadipsa, which M. Blanchard places in a special sub-family,

contains a number of species which are for the most part land-leeches. Land-
leeches occur in many parts of the world, but chiefly in the tropics—in India, Ceylon,
Java, South America, etc. They lie in wait for their prey, upon the ground as a rule;
but they may ascend herbs and shrubs to gain a better outlook when they are aware
of an approaching footstep. A vivid account of the ferocity of these tiny Annelids in
Ceylon can be read in Sir J. E. Tennent's Natural History of Ceylon. They have been
said to be so pugnacious and so poisonous that persons surprised in their sleep by
the pests have succumbed to their united efforts. A whole battalion of English
soldiers decamped on one occasion from a wood which was overflowing with land-
leeches. The familiar misquotation "lethalis hirudo" might well be applied to this
species. Professor Whitman has written much upon the habits of the land-leech of
Japan (Haemadipsa japonica), which bites so softly that its presence cannot be
detected except for the stream of blood which trickles from the wound. While it is
feeding it emits from the pores of the nephridia a clear fluid, which, as it appears, is
used to keep the skin moist; when unduly dried the same phenomenon occurs. It is
curious that in this and other leeches the nephridia should play a part which in the
earthworm is played by the dorsal pores; in both animals the glands of the skin are
also concerned with the same duty.

The purely aquatic leeches swim by undulations, and also crawl by the help of the
two suckers, like a "Geometer" caterpillar. But when a land-leech is dropped into the
water it at once sinks to the bottom and crawls out; it does not swim, but can survive
immersion for a long period. In this it resembles the earthworms, which can also
survive a prolonged immersion, and even in the case of some are indifferent to the
medium, land or water, in which they live; the land-leech, however, is entirely
dependent upon damp surroundings; a dry air is fatal to it. The land-leech of Japan
leaves a slimy trail behind it as it crawls, in this respect recalling the land Planarian
Bipalium kewense.
 GEPHYREA AND PHORONIS

BY

ARTHUR E. SHIPLEY, M.A.

Fellow and Tutor of Christ's College, Cambridge

CHAPTER XV

GEPHYREA

INTRODUCTION—ANATOMY—DEVELOPMENT—SIPUNCULOIDEA—PRIAPULOIDEA—
ECHIUROIDEA—EPITHETOSOMATOIDEA—AFFINITIES OF THE GROUP.

The animals included in the above-named group were formerly associated with the
Echinodermata. Delle Chiaje[468] states that Bohadsch of Prague in 1757 was the
first to give an accurate description of Sipunculus under the name of Syrinx, but
Linnaeus, who noted that in captivity the animal always kept its anus directed
upwards, re-named it Sipunculus. Lamarck[469] placed the Gephyrea near the
Holothurians; and Cuvier[470] also assigned them a position amongst the
Echinoderms. He mentions Bonellia, Thalassema, Echiurus, Sternaspis, and three
species of Sipunculus, one of which, S. edulis, "sert de nourriture aux Chinois qui
habitent Java, et qui vont la chercher dans le sable au moyen de petits bambous
préparés."

The name Gephyrea[471] was first used by Quatrefages, who regarded these
animals as bridging the gulf between the Worms and the Echinoderms. He included
in this group the genus Sternaspis (vide p. 335), now more usually classed with the
Chaetopoda.

The Gephyrea are exclusively marine. They are subcylindrical animals, which can
either retract the anterior end of their body—the introvert—carrying the mouth into
the interior; or are provided with a long flexible but non-retractile proboscis. The
latter is easily cast off. They usually bear spines or hooks of a hard chitinous
character, secreted by the epidermis or outermost layer of cells. The mouth is at the
base of the proboscis or at the end of the protractile part, the anus is at the other
end of the body or on the dorsal surface. The nervous system consists of a ring
round the mouth and of a ventral nerve-cord. A vascular system is present as a rule.
Nephridia are found which act as excretory organs, and in most cases also as ducts
for the generative cells. The Gephyrea are bisexual, and the male is sometimes
degenerate.

The group may be divided into four Orders:—(i.) Sipunculoidea; (ii.) Priapuloidea;
(iii.) Echiuroidea; (iv.) Epithetosomatoidea; of these the first is by far the largest,
both in number of genera and of species.

The Anatomy of Sipunculus nudus.

External Characters.—The body of S. nudus when fully extended may attain a

length of a foot, or even a little more; in this condition it is seen to consist of two
portions, the anterior of which is, however, retracted into the other when the animal
is disturbed. The retractile portion is sometimes termed the proboscis, but as its
nature is entirely different from that of the proboscis of the Echiuroidea, it is better to
refer to it as the introvert. Special retractor muscles are attached on the one hand to
the body-wall about half-way down the body, and on the other hand are fused into a
muscular sheath which surrounds the gullet, just behind the mouth. When these
muscles contract, they withdraw the introvert into the rest of the body or trunk in
much the same way as the finger of a glove may be drawn into the hand, by a
thread fastened to the inside of its apex. The introvert is protruded by the
contraction of the circular muscles of the body-wall. These exert a pressure on the
fluid which fills the body-cavity, and by this means the sides of the introvert are
forced forward until finally the head is exposed.

The introvert occupies about one-sixth or one-fifth of the total body length. It is
somewhat narrower than the trunk, and is covered by a number of small flattened
papillae, some of which lie with their free ends directed backward, overlapping one
another like tiles on a roof. In some other genera, as Phymosoma, the introvert
bears rows of horny hooks, which are apt to fall off as the animal grows old.

The trunk has from thirty to thirty-two longitudinal furrows, the elevations between
which correspond with a similar number of muscles lying in the skin. This
longitudinal marking is crossed at right angles by a circular marking of similar origin,
the elevations of which correspond with the circular muscles in the skin. These two
sets of markings thus divide the skin of the trunk into a number of small square
areas, very regularly arranged (Fig. 212).

The outline of the trunk is more or less uniform, but it is capable of considerable
change according to the state of contraction of its muscles. The circular muscles, for
instance, may be contracted at one level, thus causing a constriction at this spot.
The colour of S. nudus is a somewhat glistening greyish-white.
 Fig. 211.—Right half of the anterior end of Sipunculus nudus L., seen from the inner
side and magnified. a, Funnel-shaped grooved tentacular crown leading to the
mouth; b, oesophagus; c, strands breaking up the cavity of the tentacular crown
into vascular spaces; c', heart; d, brain; e, ventral, and e', dorsal retractor
muscles; f, ventral nerve-cord; G, vascular spaces in tentacular crown.

The anterior end of the fully-expanded Sipunculus may be termed the head; here
the skin is produced into a frayed fringe which stands up in the shape of a funnel
round the mouth. This fringe is grooved on its internal surface with numerous little
gutters, all of them lined with cilia, which by their constant motion keep up a current
which sweeps food into the mouth. The fringe may be in the form of a simple ring
round the mouth, or the ring may be folded in at the dorsal side so as to take the
form of a double horse-shoe (Figs. 211 and 212).

Body-wall.—The glistening appearance of Sipunculus is due to the cuticle, a

chitinoid layer which is secreted by the external layer of cells, the epidermis.
Beneath this lies a layer of connective tissue, which is not always present in other
Gephyrea; within this lies a layer of circular muscles arranged in bundles, then
comes a very thin sheath of oblique muscular fibres, then a thicker layer of
longitudinal muscles, and finally a layer of peritoneal epithelial cells, which in
Sipunculus are for the most part ciliated.

Scattered over the surface of the body, and opening by narrow tubes which pierce
the cuticle, are a number of glandular bodies which may be either bi- or multi-
cellular. The glandular cells are apparently enlarged and modified epidermal cells;
they are arranged in a cup-shaped manner, with their apices directed towards the
orifice. They are crowded with granules, which are presumably poured out over the
cuticle, but the exact function of the secretion is entirely unknown. They have a well-
developed nerve supply.

Digestive System.—The mouth lies in the centre of the fringe, and is not provided
with any kind of jaw or biting armature; it leads directly into the thin-walled
alimentary canal, the first part of which is ciliated. The alimentary canal is not
marked out into definite regions, but passes as a thin-walled semi-transparent tube
to the posterior end of the body, and then turns forward again and opens to the
exterior by an anus situated about an inch below the junction of the introvert with the
trunk, on the median dorsal line. The descending and ascending limbs of the
alimentary canal are coiled together in a spiral, which may be more or less close in
different individuals. The whole is supported by numerous fine muscular strands,
which pass from the walls of the intestine to the skin, and by a spindle-muscle,
which runs from the extreme posterior end of the trunk up the axis of the spiral and
terminates in the skin close to the anus.

No glands open into the alimentary canal at any point of its course, but near the
anus a simple diverticulum, or pocket, of unknown function arises. The size of this
outgrowth differs enormously in different individuals. The alimentary canal near the
anus also bears two tuft-like organs, which, however, do not open into the intestine,
but probably have some function in connexion with the fluid in the body-cavity.

Along the whole course of the alimentary canal there runs a ciliated groove, into
which the food does not pass, but the cilia of which probably keep in motion a
current of water whose function may be respiratory.

Fig. 212.—Sipunculus nudus L., with introvert and head fully extended, laid open by
an incision along the right side to show the internal organs. × 2. a, Mouth; b,
 ventral nerve-cord; c, heart; d, oesophagus; e, intestine; f, position of anus; g,
tuft-like organs; h, right nephridium; i, retractor muscles; j, diverticulum on
rectum. The spindle-muscle is seen overlying the rectum.

Vascular System.—On the dorsal surface of the anterior end of the alimentary
canal lies a contractile vessel, usually termed the heart. It is a tube about an inch
long, ending blindly behind, but opening in front into a ring-shaped space
surrounding the mouth and partially enveloping the brain. From this ring-like vessel
numerous branches are given off which pass into the fringe round the mouth, and
probably the chief function of the heart is by its contraction to force fluid into this
fringe, and so to extend it. The heart contains a corpusculated fluid. A similar but
shorter tube is found on the ventral surface of the anterior end of the alimentary
canal in the species in question; it also opens into the ring which surrounds the
mouth.

Respiratory System.—There are no special respiratory organs, and it has long

been a matter of dispute where the respiration of Gephyrea is carried on. The
oxygenation of the blood probably takes place to some extent through the walls of
the oral fringe, but the blood which receives its oxygen at this spot is limited in its
distribution, and could only supply the brain and head. It seems probable that the
remaining organs are supplied with oxygen by the fluid of the body-cavity, which
bathes them on all sides. This might obtain its oxygen from the blood in the heart, or
more probably, through the thin walls of the intestine, from the stream of water
which is maintained by the ciliated groove described above. Quite recently a form—
S. mundanus, var. branchiata—has been described[472] with thin-walled papillae
covering parts of the skin. These papillae are full of corpuscles, and are regarded by
their discoverer as branchiae.

Body-Cavity.—The pinkish fluid of the body-cavity contains numerous corpuscles,

the products of the reproductive organs (either ova or spermatozoa), and some
curious unicellular bodies known as "urns." The latter are shaped like a bowl with a
ciliated rim, and are formed from the budding of certain cells on the walls of the
dorsal blood-vessel.[473] Their function is unknown, but they resemble certain
multicellular bodies found in the body-cavity of Phascolosoma. The generative cells
found in the body-cavity are further considered below. The true corpuscles are
either biconcave round corpuscles coloured with a chemical substance, the
haemerythrin of Krukenberg, which apparently plays the same rôle as haemoglobin
in other animals; or amoeboid corpuscles, which, though rare in Sipunculus, are
very numerous in Phascolosoma.

Nervous System.—The nervous system of Sipunculus consists of a brain or

cerebral ganglion, a circumoesophageal ring surrounding the gullet, and a ventral
nerve-cord. The brain is a small bi-lobed nervous mass situated on the dorsal
surface of the oesophagus, in the angle between the right and left dorsal retractor
muscles close to their point of insertion. Numerous nerves arise from it, and pass to
the fringe surrounding the mouth and to neighbouring parts. At the sides, the brain
is continued into two stout nerve-cords which encircle the oesophagus, and
meeting, fuse together in the median ventral line to form the ventral nerve-cord (Fig.
211). The latter is of the same diameter throughout, and shows no signs of
segmentation; it is oval in section, and consists of small ganglion cells heaped up on
the ventral surface, i.e. next the skin, and of numerous fibres situated dorsally. The
cord gives off many nerves, which usually arise in pairs. These pass into the skin,
and forming rings, run round the body, and give off finer nerves as they go.

The nerve-cord is supported by numerous strands of muscle which pass to it from

the skin. These are especially long in the region where the introvert joins the trunk,
and thus allow free play to the nerve-cord when the former is being protruded or
retracted.

Sipunculus is not well provided with sense-organs, but in an animal which lives
buried in sand we should not expect to find these very highly developed. On the
introvert there are certain patches of epithelium bearing long stout cilia, which have
been regarded as tactile in function, and there is a tubular infolding reaching the
brain, which almost certainly has some sensory function. Ward[474] has termed this
"the cerebral organ." It consists of a duct lined with ciliated cells, which opens to the
exterior in the middle dorsal line outside the tentacular fringe. The duct leads down
to the brain, and expands at its lower end into a saucer-shaped space, covering that
portion of the brain where its substance is continuous with the external epithelium.
In Phymosoma this cavity is produced into two finger-shaped processes, which are
sunk into the brain and are lined by cells crowded with a dense black pigment.[475]
They are probably rudimentary eyes, perhaps distinguishing only between darkness
and light. The pits appear to be absent in Sipunculus nudus, but Andrews states
they are found, although without pigment, in S. gouldii.[476]

Excretory System.—The excretory organs or "brown tubes" are typical nephridia,

that is to say, they consist of tubes with glandular walls which open on the one side
to the exterior, and on the other by means of a ciliated funnel-shaped opening into
the body-cavity. In Gephyrea one wall of the tube is produced into a long
diverticulum or sac which hangs down into the body-cavity, and is usually supported
by muscle-fibres running to the body-wall. The lower end of the sac is broken up
into a number of crypts or pits, lined by large glandular cells crowded with brown
pigment. The pigment-granules are secreted into the cavity of the sac, and leave the
body through the external opening; they probably consist of the nitrogenous excreta
of the animal. The upper end of the sac, into which both the external and internal
orifices open, is usually enlarged, and its walls are very muscular. As in so many
other animals, the nephridia serve as ducts through which the reproductive cells
leave the body of the parent.
Reproductive System.—The Gephyrea are bisexual. In Sipunculus the testes and
ovaries are found in the same position in the two sexes, and are indistinguishable
without microscopic investigation. They each consist of small ridges situated at the
lower end of the ventral retractor muscles, just where the latter take their origin from
the longitudinal muscles of the skin. At this level the cells which line the body-cavity
on the inside of the skin are heaped up, and become modified in the one case into
ova or eggs, and in the other into the mother-cells of the spermatozoa. This method
of forming the reproductive organs from modified cells lining the body-cavity is very
common in the higher animals; but it is seen in its simplest and least modified form
in the Sipunculidae.

The eggs break away from the ovary in a very undeveloped condition, but whilst
floating about in the body-cavity they increase in size and secrete a thick membrane
around them. They have a well-marked nucleus, and are oval in outline.

The mother-cells of the spermatozoa also break away in an immature condition, and
complete their development in the nutritive fluid of the body-cavity. They divide into
a number of spermatozoa, usually eight or sixteen, which remain in contact. They
each develop a tail, which projects outwards, and aids the cluster in swimming
along. These clusters of spermatozoa are about the same size as the ova of the
female, and, like them, make their way into the "brown tubes." The exact way in
which this is accomplished is not very clear, but the cilia on the funnel-shaped
internal opening of the tube seem to have some power of selecting the generative
cells when they come within their reach, and of passing them on, whilst they reject
the much smaller corpuscles of the perivisceral fluid, which are never found in the
nephridia.[477] Once inside the internal opening, the clusters break up and the
spermatozoa escape singly into the sea. Here they meet with and fertilise the eggs
which have escaped from the body of the female.

Fig. 213.—Larva of Sipunculus nudus L. × 150. (After Hatschek.) a, Mouth; b, anus; c,

excretory organ; d, glandular appendage of oesophagus; e, wall of stomach over
which the retractor muscle runs; f, invaginated sense-organ at aboral pole.
Development.—Hatschek,[478] who investigated the development of Sipunculus
nudus at Pantano, an inlet of the sea near Messina, states that the spawning takes
place during the night, and ceases about July 10. The rate of development depends
upon the temperature, but the larvae usually free themselves from the egg-
membrane during the third day. When hatched the embryos lengthen out a good
deal, and take the form represented in Fig. 213. The larva swims actively by means
of a ring of stout cilia, which encircle the body just behind the mouth. Other shorter
cilia are found on the head, continuing into the lining of the mouth, and a little bunch
of them is situated at the extreme posterior end. The alimentary canal is already
formed, and is twisted, so that the anus lies dorsally, but not so far forward as it
does in the adult. A glandular structure opens into the mouth, and another body of
unknown function is connected with the oesophagus; both these disappear during
larval life. A pair of excretory tubules, the forerunners of the brown tubes, are found,
and the chief muscle tracts are already established. The nervous system is still in
close connexion with the skin, from the outer part of which it is derived; the cerebral
thickening bears two eye-spots.

The fluid of the body-cavity contains corpuscles, which are kept in active circulation
by the constant contractions of the body-wall, and by numerous tufts of cilia which
are borne on the inner surface of the skin. The dorsal blood-vessel is one of the
latest organs to arise.

The larva swims actively about for a month, during which time it increases greatly in
size; it then undergoes a somewhat sudden metamorphosis. The ciliated ring and
the structures related to the oesophagus begin to disappear, the distinction between
the head and the rest of the body is obliterated, and the head becomes relatively
small. The mouth changes its position, and becomes terminal instead of being
somewhat ventral, and the tentacular membrane begins to appear. At the same time
the larva relinquishes its free-swimming life, and sinks to the bottom; it begins
creeping amongst the sand by protruding and retracting the anterior part of its body,
and takes on all the characters and habits of the adult.

I. Order Sipunculoidea.

Besides the genus Sipunculus, the Order Sipunculoidea includes ten other genera.
A key to these, taken for the most part from Selenka's admirable monograph, is
given on page 424.

Phascolosoma contains, in comparison with Sipunculus, only small species, and it is

easily distinguished by the fact that the longitudinal muscles are fused into a
continuous sheath. As a rule the skin is smooth. A few species bear hooks, which
are generally scattered irregularly and not arranged in transverse rows, as in
Phymosoma (Fig. 214) and most of the other genera.
The fold which in S. nudus surrounds the mouth may be in the same species bent in
so as to take the form of a double horse-shoe, the opening of which is always
dorsal, just above the brain; in this case the mouth is crescentiform. In other genera
the fold is broken up into discrete tentacles, and these are variously arranged; in
Dendrostoma they are grouped together in four or six bundles round the mouth, but
the more usual arrangement is the horse-shoe-like row of tentacles which overhang
the crescentiform mouth, as in Phymosoma and some species of Aspidosiphon.

The ventral side of each tentacle is grooved and ciliated, and the grooves are
continued into the ciliated mouth. Their dorsal surface is pigmented, and in the
hollow of the horse-shoe lies a deeply pigmented epithelium covering the brain.

A blood-vessel courses up each tentacle, and usually two channels return the blood
to the vascular ring which surrounds the mouth. In those forms which possess
tentacles on the dorsal side of the mouth only, the ventral part of the vascular ring
lies in the lower lip, which is tumid and swollen. The brain supplies a nerve to each
tentacle.

When the introvert is retracted the tentacular ring is withdrawn and to some extent
collapsed; in this condition it would be almost touching the rough external surface of
the introvert. In some species of Phymosoma the delicate appendages of the head
are guarded from the hooks on the introvert by a thin membrane or collar,[479] which
completely ensheaths the retracted head.

Fig. 214.—A, Phymosoma granulatum F. S. Leuck. × 2. B, Head of the same. × 4. a,

Pigmented pit leading to brain. The crescentiform mouth on the lower side of the
figure is overhung by the tentacles.

When the introvert is fully extended the dorsal blood-vessel contracts and sends its
blood forward into the vascular ring, and thence into the tentacles or tentacular fold,
which are thus erected. In several species of Sipunculus, as S. nudus, S.
norvegicus, S. robustus, S. tesselatus, there is a ventral blind tube as well as a
dorsal, into which the blood is withdrawn when the head is retracted. In many other
species in various genera, such as Phymosoma weldonii and Ph. asser,
Dendrostoma signifer, S. vastus, the lumen of the dorsal vessel is increased by
numerous hollow blind processes which it bears, hanging freely into the body-cavity.
Three very small genera of Sipunculids—Onchnesoma, Petalostoma, and Tylosoma
—are devoid of all trace of vascular system and of tentacles; the mouth opens in the
centre of the anterior end of the introvert. In Onchnesoma the dorsal part of the lip is
somewhat produced, so that the head has somewhat the shape of a Doge's cap,
and in Petalostoma there are two leaf-like processes of the body-wall which guard
the mouth.

The extent to which the intestine is coiled varies very much even in the same
species; the axis of the coil is often supported by a spindle-muscle, but this is
sometimes absent. The caecum, which opens into the rectum of S. nudus, is again
a very variable structure, and when it is present varies remarkably in size.

The food of Sipunculids seems to consist almost entirely of sand, and their only
nourishment must be such small microscopic organisms or particles of animal and
vegetable débris as are to be found mixed with the sand. The alimentary canal is, as
a rule, quite full of sand, and yet in spite of the tenuity of its walls they never seem
to be ruptured. If the contents of the digestive tube be washed out with a pipette, it
will be found that it requires considerable force to dislodge many of the sand-
particles lying next the wall. These are more or less embedded in crypts or pockets
of the wall, and as the sand passes along the intestine they probably serve as more
or less fixed hard points, against which the sharp edges of the sand particles are
worn off. Amongst the sand are usually to be found pieces of shell, sometimes with
a diameter equal to that of the alimentary canal; these are usually rounded, but their
angles may have been removed by attrition before they entered the mouth of the
Sipunculid.

In S. tesselatus the sand is to some extent held together by a mucous deposit; in

those cases where there is no sand in the intestine, there is always a coagulum of
mucus, and the walls are contracted and thick; when full of sand the walls are
tensely stretched and very thin. This thinness of the wall of the alimentary canal
seems ill-adapted to a diet of sand, nevertheless it is also met with in other great
sand-eating groups of animals, such as the Echinids and the Holothurians.

The enormous amount of sand and mud which passes through the bodies of the
Sipunculids shows that they must take a considerable part in modifying the mineral
substances which form the bottom of the sea. Just as earthworms, as shown by
Darwin, play a considerable rôle in the formation of soil, so must these animals, in
conjunction with Echinids and Holothurians, effect considerable modifications in the
sand and mud which pass through their bodies. Mr. J. Y. Buchanan[480] is "led to
believe that the principal agent in the comminution of the mineral matter found at the
bottom of both deep and shallow seas and oceans, is the ground fauna of the sea,
which depends for its subsistence on the organic matter which it can extract from
the mud." The minerals at the bottom of the sea are exposed to a reducing process
in passing through the bodies of the animals which eat them, and subsequently to
an oxidising process due to the oxygen dissolved in the sea-water acting on the
minerals extruded from the animals' bodies.

The rate at which the sand passes through the body of Sipunculus is unfortunately
unknown, but that at any one moment a considerable quantity is contained in the
intestine is shown by the fact that the average weight of five specimens of S. nudus
from Naples, taken at random, was 19.08 grms., whilst the average weight of sand
washed out of their alimentary canal was 10.03 grms. The sand contained in five
other specimens of the same species measured respectively 6 c.c., 7 c.c., 6.5 c.c.,
7.5 c.c., and 7.5 c.c., giving an average of 6.9 c.c. for each individual.

Onchnesoma and Tylosoma have only one retractor muscle; Aspidosiphon and
Phascolion have, as a rule, two; Phymosoma and Sipunculus have four, and
perhaps this is the more usual number.

Phascolion, Tylosoma, and Onchnesoma have but one "brown tube"; in Phascolion
this is the right, in Onchnesoma it is sometimes the right and sometimes the left that
persists. Most other genera retain two, but there are many exceptions; for instance,
Phascolosoma squamatum has but one, and so has Aspidosiphon tortus, and in
both cases it is that of the left side. No Sipunculid has more than two. It has been
pointed out by Selenka that those species which have but one brown tube are, as a
rule, inhabitants of tubes or shells, and do not move actively about in the sand.

The eggs of all members of the family, with the exception of the genus Phymosoma,
are spherical, but those of the last-named genus are elliptical. They are always
surrounded by a thick membrane, the "zona radiata," pierced by numerous pores.

Aspidosiphon (Fig. 215) is easily recognised by the presence of two symmetrically-

arranged cuticular shields, one at each end of the trunk. These are formed by the
fusion of minute cuticular plates, such as exist in the skin of most Sipunculids. The
posterior shield is radially symmetrical, but the anterior is somewhat like the shell of
a Pecten, and symmetrical only about one plane. The introvert is protruded from the
acute angle of the anterior shield, and when extended lies almost at right angles to
the trunk, instead of being, as is usually the case, in the same straight line with it. In
many specimens, and these seem as a rule to be the older ones, a deposit of
calcium carbonate takes place over these shields, covering over and concealing
their external markings.
Cloeosiphon (Echinosiphon) has a calcareous ring, consisting of four or five rows of
lozenge-shaped calcareous bodies forming a close mosaic, arranged round the
base of the introvert, which when extended is in the same straight line as the trunk.
Each piece bears a brown spot, which is said to be the pore of a gland (Fig. 217).
Golfingia Lankester, has a cylindrical horny thickening at the anterior end of the
trunk and another at the posterior.

Fig. 215.—Aspidosiphon truncatus Kef. × 2. a, Introvert partially extended, but not

sufficiently to show the head.

Key to the Genera of Sipunculoidea.[481]

I. The longitudinal muscles in the body-wall divided into 17-41 distinct bundles.
Four retractor muscles.

A. Body covered with papillae. Numerous filiform tentacles which seldom (or
never?) surround the mouth, but stand above and dorsal to it in a horse-
shoe, with the opening dorsal. No rectal caecum. Hooks usually present.
Four retractors (in Ph. Rupellii only two?). Heart almost always without
caeca. Eye-spots always present. Eggs oval, flat, reddish. Almost entirely
small tropical species
1. Phymosoma

B. Body devoid of papillae. Tentacular membrane surrounds the mouth in a

circlet. Rectum with one or more caeca (except S. edulis?). Hooks absent
except in S. australis. Eggs spherical. The tentacular membrane contains a
vascular network. A ventral contractile vessel usually present in addition to
the heart. Mostly large forms. Found in all seas
2. Sipunculus

II. The longitudinal muscles in the body-wall form a continuous sheath, and are
not split up into bundles.

A. Two brown tubes. Numerous tentacles form a wreath round the mouth.
Alimentary canal forms a complete spiral, free behind except in Ph. Hanseni.
 Spindle-muscle usually present. One or more ligaments present, but only on
the anterior convolutions of the intestine. Adhesive papillae always absent.
Hooks very frequently absent. Eggs spherical. Found in all seas.
3. Phascolosoma

B. Two free brown tubes. Only four or six plumed tentacles. A complete
intestinal spiral, not attached behind. Spindle-muscle always present. One or
more ligaments present, but only on the anterior convolutions of the
intestine. Hooks are present, but sometimes fall off early in life. Heart usually
bears caeca. Found only in the tropics.
4. Dendrostoma

C. Only one brown tube, that of the right side, present; it is attached to the
body-wall throughout its entire length. Numerous tentacles form a circle
round the mouth. The alimentary canal forms no spiral, or an incomplete
one. No spindle-muscle, but the intestine is attached to the body-wall
throughout its length by numerous ligaments. Adhesive papillae often
present. Not more than two retractors. Spherical eggs. Inhabits Mollusc
shells or tubes. Found in all seas
5. Phascolion

III. At both ends of the trunk a distinct horny shield, or tube-like cornification, or
a calcareous ring at the anterior end of the trunk. Hooks sometimes present.
Longitudinal muscles continuous or split up into bundles.

A. A shield at both ends of the trunk. Introvert excentric, arising from the
ventral side of the anterior shield. Tentacles small and few in number,
arranged in a horse-shoe above the mouth. A spindle-muscle, which arises
from the posterior end of the body, traverses the intestinal coil. Two
retractors only, these are the ventral; they are frequently fused together from
their point of origin.
6. Aspidosiphon

B. A calcareous ring surrounds the anterior end of the trunk, from the middle
of which the introvert is extruded. Longitudinal muscles continuous. Hooks
bifid. Tropical.
7. Cloeosiphon

C. A corneous ring, from which the introvert issues, surrounds the anterior
end of the trunk, and the posterior end of the trunk is produced into a
corneous spike. Six pinnate tentacles encircle the mouth. Four retractors.
Hooks present on the introvert. Longitudinal muscles continuous. Intestine
 not coiled throughout in a spiral nor fastened posteriorly. Spindle muscle
present.
8. Golfingia

IV. No tentacles, but two leaf-like extensions of the body-wall guard the mouth.
Four retractors. Few intestinal loops, quite free. No vascular system.
9. Petalostoma

V. No tentacles, no vascular system. One retractor, and one segmental organ.

A. Introvert long. Body small, pear-shaped.

10. Onchnesoma

B. No introvert (?). Body cylindrical, thickly covered with papillae, which are
larger and more crowded at both ends of the trunk.
11. Tylosoma

Species of Sipunculoidea.—The genus Phymosoma (Fig. 214) contains more

species than any other genus of Sipunculoidea, and they are all of fair size. Twenty-
seven species are known, of which seventeen occur in the Malay Archipelago,
thirteen being found there alone. Phymosoma affects shallow water, the deepest
specimens being taken at a depth of about 50 fathoms; this may be due to the fact
that they flourish only in comparatively warm water. With very few exceptions, they
are found only in tropical seas, very often living in tubular excavations made in soft
coral rock.

The genus Sipunculus contains sixteen species. They are the largest and the most
conspicuous members of the group. They have a very wide distribution, some
species, as S. nudus (Fig. 212) and S. australis, being almost cosmopolitan. They
are most common in temperate and tropical seas, but S. norvegicus and S.
priapuloides are found far north, but always at considerable depths, 100 to 200
fathoms.

The following account of the habits of Sipunculus gouldii is taken from Mr.
Andrews'[482] paper on that species:—

"This Sipunculus is very abundant in certain small areas of compact, fine sand
darkened by organic matter and not laid bare at ordinary low tide. In such places,
only a few square metres in extent, they pierce the sand in all directions to a depth
of more than half a metre, making burrows with persistent lumen running from the
surface downward and then laterally, but with no regularity in direction.
"Kept in aquaria, the dependence of the animal upon the nature of the sand and its
method of locomotion may be readily observed. A vigorous individual buries itself in
a few moments in the following manner: Running out the introvert to nearly its full
extent, and applying it to the surface of the sand till some spot of less resistance is
found, the animal still further expands the introvert so that it penetrates the sand,
provided this is not too dense and firm, for then the body is merely shoved
backward. When the introvert is inserted, the contraction of the longitudinal muscles
of the body-wall brings the whole body forward somewhat, in case the introvert is
fixed in the sand. In case soft ooze was present, this fixation did not take place, and
the introvert was merely pulled out again, but when the sand was of the right
consistency the introvert was fixed by becoming much swollen at the tip, and then
constricted just posterior to this swollen area. This bulb-like area exerts lateral
pressure on the sand, as could be seen by movements of the grains. The swelling
of the anterior end of the introvert is brought about by the body-wall contracting
elsewhere, and forcing in liquid to distend that end. Owing to the curved form
assumed by the body in the normal contracted state when first removed from its
burrow, the entrance of the introvert may often be nearly vertical, and hence the
entire body is soon raised nearly upright in the water above the sand. If the body
has thus been warped forward sufficiently to become somewhat fixed in the sand,
the introvert is rolled in and again thrust forward from this new point of resistance,
and so on till the animal is entirely buried. This locomotion increases in speed as the
creature becomes more completely surrounded by sand, and is the only means of
moving from place to place.

"On a smooth surface, or on one not presenting the right degree of resistance, the
Sipunculus does not change its position, but remains till death finally occurs, rolling
its introvert in and out and contracting its body-wall to no purpose.

"The essential factors in the mechanism bringing about this hydrostatic locomotion
are an elongated contractile sac filled with liquid, and some means of definitely co-
ordinating the contractions of the sac.

"In natural environment the animals are found with sometimes one, sometimes the
other end nearer the surface of the sand: in the aquaria the same was observed, but
when the water became stagnant and impure the anterior end with expanded
branchiae was often protruded somewhat above the surface of the sand."

The genus Phascolosoma contains at least twenty-five species, for the most part
small. Ph. margaritaceum, however, measures[483] 10 cm. in length, and Ph.
flagriferum, 13 cm. The latter is produced at the hinder end of its trunk into a long
whip-like process, which recalls the horny spike of Golfingia. Most species live free,
but a few inhabit the shells of dead Gasteropods or of Dentalium, or the abandoned
tubes of worms. They occur in practically all seas.
 Fig. 216.—Specimens of the Coral Heteropsammia cochlea, with Aspidosiphon
heteropsammiarum or A. michelini living in a state of commensalism with them.
(From Bouvier.)

Dendrostoma contains but five species, which are all found within the tropics in the
Pacific or in the West Atlantic. They are shallow-water forms, and some are found
between tide-marks.

Phascolion is a smaller genus, containing but ten species, which may have been
derived independently from different species of Phascolosoma, and in this case the
genus should be broken up. The members of this genus live in Mollusc shells, such
as Dentalium, Turritella, Buccinum, Chenopus (Aporrhais), Nassa, Strombus, and
generally acquire the coiled shape of their host. They are usually attached to the
shell by means of certain adhesive papillae found on their posterior end. Ph. strombi
fills its shell with mud, which must be kept together by some secretion of the animal.
The body lies in a tube in this mud, and the introvert projects from the small round
opening at the end of the tube, and explores the ground in every direction. They are
found in all seas, but more especially in the colder waters.

Fig. 217.—Cloeosiphon aspergillum Quatr. × ½. a, Introvert covered with spines and

partially extended, but not sufficiently to show the head; b, calcareous plates
surrounding the point of origin of the introvert.

The genus Aspidosiphon includes nineteen species, which are, with few exceptions,
exclusively confined to the Indian Ocean and neighbouring seas, including the Red
Sea. The exceptions are A. armatus from the Norwegian coast, and A. mülleri from
the Mediterranean and Adriatic. A. truncatus is also stated to occur at Panama, the
Bahamas, and at Mauritius. The remaining species almost all occur in the Malay
Archipelago and neighbouring islands, and as was the case with Phymosoma, this
part of the world seems to be the headquarters of the genus. A. mülleri lives in the
interstices of rocks and stones, and occasionally in disused Mollusc shells.

Two species of Aspidosiphon have been described by Bouvier[484] living in a state

of commensalism with two species of Madreporarian corals, Stephanoceris
rousseaui and Heteropsammia cochlea, which live on and surrounding the shells of
certain Molluscs at Aden (Fig. 216). Apparently the Gephyrean takes up its abode
within its house at a tender age, and according to Bouvier, it provides for its
increasing bulk by secreting a coiled calcareous tube, the outer surface of which
affords space for the growth of the coral.

The genus Cloeosiphon, the Echinosiphon of Sluiter, includes three species: C.

aspergillum (Fig. 217), C. molle, and C. javanicum. The first named occurs at
Mauritius, the Malay Archipelago, and neighbouring islands; the others are confined
to the last-named area, which thus again forms the headquarters of a genus.

Golfingia, described by Lankester from a single specimen, was dredged in St.

Andrews Bay, at the depth of 10 fathoms.

Petalostoma comprises but one species, P. minutum, which is found in the English
Channel.

Onchnesoma comprises two species, O. steenstrupii and O. sarsii, both found off
the coast of Norway at considerable depths between 200 and 300 fathoms.

Tylosoma comprises one species, T. lütkenii, also from the Norwegian coast. It is
dredged from stony ground in 50 to 80 fathoms.

II. Order Priapuloidea.

Anatomy.—This Order consists of the two genera Priapulus and Halicryptus. Both
are cylindrical animals with the mouth at one end and the anus at the other. The
introvert is short, and is covered with rows of chitinous spines, which are continued
to some extent over the body.

The skin is folded in a series of rings, and the body is usually somewhat swollen
posteriorly. P. caudatus bears a curious caudal appendage, beset with a number of
hollow lobes somewhat grape-like in appearance. This is situated ventral to the
anus; its lumen is continuous with that of the body-cavity, but it can be separated
from it by the action of a sphincter muscle. Two such appendages exist in P.
bicaudatus.

There cannot be said to be any head in the Priapuloidea; they have no tentacles or
tentacular fringe, no proboscis, and no distinct brain; simply a round aperture, the
mouth, which is surrounded by a groove in the skin, at the bottom of which the
circumoesophageal nerve-cord lies. The mouth leads into a very muscular pharynx
lined with stout chitinous teeth; this passes into an intestine, which is as a rule
straight, but in P. glandifer it has a single loop.

The Priapuloidea possess no vascular system and no brown tubes. Their skin has in
the main the same structure as that of the Sipunculids, with spines, glandular
bodies, and papillae with sensory hairs which resemble similar structures on
Phymosoma varians. Retractor muscles arise from the longitudinal muscles of the
skin, and are inserted into the pharynx; they are short and not constant in number.

The nervous system has retained throughout its primitive connexion with the
epidermis. In almost all animals the nervous system is formed from the epiblast or
outermost cellular layer of the embryo; it usually, however, breaks away from this
and sinks into the body. Thus in Sipunculus it lies within the body-cavity, and has
retained its primitive connexion with the outer layers of the skin only in the region of
the brain; but in the Priapulids the nervous system, which consists of a ring round
the mouth and of a ventral cord, lies embedded in the skin, and the nerve cells are
directly continuous with the cells of the epidermis. The nerve-ring lies at the base of
a groove in the skin, which forms a kind of gutter round the mouth; the ventral
nerve-cord is visible exteriorly as a light line which marks the ventral surface of the
animal. In no place is the ring or cord differentiated in any way, and there cannot be
said to be any brain or special sense-organs. Numerous nerves are given off from
the ring to the pharynx and intestine, and from the cord to the body-wall.

Fig. 218.—Priapulus caudatus Lam. Nat. size. a, Mouth surrounded by spines.

The sexes are distinct, but they differ from the other Gephyrea in the nature of their
reproductive organs. In mature specimens the ovaries or testes are easily
recognisable, lying to the right and left of the alimentary canal. The reproductive
glands are continuous with ducts, which act as oviducts and vasa deferentia
respectively. Both glands and ducts are attached to the body-wall by a mesentery.

The excretory function is performed in the Priapuloidea by the ducts of the

generative organs. These are primarily connected with a number of branching
canals of small size which project into the body-cavity. According to Schauinsland,
[485] one or more pear-shaped cells are found at the end of each branch, and each
is continued into a long cilium which hangs down into the lumen of the canal, and by
its movement produces a flickering motion. Beyond the free end of the large cilium
the canal is lined with ciliated cells. The remarkable resemblance this form of
excretory organ presents to that of the Platyhelminthes (vide p. 25) and of certain
Chaetopods is worthy of attention. In the young Priapuloidea the duct with its
branching canals is not masked by the generative organs, but as the animals
become mature, diverticula from the duct arise, and the cells covering these
become modified into ova in the female, and into spermatozoa in the male. The
presence of these follicles masks the excretory part of the gland. The ova and
spermatozoa escape through the ciliated ducts which open to the exterior one on
each side of the anus, and, contrary to what is the case with other Gephyrea, leave
the body without having ever been in the body-cavity.

Nothing is known of the embryology of either member of this family, but both genera
appear to be sexually mature from the end of May until October.

Classification.—The two genera which make up the Order Priapuloidea are

characterised as follows:—

Priapulus.—The body is continued into one or two caudal appendages, beset with
hollow papillae; these are ventral to the anus. The introvert forms ¼ to ⅓ of the total
body-length; it is covered with spines in conspicuous longitudinal rows, the rest of
the body being ringed. The retractor muscles are numerous, and are attached to the
body-wall, some anteriorly and some posteriorly.

The genus includes the following five species:—

P. caudatus Lam. (Fig. 218). Hab. Coasts of Greenland, Norway, Great Britain,
the North Sea, and the Baltic.

P. bicaudatus Dan. Hab. North Sea and Arctic Ocean.

P. glandifer Ehlers. Hab. Coast of Greenland, North Sea.