The book describes the morphology and the functions of the various organ systems of the brachiopods, covering recent lingulids, discinids, craniids, rhynchonellids, terebratulids and terebratellids. It includes the relevant previous publications on the subject and the author's unpublished original observations. Of interest is his illustration of separate periostracum-forming epithelium and skeleton-forming epithelium at the periostracal groove or crypt in Lingula postlarva and Discinisca shelled larva. This serves as an alternative to the interpretation of Williams and Wright (1970) that there was a single epithelium, every individual cell of which moved from the periostracal groove or crypt to the mantle edge like a roller belt and secreted in succession pellicle, periostracum and when it went over the mantle edge, the cell secreted primary layer and finally secondary layer of the skeleton. The author next shows that in the earliest Lingula anatina larva and Discinisca coralliphila shelled larva there was no cuticle connection between the dorsal and the ventral valves, disputing Yatsu's (1902) notion that Lingula valves originated by the bending of a single circular shell. The author's illustration also shows that the intestine and anus of L. anatina larva are present at the 2 p.c. stage after it hatches, disputing Yatsu's (1902) claim that they formed during the 4 p.c. stage. The author also illustrates a rare 10 p.c. L. anatina larva from the Johor Strait with longitudinally divided median tentacle, disproving Yatsu's (1902) notion that the median tentacle atrophied after larval settlement. The author illustrates the differentiation of haemerythrocytes and spindle cells from the mesothelium in the mesothelial ridges of the roof and the floor of the perivisceral cavity, establishing that the spindle cells are a normal constituent of the coelomic fluid and disproving the notion that spindle cells differentiated from muscles fibres. The author spent much time in China, sorting, examining and photographing the exceptionally preserved Lower Cambrian Chengjiang fossils in the various institutions. His revision of the published accounts of them by Chinese palaeontologists and his revision of recent inarticulate brachiopods are presented. It is hoped that his observations and conclusions can earn general acceptance.
About the Author: CHUANG Shou Hwa was born on 10 June 1919. He obtained a B.Sc. with a major in biology and minor in chemistry from National Xiamen University, China in 1941; M.Sc. in embryology from Bristol University, England in 1948 on a British Council scholarship in biology from China; and Ph.D. from the University of Malaya in Singapore (currently the National University of Singapore). Chuang was on the faculty in the Department of Biology in the National Xiamen University and in the Shanghai Medical College. He was Acting Head of the Department of Zoology in the National University of Taiwan before joining the Department of Zoology in the University of Malaya in Singapore for 27 years. He was Professor of Zoology and Head of the Department in the University of Singapore for seven years. He was also concurrently the Director of the UNESCO Regional Marine Biological Centre in Singapore for four years. Chuang's 1961 book "On Malayan Shores" 1961 covers recent scleractinian corals and intertidal invertebrates of the Malay Peninsula. As Director of the UNESCO Regional Marine Biological Centre, he published six CSK (Cooperative Study of the Kuroshio and adjacent regions) Zooplankton Data Reports. He edited and contributed to "Animal Life and Nature in Singapore" (1973), which describes the geology, climate, plant and animal life of Singapore. In addition, he has published many papers on brachiopods and nematodes and contributed a chapter on the fixation of tissues of marine animals in McGee-Russell and Ross (eds.), "Cell Structure and Its Interpretation", 1968, and a chapter "The morphology and paleobiology of Trematis elliptopora", in J.T. Dutro, Jr (ed.), "Paleozoic Perspectives: A Paleontological Tribute to G. Arthur Cooper", 1971. After his retirement in 1977, he studied recent articulate brachiopods in Australia and New Zealand. From 2005, he spent time every year at several research institutions in China to examine the exceptionally preserved Lower Cambrian Chengjiang brachiopods and to study brachiopod tissues under the SEM and TEM microscopes of the National Xiamen University. The results of his findings are incorporated in a paper on Heliomedusa orienta and in this present volume, "Functional Morphology of Brachiopods".