During the development of several annelids and molluscs, a lobe of protoplasm is observed to protrude from the vegetal pole of the egg during the first cleavages. Removal of this polar lobe causes characteristic defects in the developing larvae as has been observed in the scaphopod, Dentalium (Wilson, 1904; Verdonk, 1968), the annelid Sabellaria (Hatt, 1932; Novikoff, 1938), the gastropod Ilyanassa obsoleta (Crampton, 1896; Clement, 1952) and the lamellibranch, Mytilus edulis (Rattenbury & Berg, 1954).
In Dentalium a polar lobe is formed at the first, the second and the third cleavage. The lobes contain part of the cytoplasm, which later is confined to the D blastomere. After removal of the first polar lobe, embryos develop in which the post-trochal region and the apical tuft are absent. After removal of the second polar lobe the post-trochal region of the embryos is greatly reduced, but they develop an apical tuft (Wilson, 1904).