The Localization of the Presumptive Cerebral Regions in the Neural Plate of the Axolotl Larva

One of the most important means of studying the phenomena of induction and determination during the development of the central nervous system consists in microsurgical operations of different kinds on the neural plate of Urodela. Hence it is important to have the neural plate mapped with regard to the prospective significance of its different parts, the ‘materielle Anlagen’ of Mangold (1937). A detailed mapping of the caudal part of the neural plate has been carried out by Nakamura (1942). Earlier attempts to map the entire presumptive brain are due to His (1893) who, however, used a very crude method, and to Waechter (1953) who examined the ability to differentiate of material from different parts of the neural plate. Investigations of this kind have also been performed by other authors (Mangold, 1933, 1937, 1955; Mangold & v. Woellwarth, 1950; Raven, 1935; Alderman, 1935; v. Aufsess, 1941; ter Horst, 1947) who were, however, not so confident of the interpretation of their results as to synthesize them in a map of prospective areas.