Quiz this week over the material
you looked at during Week 2 and 3, as well as the written sections for this
week's lab,, i.e. the shark and mudpuppy muscles.
Finish up cat neck muscles, if you didn't get to them last week, before you go on to the shark and mudpuppy.
Don't forget that there's a midterm coming
up in Week 5. If you want to take your cat/shark home to study, you
have to get it out of the lab by the time stated by your T.A.; thereafter it becomes fair game for use in the exam. Remember to bring an opaque bag or box to carry it in.
What the book calls the First Ventral Constrictor muscle in the ventral view of the shark, is the same as the Intermandibular.
The Epihyoid muscle is the unlabeled one shown in
the lateral view of the shark, just caudal to the spiracle.
You'll find the shark skin much more difficult
to peel off than the cat's. You'll need to loosen a piece at a time
and then cut it, and that takes some time - be patient. On the upside,
once you have the skin off, there isn't a whole lot of clean-up to
do underneath.
Compare the muscles in the shark, cat, and
mudpuppy, taking note of which ones they share. If you're familiar
with the muscles in one species, and what they do, you won't have to
learn them all over again in the other. But also be aware of where
they differ. Note that the mudpuppy is a nice intermediate between
the shark and the cat, combining elements of both.
Don't forget the shark and mudpuppy skeletons you
learned during Week 1 - picturing the skeleton will help you with origins,
insertions, and actions.
Nothing directly to do with the course ... this section will have an occasionally-changing recommendation for books of general scientific interest - guided by the whimsy of the web-site maintainer, of course. :) This week's pick is:
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
(The overriding drive of life is to propagate itself ... one might even say an organism is a gene's way of making more genes. This book is a great description of some of the "best" ways that genes go about this, and how "the best way" will differ with circumstances.)
