ABSTRACT
Problems of growth in Obelia colonies and the effect of amino-and nucleid-acid components were investigated first by Hammett and his co-workers (Hammett & Padis 1935, Hammett & Chapman 1938, Hammett & Barbour 1939, Hammett 1940, 1942, 1943, 1946, 1950, 1951a,b,c,d,e, Hammett & Comee 1940, Hammett & Rivard 1940a,b, Hammett & Hammett 1945). The growth and polymorphic transformations of Obelia colonies were investigated by Berrill (1948, 1949, 1950, 1961). Some experimental investigations of variation in colonial “organs” were initiated by Russian investigators (see Korsakova 1950). Some investigations carried out on different hydroids, including the Campanulariidae, dealt with the dynamics of stolon growth and the inter-relationship between these processes and nutrition (Crowell & Rusk 1950, Crowell 1953, 1956, 1957, Crowell et al. 1955, Crowell & Wyttenbach 1957, Crowell & Hartman 1960, Wyttenbach 1968, 1969, Wyttenbach et al. 1973, Suddith 1974). Researches undertaken by Stebbing (1976, 1980, 1981a,b,c, 1982, 1987) addressed growth kinetics and other problems of colonial growth in the Campanulariidae. Ryland & Warner (1986) dealt with the peculiarities of colony growth and building-up of colonies in so-called “modular” organisms, and with the specificity of the polyps’ distribution and their size.
