The agglutination of formed elements in the blood of invertebrates.

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to discuss the role of invertebrate blood and body fluid cells in clot formation and related phenomena. Invertebrate blood physiology has been most extensively investigated in some crustaceans and in Limulus, a merostomatan. The insects have also been studied a good deal, and there has been some work on the annelids, mollusks, echinoderms, tunicates (ascidians), and others.

The three most important hemostatic devices in vertebrates are (1) smooth muscle contraction, (2) blood cell agglutination, and (3) plasma coagulation. Among the mammalian blood cells only the platelets are important in clot formation, although the leukocytes may sometimes be involved. [TRUNCATED]