Facts and Arguments for Darwin by Fritz Muller
page 69 of 127 (54%)
page 69 of 127 (54%)
![]() | ![]() |
|
|
larger work, but no doubt the same may be said of it.)
(FIGURES 53 AND 54. Nauplii of Copepoda, the former magnified 90, the latter 180 diam.) All the larvae of the free Copepoda investigated by Claus, have, at the earliest period, three pairs of limbs (the future antennae and mandibles), the anterior with a single, and the two following ones with a double series of joints, or branchiae. The unpaired eye, labrum, and mouth, already occupy their permanent positions. The posterior portion, which is usually short and destitute of limbs, bears two terminal setae, between which the anus is situated. The form in this Nauplius-brood is extremely various,--it is sometimes compressed laterally, sometimes flat,--sometimes elongated, sometimes oval, sometimes round or even broader than long, and so forth. The changes which the first larval stages undergo during the progress of growth, consist essentially in an extension of the body and the sprouting forth of new limbs. "The following stage already displays a fourth pair of extremities, the future maxillae." Then follow at once three new pairs of limbs (the maxillipedes and the two anterior pairs of natatory feet). The larva still continues like a Nauplius, as the three anterior pairs of limbs represent rowing feet; at the next moult it is converted into the youngest Cyclops-like state, when it resembles the adult animal in the structure of the antennae and buccal organs, although the number of limbs and body segments is still much less, for only the rudiments of the third and fourth pairs of natatory feet have made their appearance in the form of cushions fringed with setae, and the body consists of the oval cephalothorax, the second, third, and fourth thoracic segments, and an elongated terminal joint. In the Cyclopidae the posterior antennae have lost their secondary branch, and the mandibles have completely |
|


