for instance, in the lobster’s claw. Such chelate rami or limb-branches are independently developed in Crustacea and in Arachnida, and are carried by somites of the body which do not correspond in position in the two groups. The range of modification of which the rami or limb-branches of the limbs of Arthropoda are capable is very large, and in allied orders or even families or genera we often find what is certainly the palp of the same appendage (as determined by numerical position of the segments)—in one case antenniform, in another chelate, in another pediform, and in another reduced to a mere stump or absent altogether. Very probably the power which the appendage of a given segment has of assuming the perfected form and proportions previously attained by the appendage of another segment must be classed as an instance of “homoeosis,” not only where such a change is obviously due to abnormal development or injury, but also where it constitutes a difference permanently established between allied orders or smaller groups, or between the two sexes.
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Fig. 9.—Three somite-appendages or parapodia of Peripatus. | |
| A, A walking leg; p1 to p4, the characteristic “pads”; f, the foot; cl1, cl3, the two claws. | |
| B, An oral papilla, one of the second pair of post-oral appendages. | |
C, One of the first post-oral pair of appendages or mandibles; cl1, cl2, the greatly enlarged claws. (Compare A.)
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| The appendages are represented with the neural or ventral surface uppermost. Original. |
The most extreme disguise assumed by the Arthropod parapodium or appendage is that of becoming a mere stalk supporting an eye—a fact which did not obtain general credence until the experiments of Herbst in 1895, who found, on cutting off the eye-stalk of Palaemon, that a jointed antenna-like appendage was regenerated in its place. Since the eye-stalks of Podophthalmate Crustacea represent appendages, we are forced to the conclusion that the sessile eyes of other Crustacea, and of other Arthropoda generally, indicate the position of appendages which have atrophied.[1]
From what has been said, it is apparent that we cannot, in attempting to discover the affinities and divergences of the various forms of Arthropoda, attach a very high phylogenetic value to the coincidence or divergence in form of the appendages belonging to the somites compared with one another.
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After Lankester, Q. J. Mic. Sci. vol. xxi., 1881. | |
| Fig. 10.—The second thoracic (fifth post-oral) appendage of the left side of Apus cancriformis, placed with its ventral or neural surface uppermost to compare with figs. 8 and 9. | |
| 1, 2, | The two segments of the axis. |
| en1, | The gnathobase. |
| en2 to en6, The five following “endites.” | |
| fl, | The flabellum or anterior exite. |
| br, | The bract or posterior exite. |
The principal forms assumed by the Arthropod parapodium and its rami may be thus enumerated:—
(1) Axial corm well developed, unsegmented or with two to four segments; lateral endites and exites (rami) numerous and of various lengths (certain limbs of lower Crustacea).
(2) Corm, with short unsegmented rami, forming a flattened foliaceous appendage, adapted to swimming and respiration (trunk-limbs of Phyllopods).
(3) Corm alone developed; with no endites or exites, but provided with terminal chitinous claws (ordinary leg of Peripatus), with terminal jaw teeth (jaw of Peripatus), or with blunt extremity (oral papilla of same) (see fig. 9).
(4) Three of the rami of the primitive limb (endites 5 and 6, and exite 1) specially developed as endopodite, exopodite, and epipodite—the first two often as firm and strongly chitinized, segmented, leg-like structures; the original axis or corm reduced to a basal piece, with or without a distinct gnathobase (endite 1)—typical tri-ramose limb of higher Crustacea.
(5) One ramus (the endopodite) alone developed—the original axis or corm serving as its basal joint with or without gnathobase. This is the usual uni-ramose limb found in the various classes of Arthropoda. It varies as to the presence or absence of the jaw-process and as to the stoutness of the segments of the ramus, their number (frequently six, plus the basal corm), and the modification of the free end. This may be filiform or brush-like or lamellate when it is an antenna or palp; a simple spike (walking leg of Crustacea, of other aquatic forms, and of Chilopods and Diplopods); the terminal joint flattened (swimming leg of Crustacea and Gigantostraca); the terminal joint provided with two or with three recurved claws (walking leg of many terrestrial forms—e.g. Hexapoda and Arachnida); the penultimate joint with a process equal in length to the last joint, so as to form a nipping organ (chelae of Crustaceans and Arachnids); the last joint reflected and movable on the penultimate, as the blade of a clasp-knife on its handle (the retrovert, toothed so as to act as a biting jaw in the Hexapod Mantis, the Crustacean Squilla and others); with the last joint produced into a needle-like stabbing process in spiders.
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After Lankester, Q. J. Mic. Sci. vol. xxi., 1881. | |
| Fig. 11.—The first thoracic (fourth post-oral) appendage of Apus cancriformis (right side). | |
| Ax1 to Ax4, the four segments of the axis with muscular bands. | |
| En1, | Gnathobase. |
| En2 to En5, The elongated jointed endites (rami). | |
| En6, | The rudimentary sixth endite (exopodite of higher Crustacea). |
| Fl, | The flabellum which becomes the epipodite of higher forms. |
| Br, | The bract devoid of muscles and respiratory in function. |
(6) Two rami developed (usually, but perhaps not always, the equivalents of the endopodite and exopodite) supported on the somewhat elongated corm (basal segment). This is the typical “bi-ramose limb” often found in Crustacea. The rami may be flattened for swimming, when it is “a bi-ramose swimmeret,” or both or only one may be filiform and finely annulate; this is the form often presented by the antennae of Crustacea, and rarely by prae-oral appendages in other Arthropods.
(7) The endopoditic ramus is greatly enlarged and flattened, without or with only one jointing, the corm (basal segment) is evanescent; often the plate-like endopodites of a pair of such appendages unite in the middle line with one another or by the intermediary of a sternal up-growth and form a single broad plate. These are the plate-like swimmerets and opercula of Gigantostraca and Limulus among Arachnids and of Isopod Crustaceans. They may have rudimentary exopodites, and may or may not have branchial filaments or lamellae developed on their posterior faces. The simplest form to which they may be reduced is seen in the genital operculum of the scorpion.
(8) The gnathobase becomes greatly enlarged and not separated by a joint from the corm; it acts as a hemignath or half jaw working against its fellow of the opposite side. The endopodite may be retained as a small segmented palp at the side of the gnathobase or disappear (mandible of Crustacea, Chilopoda and Hexapoda).
(9) The corm becomes the seat of a development of a special visual organ, the Arthropod eye (as opposed to the Chaetopod eye). Its jointing (segmentation) may be retained, but its rami disappear (Podophthalmous Crustacea). Usually it becomes atrophied, leaving the eye as a sessile organ upon the prae-oral region of the body
- ↑ H. Milne-Edwards, who was followed by Huxley, long ago formulated the conclusion that the eye-stalks of Crustacea are modified appendages, basing his argument on a specimen of Palinurus (figured in Bateson’s book (1), in which the eye-stalk of one side is replaced by an antenniform palp. Hofer (6) in 1894 described a similar case in Astacus.
