but the custom has continued, to prevail among Eastern nations to the present time, and many of the types that were common in Europe in prehistoric times are still worn in central Asia.
A treatise, De Armillis Veterum, by Thomas Bartholinus, was published at Amsterdam in 1676.
BRACHIOPODA, an important and well-defined but extremely
isolated class of invertebrates. The group may be defined as
follows: Sessile solitary Coelomata with bivalved shells usually
of unequal size and arranged dorso-ventrally. The head is
produced into ciliated arms bearing tentacles. They reproduce
sexually, and with doubtful exceptions are of separate sexes.
The name Brachiopod (βραχίων, an arm, and πούς, ποδός, a foot) was proposed for the class by F. Cuvier in 1805, and by A. M. C. Dumeril in 1809, and has since been very extensively adopted. The division of the group into Ecardines (Inarticulata), with no hinge to the shell and with an alimentary canal open at both ends, and Testicardines (Articulata), with a hinge between the dorsal and ventral valves and with no anus, was proposed by Owen and has been adopted by nearly all authors. In a later scheme based on our increased knowledge of fossil forms, the Brachiopoda are divided into four primary groups (orders). This is given at the end of the article, but it must not be forgotten that the existing forms with an anus (Ecardines) differ markedly from the aproctous members of the group (Testicardines).
Figs. 1 – 11.—Various forms of Brachiopoda. | |
1. Magellania [Waldheimia] cranium. A, ventral, |
7. Leptaena transversalis. A, ventral, B, dorsal valve. |
The soft body of the Brachiopod is in all cases protected by a shell composed of two distinct valves; these valves are always, except in cases of malformation, equal-sided, but not equivalved. The valves are, consequently, essentially symmetrical, which is not the case with the Lamellibranchiata,—so much so, that certain Brachiopod shells were named Lampades, or lamp shells, by some early naturalists; but while such may bear a kind of resemblance to an antique Etruscan lamp, by far the larger number in no way resemble one. The shell is likewise most beautiful in its endless shapes and variations. In some species it is thin, semi-transparent and glassy, in others massive. Generally the shell is from a quarter of an inch to about 4 in. in size, but in certain species it attains nearly a foot in breadth by something less in length, as is the case with Productus giganteus. The valves are also in some species very unequal in their respective thickness, as may be seen in Productus (Daviesiella)[1] llangollensis, Davidsonia verneuilii, &c., and while the space allotted to the animal is very great in many species, as in Terebratula sphaeroidalis, it is very small in others belonging to Strophomena, Leptaena, Chonetes, &c. The ventral valve is usually the thickest, and in some forms is six or seven times as great as the opposite one. The outer surface of many of the species presents likewise the most exquisite sculpture, heightened by brilliant shades, or spots of green, red, yellow and bluish black. Traces of the original colour have also been preserved in some of the fossil forms; radiating bands of a reddish tint have been often seen in well-preserved examples of Terebratula (Dielasma) hastata, T. (Dielasma) sacculus, T. communis, T. biplicata, and of several others. Some specimens of T. carnea are of a beautiful pale pink colour when first removed from their matrix, and E. Deslongchamps has described the tint of several Jurassic species.
The valves are distinguished as dorsal and ventral. The ventral valve is usually the larger, and in many genera, such as Terebratula and Rhynchonella, has a prominent beak or umbo, with a circular or otherwise shaped foramen at or near its extremity, partly bounded by one or two plates, termed a deltidium. Through the foramen passes a peduncle, by which the animal is in many species attached to submarine objects during at least a portion of its existence. Other forms show no indication of ever having been attached, while some that had been moored by means of a peduncle during the early portion of their existence have become detached at a more advanced stage of life, the opening becoming gradually cicatrized, as is so often seen in Leptaena rhomboidalis, Orthisina anomala, &c. Lastly, some species adhere to submarine objects by a larger or smaller portion of their ventral valve, as is the case with many forms of Crania, Thecidium, Davidsonia, &c. Some Cranias are always attached by the whole surface of their lower or ventral valve, which models itself and fills up all the projections or depressions existing on either the rock, shell or coral to which it adhered. These irregularities are likewise, at times, reproduced on the upper or dorsal valve. Some species of Strophalosia and Productus seem also to have been moored during life to the sandy or muddy bottoms on which they lived, by the means of tubular spines often of considerable length. The interior of the shell varies very much according to families and genera. On the inner surface of both valves several well-defined muscular, vascular and ovarian impressions are observable; they form either indentations of greater or less size and depth, or occur as variously shaped projections. In the Trimerellidae, for example, some of the muscles are attached to a massive or vaulted platform situated in the medio-longitudinal region of the posterior half or umbonal portion of both valves. In addition to these, there exists in the interior of the dorsal valve of some genera a variously modified, thin, calcified, ribbon-shaped skeleton for the support of the ciliated arms, and the form of this ribbon serves as one of the chief generic characters of both recent and extinct forms. This brachial skeleton is more developed in some genera than in others. In certain forms, as in Terebratula and Terebratulina, it is short and simple, and attached to a small divided hinge-plate, the two riband-shaped lamina being bent upwards in the middle (fig. 15). The cardinal process is prominent, and on each side of the hinge-plate are situated the dental sockets; the loop in Terebratulina becomes annular in the adult by the union of its crural processes (fig. 16). In Magellania [Waldheimia] it is elongated and reflected; the hinge-plate large, with four depressions, under which originates a median septum, which extends more or less into the interior of the shell (figs. 13 and 14).
- ↑ Subgenera are indicated by round, synonyms by square brackets.
