known as the “anal segment” or telson (fig. 3, T), has been much discussed, some authorities holding that it is a true somite, homologous with those which precede it. Others have regarded it as representing the fusion of a number of somites, and others again as a “median appendage” or as a pair of appendages fused. Its morphological nature, however, is clearly shown by its development. In the larval development of the more primitive Crustacea, the number of somites, at first small, increases by the successive appearance of new somites between the last-formed somite and the terminal region which bears the anus. The “growing point” of the trunk is, in fact, situated in front of this region, and, when the full number of somites has been reached, the unsegmented part remaining forms the telson of the adult.
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| Fig. 3.—The Separated Somites and Appendages of the Common Lobster (Homarus gammarus). | |
| C, carapace covering the cephalothorax. Ab, abdominal somites. T, telson, having the uropods or appendages of the last abdominal somite spread out on either side of it, forming the “tail-fan.” l,labrum, or upper lip. m, metastoma, or lower lip. 1, eyes. 2, antennule (the arrow points to the opening of the so- called auditory organ). 3, antenna. 4, mandible. |
5, maxillula (or first maxilla). 6, maxilla (second maxilla). 7-9, first, second and third maxillipeds. ex, exopodite. ep, epipodite. g, gill. 10, sixth thoracic limb (second walking-leg) of female. 11, last thoracic limb of male. In 10 and 11 the arrows indicate the genital apertures. 13, sterna of the thoracic somites, from within. 14, third abdominal somite, with appendages or “swimmerets.” |
In no Crustacean, however, do all the somites of the body remain distinct. Coalescence, or suppression of segmentation (“lipomerism”), may involve more or less extensive regions. This is especially the case in the anterior part of the body, where, in correlation with the “adaptational shifting of the oral aperture” (see Arthropoda), a varying number of somites unite to form the “cephalon” or head. Apart from the possible existence of an ocular somite corresponding to the eyes (the morphological nature of which is discussed below), the smallest number of head-somites so united in any Crustacean is five. Even where a large number of the somites have fused, there is generally a marked change in the character of the appendages after the fifth pair, and since the integumental fold which forms the carapace seems to originate from this point, it is usual to take the fifth somite as the morphological limit of the cephalon throughout the class. It is quite probable, however, that in the primitive ancestors of existing Crustacea a still smaller number of somites formed the head. The three pairs of appendages present in the “nauplius” larva show certain peculiarities of structure and development which seem to place them in a different category from the other limbs, and there is some ground for regarding the three corresponding somites as constituting a “primary cephalon.” For practical purposes, however, it is convenient to include the two following somites also as cephalic.
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| Fig. 4.—Diagram of an Amphipod. (After Spence Bate and Westwood.) | |
| C, cephalon. Th, thorax. (Only seven of the eight thoracic somites are visible, the first being fused with the cephalon.) |
Ab, abdomen. The numbers appended to the somites do not correspond to the enumeration adopted in the text. 21 is the telson. |
A remarkable feature found only in the Stomatopoda is the reappearance of segmentation in the anterior part of the cephalic region. Whether the movably articulated segments which bear the eye-stalks and the antennules in this aberrant group correspond to the primitive head somites or not, their distinctness is certainly a secondarily acquired character, for it is not found in the larvae, nor in any of the more primitive groups of Malacostraca.
The body proper is usually divisible into two regions to which the names thorax and abdomen are applied. Throughout the whole of the Malacostraca the thorax consists of eight and the abdomen of six somites (fig. 4), and the two regions are sharply distinguished by the character of their appendages. In the various groups of the Entomostraca, on the other hand, the terms thorax and abdomen, though conveniently employed for purposes of systematic description, do not imply any homology with the regions so named in the Malacostraca. Sometimes they are applied, as in the Copepoda, to the limb-bearing and limbless regions of the trunk, while in other cases, as in the Phyllopoda, they denote, respectively, the regions in front of and behind the genital apertures.
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| Fig. 5.—Phyllopoda and Phyllocarida. | |
| 1, Ceratiocaris papilio, U. Silurian, Lanark. 2, Nebalia bipes(one side of carapace removed). 3, Lepidurus Angassi: a, dorsal aspect; b, ventral aspect of head showing the labrum and mouth-parts. |
4, larva of Apus cancriformis. 5, Branchipus stagnalis: a, adult female; b, first larval stage (Nauplius); c, second larval stage. 6, Nauplius of Artemia salina. |
A character which recurs in the most diverse groups of the Crustacea, and which is probably to be regarded as a primitive attribute of the class, is the possession of a carapace or shell, arising as a dorsal fold of the integument from the posterior margin of the head-region.In its most primitive form, as seen in the Apodidae (fig. 5, 3) and in Nebalia (fig. 5, 2), this shell-fold remains free from the trunk, which it envelops more or less completely. It may assume the form of a bivalve shell entirely enclosing the body and limbs, as in many
