1, Ocular segment.
2, Antennal.
3, Trito-cerebral.
4, Mandibular.
5, Maxillular.
6, Maxillary.
7, Labial.
8, Prothoracic.
9, Mesothoracic.
10, Metathoracic.]
In the adult state no insect possesses more than six legs, and they
are always attached to the thorax; in many Thysanura there are,
however, processes on the abdomen that, as to their position, are
similar to legs. In the embryos of many insects there are projections
from the segments of the abdomen similar, to a considerable extent, to
the rudimentary thoracic legs. The question whether these projections
can be considered an indication of former polypody in insects has been
raised. They do not long persist in the embryo, but disappear, and the
area each one occupied becomes part of the sternite. In some embryos
there is but a single pair of these rudiments (or vestiges) situate on
the first abdominal segment, and in some cases they become
invaginations of a glandular nature. Whether cerci, stylets and
gonapophyses are developed from these rudiments has been much debated.
It appears that it is possible to accept cerci and stylets as
modifications of the temporary pseudopods, but it is more difficult to
believe that this is the case with the gonapophyses, for they
apparently commence their development considerably later than cerci
and stylets and only after the apparently complete disappearance of
the embryonic pseudopods. The fact that there are two pairs of
gonapophyses on the ninth abdominal segment would be fatal to the view
that they are in any way homologous with legs, were it not that there
is some evidence that the division into two pairs is secondary and
incomplete. But another and apparently insuperable objection may be
raised--that the appendages of the ninth segment are the stylets, and
that the gonapophyses cannot therefore be appendicular. The pseudopods
that exist on the abdomen of numerous caterpillars may possibly arise
from the embryonic pseudopods, but this also is far from being
established.
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