[7] A trustworthy English Naturalist, Goodsir, described the
brood-pouch and eggs of _Cuma_ as early as 1843. Kröyer, whose
painstaking care and conscientiousness is recognised with wonder by
every one who has met him on a common field of work, confirmed
Goodsir’s statements in 1846, and, as above mentioned, took out of the
brood-pouch embryos advanced in development and resembling their
parents. By this the question whether the Diastylidæ are full-grown
animals or larvæ, is completely and for ever set at rest, and only the
famous names of Agassiz, Dana and Milne-Edwards, who would recently
reduce them again to larvæ (see Van Beneden, ‘Rech. sur la Fauna
littor. de Belgique’ Crustacées, pp. 73, 74), induce me, on the basis
of numerous investigations of my own, to declare in Van Beneden’s
words; “Parmi toutes les formes embryonnaires de podophthalmes ou
d’édriophthalmes que nous avons observées sur nos côtes, nous n’en
avons pas vu une seule qui eût même la moindre resemblance avec un
_Cuma_ quelconque.” The _only thing_ that suits the larvæ of
_Hippolyte, Palæmon_ and _Alpheus,_ in the family character of the
Cumacea as given by Kröyer which occupies three pages (Kröyer,
‘Naturh. Tidsskrift, Ny Raekke,’ Bd. ii. pp. 203–206) is: “Duo
antennarum paria.” And this, as is well known, applies to nearly all
Crustacea. How well warranted are we therefore in identifying the
latter with the former. However, it is sufficient for any one to
glance at the larva of _Palæmon_ (Fig. 27) and the Cumacean (Fig. 52)
in order to be convinced of their extraordinary similarity!
CHAPTER IX.
DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY OF ENTOMOSTRACA, CIRRIPEDES, AND RHIZOCEPHALA.
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