Evolution; Knowledge, Theory of; Philosophy and religion
individual organisms, it goes on both longitudinally and transversely:
under which different forms we may indeed most conveniently consider it.
Of _longitudinal integration_, the sub-kingdom _Annulosa_ supplies
abundant examples. Its lower members, such as worms and myriapods, are
mostly characterized by the great number of segments composing them:
reaching in some cases to several hundreds. But in the higher
divisions—crustaceans, insects, and spiders—we find this number reduced
down to twenty-two, thirteen, or even fewer; while, accompanying the
reduction, there is a shortening or integration of the whole body,
reaching its extreme in the crab and the spider. The significance of
these contrasts, as bearing upon the general doctrine of Evolution, will
be seen when it is pointed out that they are parallel to those which
arise during the development of individual _Annulosa_. In the lobster,
the head and thorax form one compact box, made by the union of a number
of segments which in the embryo were separable. Similarly, the butterfly
shows us segments so much more closely united than they were in the
caterpillar, as to be, some of them, no longer distinguishable from each
other. The _Vertebrata_ again, throughout their successively higher
classes, furnish like instances of longitudinal union. In most fishes,
and in reptiles that have no limbs, the only segments of the spinal
column that coalesce, are those forming the skull. In most mammals and
in birds, a variable number of vertebræ become fused together to form
the sacrum; and in the higher quadrumana and man, the caudal vertebræ
also lose their separate individualities in a single _os coccygis_.
That which we may distinguish as _transverse integration_, is well
illustrated among the _Annulosa_ in the development of the nervous
system. Leaving out those most degraded forms which do not present
distinct ganglia, it is to be observed that the lower annulose animals,
in common with the larvæ of the higher, are severally characterized by a
double chain of ganglia running from end to end of the body; while in
the more perfectly formed annulose animals, this double chain becomes
more or less completely united into a single chain. Mr. Newport has
described the course of this concentration as exhibited in insects; and
by Rathke it has been traced in crustaceans. During the early stages of
the _Astacus fluviatilis_, or common cray-fish, there is a pair of
separate ganglia to each ring. Of the fourteen pairs belonging to the
head and thorax, the three pairs in advance of the mouth consolidate
into one mass to form the brain, or cephalic ganglion. Meanwhile, out of
the remainder, the first six pairs severally unite in the median line,
while the rest remain more or less separate. Of these six double ganglia
thus formed, the anterior four coalesce into one mass; the remaining two
coalesce into another mass; and then these two masses coalesce into one.
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