On Molecular and Microscopic Science, Volume 2 (of 2)Somerville, Mary
History
On Molecular and Microscopic Science, Volume 2 (of 2)
Somerville, Mary
Matter -- Constitution; Microscopy; Natural history
The Amphipods are very numerous, and abound in the British seas. They
have long, slender, and many-jointed bodies which have no carapace: the
tail in some genera is more fitted for swimming, in others for leaping.
The Talitrus, or Sandhopper, common on every sandy shore in Europe, is a
well-known example of the leaping genus. It is very small and
exceedingly active. The upper antennæ are very short, the inferior pair
are large, and longer than the whole body. The anterior feet are thin
and not prehensile. The first pair end in an immovable claw; the second
pair have a kind of hand, and are folded beneath the body; the following
feet end in a crooked nail. The appendages of the last three rings of
the tail are thick and spiny, and the tail serves as a leaping organ.
The sandhoppers hide themselves between tidemarks in large communities
under masses of wet sea-weeds, on which they feed. When disturbed they
leap away with great agility, and bury themselves in the sand by digging
with their fore-feet, and kicking the sand away with their tail-feet.
They have a strong sense of smell, for if a dead fish be buried in the
sand, it is devoured by these little voracious animals in a few days.
In the fin-tailed genera the gills are suspended between the bases of
the thoracic legs: they swim lying on their side, and their feet are
very varied in form, but always more or less furnished with spines and
hairs.
There are several genera of Amphipods that are nest-building animals;
all have hooks at the end of their tails, The Amphithoæ enclose
themselves in a cylindrical tube open at both ends. The animal is very
active, running along the branches of the sea-weeds by means of its
antennæ instead of its feet, which remain within the tube. In general
only the first pair of antennæ are put out to catch prey. If the animal
be prevented from advancing, it immediately turns its body within the
tube, and protrudes its head from the other extremity.
_Isopoda._
The order of Isopoda are so called because of the sharp and equal claws
of their walking feet, which are often prehensile. Their body is short
and flattened, and their small head is almost always distinct from the
throat. They are very numerous, and are divided into walking, swimming,
and sedentary animals; the females have horny plates on some of their
feet, which fold under the throat and form a pouch, in which the eggs
are hatched.
The Oniscus, common Wood-louse, or Slater, is a terrestrial Isopod. It
is an oval jointed creature, which rolls itself into a ball when
touched. The second of its six pairs of posterior limbs perform the part
of lungs: they contain hollow organs in their interior, into which the
atmospheric air penetrates directly through openings in their exterior
covering: so the Oniscus and its congeners, which live on land, are
drowned when put into water.
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