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 first order, Copepoda, or oar-footed tribe, have a distinctly
articulated body formed of movable rings, bristly swimming limbs; and
the females carry their eggs in huge pouches suspended on each side of
the posterior part of their bodies.
The Sapphirina fulgens is a beautiful example of the two-eyed tribe; its
body is nearly oval, divided into nine distinct joints, and so flat that
it is almost foliacious. The head has two brilliantly coloured eyes,
with large cornea so connected with the shell that they look like
spectacles. The two pairs of antennæ are silky, and the last pair of
foot-jaws that cover the mouth are garnished with silky plumes. It has
five pairs of swimming feet, and the tail ends in two little plates.
The Sapphirina is about a line and a half long, of a rich sapphire blue,
and floats on the surface of the Mediterranean and tropical oceans. It
shines with the most brilliant phosphorescent colours, passing from deep
blue to a golden green, or splendid purple. The brilliant colouring is
seated in the layer of cells that secrete the firm substance of the
body. With a microscope the cells are seen to pass alternately from one
colour to another. There is a little three-lobed body between the eyes
connected with the central nervous system by a small nerve; it contains
several corpuscules, which Professor Gegenbaur regards as the remains of
the single eye of the larva which undergoes many transformations before
it arrives at its adult form.
According to Professor Gegenbaur, the Sapphirina fulgens is a true
Copepod and the Mediterranean Phyllosoma is a Decapod, although it has a
lacunar blood system.
Some genera of the order Copepoda inhabit salt water, others fresh, as
the Cyclops quadricornis (fig. 150), which abounds in the water with
which London is supplied.
[Illustration: Fig. 150. Female Cyclops:—_a_, body; _b_, tail; _c_,
antenna; _d_, antennule; _e_, feet; _f_, plumose setæ of tail; B, tail,
with external egg-sacs; C, D, E, F, G, successive stages of development
of young.]
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