The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 04 (of 10)Warburton, Cecil
Science
The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 04 (of 10)
Warburton, Cecil
Animals
1, Mouth; 2, rostral nerve in labrum; 3, anterior commissure; 4,
chelicera; 5, olfactory nerves; 6, stomodaeal nerve; 7, lateral
eye-nerve; 8, 2nd haemal nerve; 9, lateral nerve; 10, median
eye-nerve; 11, median eye; 12, proventriculus; 13, frontal artery;
14, aortic arch; 15, anterior hepatic duct of liver; 16, heart; 17,
2nd ostium; 18, 7th and 8th segmental cardiac nerves; 19, one of the
lateral arteries; 20, pericardial nerve; 21, lateral cardiac nerve;
22, median cardiac nerve; 23, intestine; 24, levator ani muscle; 25,
telson; 26, anus; 27, sphincter ani muscle; 28, last branchial
appendage; 29, 15th haemal nerve; 30, lateral sympathetic nerve; 31,
8th abdominal endochondrite; 32, genital operculum; 33, chilarium;
34, endosternite; 35, ventral nerve-cord; 36, 6th haemal nerve; 37,
origin of 6th neural nerve.
]
_Limulus_ feeds partly on bivalves, but mainly on worms, especially
Nereids, which it catches with its chelate limbs as it burrows through
the sand. The food is held immediately under the mouth by the
chelicerae, aided at times by the succeeding appendages; it is thus
brought within range of the gnathobases of the walking legs, and these
by an alternate motion “card” the food into fragments, which when
sufficiently comminuted pass into the mouth. At times its appendages are
caught between the valves of _Venus mercenaria_, a burrowing bivalve
known in America as the “quahog” or “round clam.” The _Limulus_ has
seized with its chelate claws the protruding siphon of this mollusc,
which, being rapidly drawn in, drags with it the limb of the king-crab,
and the valves of the clam are swiftly snapped to.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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