The History of Creation, Vol. 2 (of 2): Or the Development of the Earth and its Inhabitants by the Action of Natural CausesHaeckel, Ernst
Science
The History of Creation, Vol. 2 (of 2): Or the Development of the Earth and its Inhabitants by the Action of Natural Causes
Haeckel, Ernst
Evolution; Heredity; Human beings -- Origin
Crustacea of the Zoëa form (Zoëpoda, p. 177) will probably be settled at
some future time by a more accurate knowledge and comparison of the
ontogeny of the Tracheata, Crustacea, and Annelida. However, the root of
the Tracheata, as well as that of the Crustacea, must in any case be
looked for in the group of Ringed worms.
The genuine Spiders (Arachnida) are distinguished from Flies by the
absence of wings, and by four pairs of legs; but, as is distinctly seen
in the Scorpion-spiders and Tarantulæ, they, like Flies, possess in
reality only three pairs of genuine legs. The apparent “fourth pair of
legs” in spiders (the foremost) are in reality a pair of feelers. Among
the still existing Spiders, there is a small group which is probably
very closely allied to the common primary form of the whole class; this
is the order of Scorpion-spiders, or Solifugæ, (Solpuga, Galeodes), of
which several large species live in Africa and Asia, and are dreaded on
account of their poisonous bite. Their body consists—as we suppose to
have been the case in the common ancestor of the Tracheata—of a head
possessing several pairs of feelers like legs, of a thorax, to the three
rings of which are attached three pairs of legs, and of a hinder body,
or abdomen, consisting of many distinct rings. In the articulation of
their body, the Solifugæ are therefore in reality more closely related
to flies than to other spiders. Out of the Devonian Primæval Spiders,
which were nearly related to the Solifugæ of the present day, the Long
Spiders, the Tailor Spiders, and the Round Spiders probably developed as
three diverging branches.
The _Long Spiders_ (Arthrogastres), in which the earlier articulation of
body has been better preserved than in Round Spiders, appear to be the
older and more original forms. The most important members of this
sub-class are the scorpions, which are connected with the Solifugæ
through the Tarantella (or Phrynidæ). The small book scorpions, which
inhabit our libraries and herbariums, appear as a degenerate lateral
branch from the true scorpions. Midway between the Scorpions and Round
Spiders are the long-legged Tailor-spiders (Opiliones) which have
possibly arisen out of a special branch of the Solifugæ. The
Pycnogonida, or No-body Crabs, and the Arctisca, or Bear Worms—still
generally included among Long Spiders—must be completely excluded from
the class of Spiders; the former belong to the Crustacea, the latter to
Ringed worms.
SYSTEMATIC SURVEY
_Of the 3 Classes and 17 Orders of the Tracheata._
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