THE DECAPODA 



303 



Carcinus maenas, for instance, the first larval skin lacks the spines 

 of the carapace, the antennae are larger 

 and differently formed, the shape of 

 the caudal fork and its spine armature 

 are different from those of the succeed- 

 ing stage, and the abdominal portion is 

 not distinctly segmented. These char- 

 acters have been supposed to indicate 

 that we have here the last traces of a 

 Protozoea- stage like that of the Pen- 

 aeidea. 



The Metazoeal stages, which differ 

 from those of the Anomura in the fact 

 that the third maxilliped does not 

 assume a natatory function, are suc- 

 ceeded in nearly all cases by a Megalopa- 

 stage (Fig. 182, A, B), in which all the 

 appendages have assumed very much 

 the form which they have in the adult, 

 but the abdomen is large and usually 

 carried extended, and the five pairs of 

 pleopods are used for swimming. In 

 some cases the Megalopa- stage is sup- 

 pressed, the Metazoea being succeeded 

 by a stage in which the animal has 

 assumed the chief characters of the 

 adult. 



Complete suppression of the meta- 

 morphosis occurs in some (perhaps all) 

 Potamonidae, and probably in some 

 other freshwater and terrestrial Brachy- 

 ura. In those Anomura which have 

 become most completely terrestrial (Bir- 

 gus and CoenoUta) Borradaile has shown 

 that the young are marine, and that 

 hatching takes place at the Zoea-stage. 



REMARKS ON HABITS, ETC. 



The habits and habitats of the 

 Decapoda are more varied, and have 

 been much more studied, than in the Km. iso. 



case of any other group of Crustacea. ^^f 8 of Porcdiana iangi.-<>,;<;* 



/ ' . 1 . (Galatheidea). mf-mf", the three 



Space Will not permit Of aliUSlOn to pairs of maxillipeds ; p, rudiments 



,i f ,1 of legs and inll s - (After Sars, from 



more than one or two of the more Korscheit and Heid.-i '* 

 salient points. 



