XI 



PHYLUM ARTHROPODA 



487 



s./pl 



ant.i 

 i, it - 



ring slightly overlaps its successor, and is connected with it by a 

 narrow area, the articular membrane, the chitinisation of which is 

 less pronounced than that of the rings themselves. By this 

 arrangement the segments are freely movable upon one another 

 in all directions, the articular membranes acting as joints. 

 The last or anal segment is pierced by the terminal anus 

 (Fig. 390, an.}. 



The ventral surface of the head is formed by a flattened sul- 

 frontal plate (Fig. 388, s.f.riL), con- 

 tinuous marginally with the cara- 

 pace. The posterior edge of this 

 plate is convex backwards, and is 

 produced in the middle line into a 

 shield-shaped process, the labrum 

 or upper lip (llr. ), which over- 

 hangs the mouth. From the sub- 

 frontal plate also arise, on each 

 side, two delicate processes, the 

 innermost called the antcnnulc 

 (ant. 1), the outermost the an- 

 tenna (ant. 2) : these are the first 

 two pairs of appendages. The 

 third pair consists of two strong 

 toothed bodies of a deep brown 

 colour, placed one on each side of 

 the mouth, and called the man- 

 dibles (md.}. The remaining ap- 

 pendages form two rows of deli- 

 cate leaf-like processes, attached 

 to the segmented portion of the 

 body, and overlapping one another 

 from before backwards : their 

 number varies from forty to nearly 

 seventy (th.f., abd.f.}. 



Appendages. The antennule 

 (Fig. 389, 1) consists of a bent 

 rod bearing delicate chitinous 

 bristles or sctcv at its tip, and presenting, at the bend, a joint, 

 due to the presence of an articular membrane. The appendage 

 is thus made up of two podomeres or limb-segments, movably 

 articulated together. Its function is probably tactile. 



The antenna (} is absent in some species both of Apus and 

 Lepidurus : in A. cancriformis it is a very delicate hook-shaped 

 unjointed structure, probably functionless. As we shall see from 

 the study of development, it is a vestigial organ. 



The mandible (3) is also an unjointed appendage. It has the 

 form of a deeply concavo-convex plate, strongly chitinised, and pro- 



FIG. 388. Apus glacialis, ventral 

 aspect, abd.f. abdominal feet; riiiti. 

 aiitemiule ; anft. antenna ; Hi,: labrum ; 

 i,tii. mandible; //(./. first maxilla; of. 

 aperture of oviduct ; .. /. /</. sub-frontal 

 plate ; */<. </l. shell-gland ; th. /. thoracic 

 feet; th.f.l, first thoracic foot. (After 

 Bernard.) 



