CRUSTACEAN LARVi^ 359 



The second important form of larva is the Zoaea, which 

 has all the appendages on to the last maxillipedes inclusive, 

 a segmented abdomen, and two lateral compound eyes, 

 in addition to the unpaired one of the Nauplius stage. 

 Most Decapoda are hatched in the Zoaea stage. 



(a) The crayfish {A stacus) is hatched almost as a miniature adult. 



The development is therefore very direct in this case. 

 (6) The lobster {Homarus) is hatched in a Mysis stage, in which the 

 thoracic limbs are two-branched and used for swimming. After 

 some moults it acquires adult characters. 

 {e) Crabs are hatched in the Zocbu form, and pass with moults through 

 a Megalopa stage, with the abdomen in a line with the cephalo- 

 thorax. The abdomen is subsequently tucked in under the 

 thorax. 

 {d) PencBus (a kind of shrimp) is hatched as a Nauplius, becomes a 

 Zocea, then a Mysis, then an adult. Its relative Lucifer starts 

 as a Meta-Nauplius with rudiments of three more appendages 

 than the Nauplius. Another related form, Sergestes, is hatched 

 as a Protozocea, with a cephalothoracic shield and an unseg- 

 mented abdomen. Thus there are two grades between Nauplius 

 and Zoa?a. 

 Three facts must be borne in mind in thinking over the life -histories 

 of crayfish, lobster, crab, and Penceus : (i) There is a frequent tendency 

 to abbreviate development, and this is of more importance when meta- 

 morphosis is expensive and full of risks ; (2) there is no doubt that larvas 

 exhibit characters which are related to their own life rather than to that 

 of the adult ; {3) it is a general truth, that in its individual development 

 the organism recapitulates to some extent the evolution of the race, that 

 ontogeny tends to recapitulate phylogeny. But while there can be no 

 doubt that the metamorphosis of these Crustaceans is to some extent 

 interpretable as a recapitulation of the racial history — for there were 

 unsegmented animals before segmented forms arose, and the Zocza stage 

 is antecedent to the Mysis, etc.— yet it does not follow that ancestral 

 Crustaceans were like Nauplii. On the contrary, the Nauplius must be 

 regarded as a larval reversion to a type much simpler than the ancestral 

 Crustacean. 



Ecology. — Most Crustaceans are carnivorous and pred- 

 atory ; others feed on dead creatures and organic debris in 

 the water ; a minority depend upon plants. Many of the 

 smaller forms play a very important part in the economy of 

 nature — in the circulation of matter — for while they feed on 

 animalcules and debris, they are themselves the food of 

 larger animals such as fishes. 



Parasitism occurs in over 700 species, in various degrees, 

 and, of course, with varied results. Most of the parasites 

 keep to the outside of the host {e.g. fish-lice), and suck 

 nourishment by their mouths ; the Rhizocephala {e.g. 



