Modifications op structure in decapod Crustacea. 211 



On some Modifications of Structure subservient 

 to Respiration in Decapod Crustacea which 

 burrow in Sand; with some remarks on the 

 Utility of Specific Characters in the genus 

 Calappa, and the description of a new species 

 of Albunea. 



By 



Walter Oarstaiig^, ITI.A., 



Fellow and Lecturer of Lincoln College, Oxford. 



With Plates 12—14. 



A GOOD deal of scepticism has been expressed in recent 

 years by various writers as to the utility of the more trivial 

 features which distinguish the genera and species of animals 

 from one another. I do not think that such scepticism can 

 excite much surprise if one remembers that the vast majority 

 of *' biologists " are almost exclusively engaged in the study 

 of comparative anatomy and embryology. The amount of 

 attention paid to these branches of biology has long been 

 utterly out of proportion to the scant attention devoted to 

 the scientific study of the habits of animals and of the func- 

 tion of the organs and parts composing their bodies. With 

 isolated and noteworthy exceptions, the only naturalists who 

 seriously add to our knowledge of the latter subjects are 

 those who travel in distant countries, and who are thus thrown 

 into close relations with animals in their native haunts. Yet 

 all the time there are thousands of forms living on our own 

 coasts and almost at our very doors of whose detailed habits 

 and life-conditions we know practically nothing. I venture 

 to think that the time has come for consideration whether the 



