CHAP TER XSL 
PYCNOGONIDA 
REMOTE, so far as we at present see, from all other Arthropods, 
while yet manifesting the most patent features of the Arthropod 
type, the Pyenogons constitute a little group, easily recognised 
and characterised, abundant and omnipresent in the sea. The 
student of the foreshore finds few species and seldom many 
individuals, but the dredger in deep waters meets at times 
with prodigious numbers, a _~ 
lending a character to \ 
the fauna over great 
areas. 
The commonest of our 
native species, or that at 
least which we find the 
oftenest, is Pycnogonum 
littorale (Phalangiwm lit- 
tonales, strom, ar 62): 
We find it under stones 
near low-water, or often 
clinging louse-like to a 
large Anemone. The 
squat segmented trunk 
carries, on four pairs of 
strong lateral processes, 
as many legs, long, robust, eight-jointed, furnished each with 
a sharp terminal claw. In front the trunk bears a long, stout, 
‘¢ 
Fic. 262.—Pycnogonum littorale, Strom, x 2. 
1 Pyenogonides, Latreille, 1804 ; Podosomata, Leach, 1815 ; Pychnogonides ow 
Crustacés aranéiformes, Milne-Edwards, 1834; Crustacea Haustellata, Johnston, 
1837 ; Pantopoda, Gerstaecker, 1863. 
501 
