156 



HINTS ON THE ANCESTRY OF INSECTS. 



The first to discuss this subject of the ancestry of insects was 

 Fritz Miiller, who in his &quot;Fur Darwin,&quot;* published in 18(53, says, 

 at the end of his work, &quot;Having reached the Nauplius, the 

 extreme outpost of the class, retiring 

 farthest into the gray mist of primitive 

 time, we naturally look round us to see 

 whether ways may not be descried thence 

 towards other bordering regions. * * * 

 But I can see nothing certain. Even 

 towards the nearer provinces of the Myri- 

 opoda and Arachnida I can find no bridge. 

 For the Insecta alone, the development 

 of the Malacostraca [Crabs, Lobsters, 

 Shrimps, etc.] may perhaps present a 

 point of union. Like many Zoeae, the 

 Insecta possess three pairs of limbs 

 serving for the reception of nourishment, 

 and three pairs serving for locomotion ; 

 like the Zoe ae they have an abdomen 

 without appendages ; as in all Zoese the 

 mandibles in Insecta are destitute of palpi. Certainly but little 

 in common, compared with the much which distinguishes these 

 two animal forms. Nevertheless, the supposition that the In 

 secta had for their common ancestor a Zoea which raised itself 

 into a life on land, may be recommended for further examina 

 tion&quot; (p. 140). 



Afterwards Hseckel in his &quot;Generelle Morphologic&quot; (18GG) 

 and &quot;History of Creation,&quot; published in 1868, reiterates the 

 notion that, the insects are derived from the larva (Zoea, Fig. 

 190) of the crabs, though he is doubtful whether they did not 

 originate directly from the worms. f 

 It may be said in opposition to the view that the insects came 



190. Zoea. 



* Translated in 1809 by Mr. Dallas under the title &quot;Facts for Darwin.&quot; 

 t&quot; Whether that common stem-form of all the Tracheata [Insects, Myciopods and 

 Spiders] which I have called Protracheata in my General Morphology has devel 

 oped directly from the true Annelides (Ccelelminthes), or, the next thing to this 

 (zunachst), &amp;lt;^ut of Zoea-form Crustacea (Zoepoda), will be hereafter established 

 only through a sufficient knowledge and comparison of the structure and mode of 

 growth of the Tracheata, Crustacea and Annelides. In either case is the root of the 

 Tracheata, as also of the Crustacea, to be sought in the group of the time jointed 

 worms (Annelides, Gephyrea and Eotatoria.&quot; He considers the first insect to have 

 appeared after the Silurian period, viz., in the Devonian. 



