

56 CLASSIFICATION AND CREATION. 



animals, one ceases to wonder that Naturo s hould -, 

 make large provision against the many chances 

 of destruction that beset them, and one may 

 readily believe, that, of the eight millions of eggs 

 born from one individual, a comparatively small 

 number survive. 



The next class in the type o f Articu lates is 

 that of Crustacea, including Lobsters, Crabs, and 

 Shrimps. It may seem at first that nothing can 

 be more unlike a Worm than a Lobster ; but 

 a comparison of the class-characters shows that 

 the same general plan controls the organization 

 in both. The body of the Lobster is divided into 

 a succession of joints or rings, like that of the 

 Worm ; and the fact that the front rings in the 

 Lobster are soldered together, so as to make a 

 stiff front region of the body, enclosing the head 

 and chest, while only the hind rings remain 

 movable, thus forming a flexible tail, does not 

 alter in the least the general structure, which 

 consists in both of a body built of articulated 

 rings. The nervous swellings, which were even- 

 ly distributed through the whole body in the 

 Worm, are more concentrated here, in accord- 

 ance with the prevalent combination of the rings 

 in two distinct regions of the body, the larger 

 ones corresponding to the more important or- 

 gans ; but their relation to the rest of the organ- 

 ization, and their connection by nervous threads 



