Aprii., 1902.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



73 



SCIENCE JLiTERAT^t^ k^^m 



hounded by RICHARD A. PROCTOR. 



Vol.. XXV.] 



LONDON: APRIL, 1902. [No. 198. 



CONTENTS. 



The Nobodies, — A Seafaring Fanilly. — II. By Kev. 



T. K. R SrEiiBisu, m.a.. f.r s., f.l.s. {Illustrafeil) 

 Vegetable Mimicry and Homomorphism. — II. By Rev. 



Albx. S Wilsox, M.A., B.s.-. {Illutlrated) 



The Arcetri Observatory, Florence. By \V. Alfbbd 



rAKii. (Illustrated) '. 



Astronomy without a Telescope. XII.— The March 



of the Planets. By E. Walter Macxder, t.e.a.s. 



(lUvxtrat.i] .. 

 Origin of a Disturbed Region Observed in the Corona 



of 1901. May 17— 18. By C. D. Pereixk 



The Use of Hand Telescopes in Astronomy. III. — The 



Planets. ii\ Cecil jACKSoy. (Illustrated) 



Recent Observations of Mars. By E. M. Antoxiadi, 



FE.AS. (lUutlraled) (Plate) 



Letters : 



TllR GBliAT SrxPlLlAB OP Mabch 6. By S. R. Stawell 

 Bkows. d.a 



Tub Gbbat Sfn-Pillak of ifABCH fi. By Cathaeixb 0. 



Stkvbxs. (Illustrated.) Xotc by E. Waltke MAtTXDEE 



British Ornithological Notes. Conducted by W. P. 



PYCEAFT, A.L.S.. F.Z.8., M.B.O.r. 



Notes 



Notices of Books 



BooES Rbcbivkd 



Across Russian Lapland in Search of Birds. — II. 

 Archangel, a Wonderful Monastery, and the 

 Effects of Vodka. By Habbt F. Withkbbt, p.z.s, 

 M BO I". (Illustrated) ... ... ... 



Preserving and Mounting Rotifera. By Cuaelks F. 



R..1S:^K1.ET 



Microscopy. Conducted by M. I. Ceoss 



Notes on Comets and Meteors. By W. F. Dbnnikg, 



P.K.A.S 



The Face of the Sky for April. By W. Shackleton, 



F.K.A.3. (Illuxlratedi ' 



Chess Column. By C. D. Locock, b.a. 



THE NOBODIES,-A SEA-FARING FAMILY. 



By Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing, m.a., f.r.s., f.l.s. 

 CHAPTER II. 

 A MAKER of proverbs has asserted that the unexjiected 

 always ha])pen8. Yet there would be somethinj^ tedious 

 and paradoxical in alwiivs expeetm<j it. Even the 

 fre<juencv of its occurrence, however proper to be urged as 

 an inducement to thrift, is little more in itself than a 

 measure of human ignorance. As a rule i)arallels are 

 soon found to things that at the first glance appear 

 unique or completely unconventional. Our present sub. 

 ject may seem to have even less connexion witli tlie 

 Chinese empire and archaic customs in the south of 

 France than with toads and fishes. Yet all these can throw 



a certain illustrative lii;lit iipnn it. The Chinaman i.s 

 said to make an excellent nursemaid. By the custom of 

 the couvade in Provence, when a chiW is born, it is the 

 father who takes to his bed. The Surinam Water Toad, 

 Pipa aiiiifii-aii/t, carries her eggs when laid and until 

 hatching in little pits on her back. If you wonder how 

 they get there, you are told that the arrangement is due 

 to the skilful care of the male parent. Among the so- 

 called pi])e fishes it is no longer a question of easing the 

 mother's burden by a transfer of the eggs from one part 

 of her body ti> another. Her mate takes upon himself the 

 entire charge of them. Either they are gummed to his 

 yielding and solicitous breast, or as a masculine marsupial 

 he receives them into the safe keeping of a special ventral 

 jwuch. How little such things fall in with ordinary and 

 l(ing prevailing ideas of what is natural may be judged 

 from the following narrative. 



It has been already explained (Knowledge, Vol. XXV., 

 p. 3y) that in the Pycnogouida there are normally seven 

 pairs of limbs or ajipendages more or less limb-like. In 

 sound adult specimens the last fimr pairs are always 

 present, but of the first three oue pair may fail, or two, or 

 all. It is -with the third of the first three that we are 

 immediately concerned. These are always much slighter 

 and shorter, though they sometimes have more joints, 

 than the long clambering legs behind them. Their attach, 

 ment too is somewhat different, being rather ventral than 

 expressly lateral. Those that are most numerously jointed 

 have the last three, or four, or five joints coiled in a 

 helpless looking way, and anyone regarding these appen- 

 dages as walking-legs might be inclined to think them a 



Ovigerous leg of Pallenop.tisJInmitipnsis (Krojer). After Meiiiert. 



mistate or a case of arrested development. He would 

 perhaps congratulate the genera and species that had 

 dispensed with organs so inefficient. Quite at the outset, 

 however, in the history of the group, it was observed that 

 these appendages when jireseut bad one important 

 function for which they were well fitted, that of carrying 

 the eggs. Obviously for the naturalist they carried like- 

 wise the advantage of enabling him without trouble to 

 decide the sex of his specimens, whenever the ova happened 

 to be present. Tlie ingenious Dutchman, Job Baster, 

 previously mentioned, having many specimens of Pi/cno- 

 grmiim liflorah at command, had further observed that 

 some of them were entirely devoid of these ovigerous legs. 

 That was still more convenient, as making clear the sex of 

 the si)ecimens, whether the eggs happened to be present 

 or not. For eighty years indeed this facility was up- 

 held bv scientific teaching, till in 18-45 it was demolished 

 bv Henrik Krciyer, the masterly naturalist of Denmark, 

 who poiutod out that in several genera and species the 

 appendages of the third pair were constantly present, 

 whether the specinien.s were male or female. In 1849 

 M. Dujardiu pulilished the mystifying account of a 

 Pycnogonnm IHt'trale which had eggs ready to be laid, 

 but no ovigerous leg.s on which to lay them. A similar 

 s[)ecimeu was described by Dr. P. P. C. Hoek in 

 1877, and a female Pho.richilidinm in like circumstances 

 by Dr. Semper in 1874. Dujardiu left the difficulty alone. 



