116 THE STORY OF LIFE IN THE SEAS. 



Canary Islands, of which a figure is given here, 

 the spines were seven or eight times the length 

 of the body, the eye was remarkably small, and 

 the muscles were feebly developed. It may be 

 that this is the larva of some species of Barnacle, 

 which, from the character of the host or home 

 where it lives when adult, must be prepared to 

 wait a long time in its larval 

 habitat before the chance 

 comes for it to find a suitable 

 resting-place. 



Many of the 

 Crabs and Prawns 

 have re- 

 markable 



FIG. 33. Long-spined Barnacle Nauplius. 



larvae, characterised either by two or 

 three extremely long spines or in some 

 cases by a festoon of shorter and many 

 branched spinous processes spreading out 

 from their carapace, tail and limbs. 

 These spines may be regarded partly as 

 a device for assisting in the floatation of the 

 body, and partly, perhaps, as a protection 

 against some of the creatures that feed upon 

 them; but in both respects they are special 

 larval adaptations to the pelagic life. It is 

 extremely interesting to find that in this class 

 of animals the same characters are not constant 



