THE PHOXICHILIDIUM. 



643 



figs. O and P are given to more forms of this genus, which are evidently of a much less 

 perfect type than the preceding species, and, according to the language of naturalists, 

 are said to be degraded forms. 



IT is hardly possible to imagine any forms that are so strange, any habits so 

 astonishing as those which are found in the crustaceans figured in this illustration. 

 Although they have been known for some 

 time, their proper place in the scale of crea- 

 iion'has long been a disputed point among 

 systematic naturalists, some considering 

 them to belong to the crustaceans and others 

 to the spiders. As, however, they undergo 

 a true metamorphosis, which is not the case 

 with any spider, they are now admitted to 

 be real, but unique Crustacea. Even such 

 naturalists as Siebold and Milne-Edwards 

 differed about them, the former placing them 

 among the spiders and the latter ranking 

 them with the Crustacea. 



Such strange creatures as these are not 

 easily described, especially when the space 

 that can be granted to them is so limited, for 

 their whole economy is so thoroughly unique 

 that they require a volume rather than a 

 page. They are found upon the British 

 coasts, and their history is briefly as follows. 



At figs. B and C of the accompanying 

 illustration are seen two strange-looking 

 creatures with wonderfully small bodies and 

 enormous legs, jointed and arranged in such 

 a manner as almost to preclude the idea of 

 their real character. Indeed, it seems pass- 

 ing strange how the tiny abdomen can ab- 

 sorb sufficient nutriment for the supply of 

 those marvellous limbs. 



Their economy is as strange as their 

 form. 



Some specimens of a well-known zoophyte 

 (Coryne eximium) are seen growing as they 

 appear while attached to the rocks or sea 

 bed, and upon the branches are shown 

 numerous pear-shaped objects, attached in 

 a manner that reminds the observer of the 

 tropical gourds. On opening these nodules, 

 each is found "to contain a specimen of the 

 Phoxichilidium, which, in spite of the long 

 limbs, is packed away in a very complete 

 manner, the limbs being rolled round the 

 body so as to form the creature into a kind 

 of ball. At fig. I one of these beings is 

 shown as it appears when removed from the 



envelop. The lower part of the engraving shows the young Phoxichilidium at dif- 

 ferent stages of its growth. Sometimes it possesses the rudiments of limbs, with long 

 filamentous appendages ; sometimes it throws them off, and contents itself with a pair 

 of stout claws, and then again grows a fresh set of limbs and a pair of small and feeble 

 claws. 



Strange as are these habits, there is still a kind of analogy with other modes of 



A. Pycnogonum littorale. 



B. Phoxichilidium coccinium. (Male.) 



C. Phoxichilidium coccinium. (Female.) 



D, E, F. Phoxichilidium coccinium. 



(Young in different stages.) 



G. Phoxichilidium coccinium. 



(Enclosed in swellings of Coryne eximium.) 



H. Phoxichilidium coccinium. (Young nearly complete. 



I. Phoxichilidium coccinium. (Removed from coryne.) 



K. Phoxichilidium coccinium. (Just before maturity.) 



