PHYLUM ARTHROPODA 



)51 



partially separable ; secondly, arthroiranchico or joint-gills, spring- 

 ing from the articular membranes connecting the thoracic 

 appendages with the trunk ; and thirdly, pleicrobrancJiiw, or wall- 

 gills, springing from the lateral walls of the thorax, above the 

 attachment of the appendages. It is inferred from the study of 

 other Crayfishes, that a typical thoracic segment bears four gills, 

 one podo-, two arthro-, and one pleurobranchia. But in Astacus 

 one or more of the gills in every segment are absent or vestigial, 

 and the following table, or " branchial formula," shows the actual 

 number and arrangement of these organs, ep standing for epipodite, 

 and r for the vestige of a gill. 



By adding up the columns vertically we get the number of gills 

 in each segment ; by adding them horizontally, the number of each 

 kind of gill ; and by adding together the results obtained by both 

 methods, the total number of gills, viz., eighteen complete gills 

 with two vestiges and seven epipodites. 



The excretory organs differ both in position and in form 

 from those of Apus. There are no shell-glands, but at the base 

 of each antenna is an organ of a greenish colour, the antennary 

 or green gland, by which the function of renal excretion is per- 

 formed. The gland (Fig. 437) is cushion-shaped, and consists of 

 three parts — (1) a central saccule (s.) of a yellowish colour, occupy- 

 ing the mid-dorsal region, and consisting of a sac divided into 

 numerous compartments by partitions, and communicating with 

 (2) the outer or cortical portion (c. p.), of a green colour, consisting 

 of a glandiilar network formed of anastomosing canals, and com- 

 municating in its turn with (-3) a ichite portion {w. p.), formed of a 

 single tube partly converted into a sponge-work by ingrowths 

 of its walls. The whole organ is lined by glandular epithelium, 

 and the white portion discharges into a thin-walled sac or urinary 

 Uaclder ill) which opens by a duct (d.) on the proximal segment of 

 the antenna. The glands already referred to as occurring in the 

 gills are also supposed to have an excretory function. 



The circulatory organs are in a high state of development. 

 The heart (Figs. 435, 438, A.) is situated in the dorsal region of the 



