Crustacea. 



C081 



first of these appendages, which are repeated throughout the length 

 of the filamentary continuation, which appears as an extended base for 

 their support. The number of these ciliae bears no relative propor- 

 tion to the length of the antennae : they crowd together where the 

 limb is short ; upon the more extended organ one is present at the 

 distant extremity of every articulation. 



Hearing is given to us for a twofold reason : it is a source of enjoy- 

 ment, and a power that protects us from danger. Music is a pleasure 

 that cannot be surpassed by that derivable from either of the other 

 senses. And the eye, though it may more directly point to an 

 approaching danger, is scarcely so extended in its consciousness in 

 conveying its approach as the ear. Ever since the mermaids have 

 ceased to sing, and the destroying hand of Science visited with the 

 dredge the secrets of their magic caves, deep in the bottom of the 

 ocean, — ever since the syrens of the Greek poets have been found out 

 to be but painted and hired viragos, — the idea of a lobster or a crab 

 listening to soft music has not entered into the most wild poet's fancy. 

 The note that can "soothe the savage breast" cannot tame the fish : 

 it cannot be struck beneath the waters. The breath of mighty winds 

 and the heavy lashing of the shore-broken serges are the only sounds 

 that can penetrate the deep. These have been fancifully termed the 

 music of the sea by those whom a generous license of humanity has 

 permitted to alter the meanings of words, that they may awaken a 

 pretty idea at the expense of truth. Birds and animals may enjoy 

 the concerts of the air; but where there is an eternal silence an organ 

 formed for enjoying sounds must necessarily be a work of superero- 

 gation. 



The organ in this class of animals is formed for protection only, 

 to animals beneath the sea : this is evidenced by the fact that in 

 those Crustacea which are purely terrestrial the organ is never deve- 

 loped. This is evidently no (erroneously so called) freak of Nature, 

 but a persistent law, since we perceive that the importance of the 

 organ is gradually decreasing. In the sub-terrestrial amphipods, the 

 sand-hoppers (Talitrus and Orchestia), the upper antennae are rudi- 

 mentary ; in Ligia, among the isopods, we perceive the same degene- 

 rated state of the organ to exist ; but in the land Crustacea, which 

 are mostly isopods, the upper antennae are microscopically present 

 in the adult stage, and this although they are more proportionally 

 important in the young. This argues, I think, that the antennae 

 developed to convey impressions by sound are organs adapted for the 

 water only. 



XVTT. 3B 



