THE AMERICAN LOBSTER. 
131 
of these “olfactory buds,” their cuticular canal, gland-like cells, and large eccentric, 
in this case multipolar, ganglion, prove conclusively that these organs are essentially 
similar to the glands which I have described in the lobster. In discussing this subject 
with Professor Patten we have always been mutually agreed upon this point. What 
the function of these organs in all cases really is, may well be an open question. In 
Limulus the lumen of the organ varied much in appearance, being more sharply 
circumscribed in the young than in the adult, where it might be reduced or even absent. 
The tubule was sometimes coiled and very brittle. It is “undoubtedly composed of 
cliitin, for, as with the gustatory tubules, it can still be seen in the cast-off shells of 
immature specimens and in the fresh shells cleaned with potash.” The same is true 
of the cuticular canals of the glands of the lobster, except that the tubule is always 
apparently straight and is never effaced. 
Lang ( 114 ) mentions some of the many cases in which glands have been described 
in the body and appendages of various Crustacea, attributing to some of these “der- 
mal” structures an excretory function, a fact which, he says, may be proved by feeding 
with carmine. 
Unicellular glands of a remarkable character have been described in Che append 
ages of various amphipods by Nebenski ( 140 ), Claus, and others. Here they are found 
in both sexes, but are confined in Orchestia to terrestrial species. Nebenski thinks that 
in tfie latter they may serve a respiratory function by keeping the gills moist. 
The glands situated in the mouth parts, when stained in Ehrlich-Biondi anilin 
mixture, select the green with more regularity, the nuclei taking up the red. This, 
however, may be due to slightly different methods of treatment in washing out the stain. 
The differences between what appear to be the resting and active gland, illustrated 
in figs. 212, 211, which are fairly characteristic of the swimmerets, immediately before 
and after ovulation, respectively, should not be given undue importance, since these 
conditions are met with, though less commonly, in other parts of the body. 
Micro-chemical reactions point clearly to the glandular nature of the large periph- 
eral cells of which these organs in certain places are composed. It is probable that 
in the pleopods they are concerned with the secretion of cement, for the reasons 
already given. What, then, is the function of the eccentric bipolar cell? Is it a retlex 
center for the gland, or is this a sensory cell which conveys impulses received from 
without to a reflex center in the central nervous system governing the secretory 
activity of the glandular cells'? If the former supposition were correct, another ques- 
tion would remain to be answered: What are the organs of the sense of taste? The 
remarkably quick responses which are obtained upon stimulating the mouth parts 
immediately suggest the presence of gustatory organs. Such animals as the lobster 
and crab undoubtedly possess the sense of taste, but no organs have yet been 
described to which this function could be ascribed. Huxley says : 
It is probable that the crayfish possesses something analogous to taste, and a very likely seat for 
the organ of this function is in the upper lip and the met.astoma. ; but if the organ exists it possesses no 
structural peculiarities by which it can be identified. 
The labrum of the crayfish, so far as I could ascertain from a single specimen 
which I sectioned, contains no such glandular organs as occur in the lobster. 
If it is inadmissible to regard any of the tegumental “glands” as gustatory 
organs, we must conclude that no distinct organs of taste can be detected in this 
animal, which has the power of discriminating its food. Is it possible, as Lemoine 
suggested ( 118 ), that the sense of taste is in some species blended with that of smell 
