219 
postulate that „Als ursprungliche Geschlechtsform mussen wir bei 
Tieren die hermaphroditische ansehen.“ This statement, of course, 
holds great probability; x ) but it is an error, when it is used as an 
axiom concerning every animal group in particular. It is com- 
monly presumed that the coelenterates have given rise to all higher 
groups, directly or indirectly; nevertheless hermaphroditism is al- 
ready here abandoned in most species, and it is not easily seen, 
why the ancestral forms of every higher group should have re- 
turned to hermaphroditism, as many authors seem to maintain. 
Especially in the cirripeds nothing speaks in favour of this theory. 
As above pointed out, hermaphroditism among other crustaceans can 
always be traced back to special biological conditions, as f. inst. 
often to parasitism; it is here no doubt a secondary phenomenon. 
We cannot think that the cirripeds have originated separately; 
their organisation and development give evidence of a close re- 
lationship with the other crustaceans, and they have no doubt 
originated with some or other of them. We therefore cannot adopt 
the postulate for this group. 
Kriiger arrives at the conclusion that the dwarf males are 
a new acquisition, and he arrives at this conclusion from the theory 
of Mitella as an ancient form, most primitive among recent cirri¬ 
peds; he here again evidently foots on paleontology. To this we 
can say that paleontology has shown, mirabile dictu, that re- 
mains of Scalpellum occur at as early periods as of Mitella. Look- 
ing at their biology we see how much lesser probability there is 
that the former genus may be found in the deposits: its species 
are rather scanty in occurrence, and on the whole live in the 
deeper parts of the oceans, whereas Mitella lives in great com- 
munities on the shores, and is thus more likely to be found in 
the deposits; also this makes the paleontological evidences pro- 
blematic. 
If we now consider the occurrence of males, and compare it 
with the phylogenetic lines drawn up by Hoek, Gru vel, and 
Kriiger, we arrive at rather inexplicable results. In Mitella the 
male is absent; in Calantica and Smilium a rather highly organised 
male of a sudden occurs, to degenerate or even to disappear again 
in Scalpellum. In the aberrant genus Ibla a degenerate male again 
x ) Although „indifferent" is a better word in this case than hermaphrodite. 
