Synopsis of the contents of the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

  • Royal College of Surgeons of England
Date:
1862
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Synopsis of the contents of the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    the principal forms of nests, built chiefly by social insects of the Order Hymenoptera (Bees, Wasps, and Ants). Class Crustacea. The Crustacea are articulated animals, provided with jointed limbs; they breathe by gills, and have generally two com- pound eyes and four antennae, three pairs of jaws, and the same number of foot-jaws, and five pairs of feet. The skin is usually a solid crust, more or less calcareous, and is cast off at intervals during growth. In the early moultings they sustain a true metamorphosis. The animals of this class are contained in Floor Cabinet E, Compartments 7 and 8, and in Wall Case VII. Here will be found various forms of Crabs and Lobsters, including fine examples of the Robber Crab (Birgus latro), G 46 and 47 [IF.], from the East Indian seas; the Spiny Lobster (Pali- nurus homarus), G 55 [IF.], from the British coast; the claws of some gigantic specimens of the edible Crab and Lobster, G 69 [IF.] and 70 [-F.] ; and also two species of King Crab (.Limulus), G 80 and 81 [IF.], the former from North Ame- rica, the latter from the Moluccas. Class Cirrhipoda. These animals are so nearly allied, in the more important parts of their organization, to the Crustacea, that by many authors they are considered to form an order of that great class. When young, they swim freely about the sea, but finally attach themselves by the anterior extremity of the body to some rock, or floating submarine substance, and re- main fixed for the remainder of their lives, developing in most cases a shell composed of several calcareous plates. The presence of this shell caused them to be classed by older naturalists among “ multivalve” Mollusks. The Cirrhipods are divided into two groups—the Sessile and Pedunculated. Among the former is the Balanus, or Acorn Shell, of which a large group is seen in Wall Case VII. H 1; and others in Floor Cabinet E, Compartment 6, where