XVIII. On the development of decapod crustacea

Abstract

Many years have elapsed since Mr. Vaughan Thomson made the important discovery that the Zoëa of naturalists was but the immature form of an adult Decapod. His fortunate observation was received with the greatest caution by zoologists in general, and several undertook researches upon the subject to demonstrate the error into which they assumed he had fallen. The researches of Rathke upon the Astacus Fluviatilis , of MM. Milne-Edwards and Audouin upon marine Decapoda, together with those of Mr. Westwood upon the genus Gegaricinus , for a considerable period delayed the general acceptation of the fact that the Zoëa is the larva of a Decapod.