The armadillo (genus Dasypus), is an edentate mammal peculiar to South America, consisting of various species, belonging to a family intermediate between the sloths and ant-eaters. They are covered with a hard bony shell, divided into belts, composed of small separate plates like a coat of mail, flexible everywhere except on the forehead, shoulders, and haunches, where it is not movable. The belts are connected by a membrane, which enables the animal to roll itself up like a hedgehog. These animals burrow in the earth, where they lie during the daytime, seldom going abroad except at night. They are of different sizes; the largest, Dasypus gigas, being about one metre in length without the tail, and the smallest only 25 cm. They subsist chiefly on fruits and roots, sometimes on insects and flesh. They are inoffensive, and their flesh is esteemed good food. There is a genus of isopodous Crustacea called Armadillo, consisting of animals allied to the wood-lice, capable of rolling themselves into a ball. Research Armadillo
Articulata is the third great section of the animal kingdom according to the arrangement of Cuvier, including all the invertebrates with the external skeleton forming a series of rings articulated together and enveloping the body, distinct respiratory organs, and an internal ganglionated nervous system along the middle line of the body. They are divided into five classes, viz. Crustacea, Arachnida, Insecta, Myriapoda, and Annelida. The first four classes are now commonly placed together under the name of Arthropoda, and the whole are sometimes called Arthrozoa. Research Articulata
Cirripedia is the Cirrepedes subclass of crustacea. These are the barnacles and acorn shells. They are sedentary animals with a reduced head and abdomen. The most striking appendages are usually the six pairs of biramous thoracic feet, which are used in catching food, being swept through the water after the fashion of a fishing net. They are crustaceans which have undergone retrograde metamorphosis, being free-swimming in the larva form, but becoming after a time attached by the head. When adult they are affixed to some substance, either set directly upon it, as in the genusBalanus; or placed on a foot-stalk, as the barnacle; or sunk into the supporting substance, as the whale-barnacle. Research Cirripedia
Crab is a popular name for crustacea of the sub-order Brachyura and to many of the Anomura of the order Decapoda. The true crabs (Brachyura) are characterised by having a small abdomen and the head and breast are united, forming the cephalothorax, and the whole is covered with a strong carapace.
The mouth has several pairs of strong jaws, in addition to which the stomach has its internal surface studded with hard projections for the purpose of grinding the food. The stomach is popularly called the 'sand-bag'; a little behind it is the heart, which propels a colourless lymph (the blood) to the gills (' dead man's fingers'). The liver is the soft, rich yellow substance, usually called the fat of the crab. They 'moult' or throw off their calcareous covering periodically.
They have ten legs, of which the first pair are modified as claws, and the remaining pairs are used for locomotion. There are many genera, distinguished from the lobster and other macrurous or long-tailed decapods by the shortness of their tail, which is folded under the body. Their eyes are compound, with hexagonal facets, and are pedunculated, elongated, and movable. Like most individuals of the class, they easily lose their claws, which are as readily renewed. They are generally scavengers, living on decaying animal matter, though others live on vegetable substances, as the racer-crabs of the West Indies, which suck the juice of the sugar-cane.
Most crabs inhabit the sea, others fresh water, some the land, only going to the sea to spawn. Of the crabs several species are highly esteemed as an article of food, and the fishery constitutes an important trade on many coasts. The large edible crab (Cancer pagurus) is common on the British shores, and is much sought after. Research Crab
Crustacea is the crustacean class of arthropods. They are mainly aquatic animals breathing by gills. There are two pairs of antennae and three pairs of jaws. Research Crustacea
Edriophthaimata is one of the great divisions of the Crustacea, including all those genera which have their eyes sessile, or imbedded in the head, and not fixed on a peduncle or stalk as in the crabs, lobsters, etc. It is divided into three orders: Loemodipoda, Amphipoda,, Isopoda, and includes slaters, sandhoppers, woodlice, etc. Some are parasitic on fishes, and of the others some live in the sea and some on land, as the common and the sea woodlouse. Research Edriophthaimata
The entomostraca are a sub-class of the Crustacea, which includes all the lower and simpler forms. The number of segments and appendages varies very much in the different orders, and the gizzard of the higher forms is not represented. The larva is of the simple type known as the nauplius. Research Entomostraca
The flounder (Pleuronectes) is one of the flat-fishes of the family Pleuronectidae. The common flounder (Pleuronectes flesus) is found in the sea and near the mouths of large rivers around the British coast. Flounders have been successfully transferred to fresh-water ponds. They feed upon Crustacea, worms, and small fishes, and are much used as food. The Argus-flounder is the Pleuroncetes argus, a native of the American seas. Research Flounder
Galathea is a genus of decapod crustacea containing several common British forms, often called squat lobsters. The body is lobster-like, but is broad and somewhat flattened, the tail being habitually carried in a strongly bent position. Research Galathea
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Armadillo
