Braggadocio

“ Bacteriology of Braxy. The essential cause of braxy was revealed by Ivar Nielson in 1888, who demonstrated on the local lesions of the alimentary canal and the capillaries of various internal organs a bacillus which he named bacillus gastromycosis ovis. This is 2 to 6μ long by 1μ broad, occurring in pairs or filaments. The organism has an elliptical form and stains deeply at the extremities, while the central, bulging portion fails to take the color, is highly refrangent, and represents the spore. The non-spore-bearing bacilli are long, uniform rods with rounded ends. ”

“ In Discinisca and Lingula, however, the sub-oesophageal ganglion is not drawn out, but lies medianly; it gives off two posteriorly directed nerves to the stalk, which in Lingula unite and form a substantial nerve. Sense organs are unknown in the adult. The larval forms are provided with eye-spots, but no very specialized sense organs are found in the adult.
The histology of Brachiopods presents some peculiar and many primitive features. As a rule the cells are minute, and this has especially stood in the way of embryological research. ”

“ Such is the general arrangement of the shell muscles in the division composing the articulated Brachiopoda, making allowance for certain unimportant modifications observable in the animals composing the different families and genera thereof. Owing to the strong and tight interlocking of the valves by the means of curved teeth and sockets, many species of Brachiopoda could open their valves but slightly. In some species, such as Thecidea, the animal could raise its dorsal valve at right angles to the plane of the ventral one (fig. 4) . ”

“ The modified epithelium in connexion with the ganglia may possibly have some olfactory or tactile function, but beyond this the Brachiopoda would appear to be devoid of eyes, ears, or any other kind of sense organs,—a condition of things doubtless correlated with their sessile habits, and with the presence of a bivalved shell which leaves no part of their body exposed. ”

“ These maggots live in decomposing organic matter; they rarely live in water and some of them are parasitic. They either become barrel-shaped pupæ within the last larval integument or, after casting it, are transformed into naked pupæ. The larvæ of numerous Brachycera have been observed in man, some in ulcers or on mucous membranes, others in the skin or in the intestine, etc. In many cases the report only mentions the presence of the larvæ of flies; in other cases the species has been determined; whilst in still other cases the corresponding adult creature is unknown. ”

“ The following six genera are placed by Lamarck in this family:—Sphærulites, Radiolites, Calceola, Birostrites, Discina, Crania. Of these, Calceola, Discina, and Crania are shewn to belong to the Brachiopoda.
7. Brachiopoda (plates, fig. 201 to 219) . The shells of this family are inequivalve, equilateral, and attached to marine bodies by a tendon passing through one of the valves. The animals have, near their mouth, two elongated, ciliated arms, which are spirally rolled when at rest. The following genera are enumerated by Lamarck, Orbicula, Terebratula, Lingula. ”

“ Crania in life opens its valves by moving upon the straight hinge, without sliding the valve.
The nervous system of Brachiopods has, as a rule, maintained its primitive connexion with the external epithelium. In a few places it has sunk into the connective-tissue supporting layer beneath the ectoderm, but the chief centres still remain in the ectoderm, and the fibrils forming the nerves are for the most part at the base of the ectodermal cells. ”

“ Of course, in their younger days, the wandering larvæ may be swallowed up in numbers by other animals, but when the young brachiopod is once fixed, the shell, the mantle-edge with its bristles, and the ciliary apparatus protect it so well, that not even parasites can attack it. ”

“ The Molluscoidea, to which phylum belong the Bryozoa and Brachiopoda, would be but imperfectly understood from a morphological standpoint but for the vast number of fossil forms. The Brachiopoda have been estimated to have less than 150 living species, while probably more than 6,000 fossil species have been described. Of the 31 families only 7 have living representatives. We are dependent, therefore, largely on the fossil forms for our knowledge of the morphology of this class. ”

“ The Brachyura (or Crabs) include many species that live [180] in fresh water. Some of these, like the species of Sesarma (see Plate XXIII.) and some other genera of the family Grapsidæ, are common throughout the tropics, passing up the rivers from the brackish water of estuaries, and being often found long distances inland in quite fresh water. The true River Crabs, however, belong to the family Potamonidæ, and are very common throughout the warmer regions of the globe. ”

“ Unfortunately almost every anatomist who has written on the muscles of the Brachiopoda has proposed different names for each muscle, and the confusion thence arising is much to be regretted. In the Testicardines, of which the genus Terebratula may be taken as an example, five or six pairs of muscles are stated by A. Hancock, Gratiolet and others to be connected with the opening and closing of the valves, or with their attachment to or movements upon the peduncle. ”

“ Their proportional numbers can by no means be explained by supposing them to have inhabited seas of great depth, for the contrast between the palæozoic and the present state of things has not been essentially altered by the late discoveries made in our deep-sea dredgings. We find the living brachiopoda so rare as to form about one forty-fourth of the whole bivalve fauna, whereas in the Lower Silurian rocks of which we are now about to treat, and where the brachiopoda reach their maximum, they are represented by more than twice as many species as the Lamellibranchiate bivalves. ”

“ Six or eight species of braxy are enumerated by shepherds, but as they all bear a striking resemblance one to another, in their origin and progress, it is preferable to treat of them as one disease. Indeed wire-drawn distinctions, though occasionally serviceable in cattle-medicine, ought in most instances to be avoided, as they are of but little avail, and in this disease straw-splitting can only serve to tantalize the farmer, by giving rise to ideas of finical modes of treatment, which before the Chapter ends are reduced to the simplest aids which medicine affords. ”

“ The early form of the larva bears, anteriorly, a resemblance to the Brachyural type, whilst the caudal appendages assimilate to those of the Macrura. The same conditions obtain in the young of Anomura. At the time of birth, the larva, like that of the Brachyura, has only the two gnathopoda developed, whilst the [Pg 2] termination of the tail is like that of a fish, as in the Macrura. In the adult, the internal antennæ possess short flagella and complementary appendages, such as exist in the order Brachyura, whilst the external antennæ have the long and slender flagella proper to the Macrura. ”

“ Although the Brachiopoda, or "Lamp-shells," are not true mollusca, they are not very far removed from them, and are so often to be found in cabinets that it will not do to pass them over, especially since in past times they were very abundant, an enormous number occurring in the fossil state. Only eight genera are now living. ”

“ The soft parts are composed of muscles, the mantle (which secretes the valves) , digestive, respiration, reproductive, and excretory organs, and the tentacle-bearing lophophore.
In adult life the brachiopod is attached to the sea bottom by means of a fleshy stalk called the pedicle (fig. 14) , and this is usually extruded through a hole (the pedicle foramen) which is located in the ventral or pedicle valve. The upturned area which is usually present on the pedicle valve is called the beak. ”

“ The blood is a coagulable fluid. Whether it contains corpuscles is not yet determined, but if so they must be few in number. It is a remarkable fact that in Discinisca, although the vessels to the lophophore are arranged as in other Brachiopods, no trace of a heart or of the posterior vessels has as yet been discovered.
Muscles.—The number and position of the muscles differ materially in the two great divisions into which the Brachiopoda have been grouped, and to some extent also in the different genera of which each division is composed. ”

“ Like the sedentary worms, and most of the mollusks the brachiopod starts life as a minute, free-swimming, wormlike larva, top-shaped and extremely active. During this period the mortality of the tiny unprotected creatures is very great, but once the mud-dwelling phase of existence has started, the race is secure from most enemies. ”

“ The body cavity of a Brachiopod is traversed by several pairs of muscles, which are very constant in position, and whose contraction serves to open and close the shell, to move the animal upon its stalk, and to govern the movements of the arms. ”

“ Though some cases of braxy recover yet the treatment of the disease can hardly be seriously considered as yet. A disorder which is so rapid in its progress, so early associated with such great and rapidly extending lesions of the most vital organs, and which proves fatal so early and almost invariably, leaves little room for a successful treatment. In the milder cases, likely to recover of their own accord, this may be hastened by the internal use of antiseptics and purgatives, and perhaps even by antitoxic serum from the blood of an immunized animal. ”

“ The upper portion of the Soldier-Crab, I may mention, is cast off in one piece, while the animal is seated in its turbinated dwelling. The act is performed with the most perfect ease. Unlike the Brachyura, the Anomoura do not exhibit signs of such rapid growth immediately after exuviation, but increase in size very gradually indeed. ”

“ The fossils, save in the limestone bands, are not easy to find, but in places they are fairly abundant. Brachiopods are far more numerous than the Mollusca properly so-called. Of these, the genus Orthis was most abundant at about the close of this period. Certain beds of this age have received the name of Lingula Flags, owing this prevalence in them of the curious Brachiopod Lingula so like the species now living in some of the warm seas of the tropics. ”

“ In the aberrant genus Brachypauropus the evidence is practically completed by the correspondence in number between the terga and pairs of legs, there being a divisional line between the two rows of setae. On each side of the body there are five long pubescent tactile setae situated on the second to the sixth terga in Pauropus, and on the pleural area corresponding to these terga in Brachypauropus.
The cerebral mass of the nervous system is large and when viewed from above is seen to consist of two lobes defined by a median groove. In the absence of eyes no optic nerves are given off. ”

“ Of Brachiano may be by. Away! [Exit Servant.
He that deals all by strength, his wit is shallow:
When a man's head goes through, each limb will follow.
The engine for my business, bold Count Lodowick:
'Tis gold must such an instrument procure;
With empty fist no man doth falcons lure.
Brachiano, I am now fit for thy encounter:
Like the wild Irish, I'll ne'er think thee dead
Till I can play at football with thy head.
Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo. [67]
[Exit.
[Pg 67]
ACT THE FOURTH. SCENE I.—A Room in the House of Convertites.
Enter the Matron and Flamineo. ”

“ It is most typically developed in the most specialized Decapoda, the Brachyura, while the more primitive groups of Malacostraca, the Euphausiidae, Penaeidea and Stomatopoda, retain the primitive order of appearance of the somites, and, for the most part, of the limbs. At the same time, the tendency to a retardation in the development of the posterior thoracic somites is very general in Malacostracan larvae, and may perhaps be correlated with the fact that in the primitive Phyllocarida the whole thoracic region is very short and the limbs closely crowded together. ”

“ Years ago blackleg was regarded as a form of anthrax. This has been proved erroneous, however, for blackleg and anthrax are two distinct and independent diseases, each being caused by a specific germ. One diseased animal does not transmit the disease directly to a healthy one. When caused, it is the result of self-inoculation, that is, by the germ entering a wound in the skin or mucous membrane of the body, produced on the legs while the animals are roaming over the fields, or at the mouth while grazing; these are the places by which the blackleg germs get into the system. ”

“ The organic remains are not, as a rule, in a good state of preservation; however, out of 25 genera and species of Mollusca belonging to the Sand bed, I have recognized as many as 13 in the Marl. The only Brachiopod of the two upper formations that I have likewise found in the Marl is Terebratula sinuosa, which is not uncommon, and is the only representative of the group I have seen from this bed. ”

“ Beginning at the herbage or leaves, we proceed insensibly to bracteas in many species of Salvia, or to both calyx and corolla in the Garden Tulip, which frequently has a leaf half green half coloured, either in the flower or on the stalk just below it. Anemone alpina produces occasionally a petal among the segments of its involucrum or bractea. Geum rivale, Engl. Bot. t., when cultivated in dry gravelly ground, exhibits such transformations in abundance. ”