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To this we may answer that the occurrence of the Zoea-form in all the above-mentioned Decapoda, its existence in Peneus during the whole of that period of life which is richest in progress and in which the wide gap between the Nauplius and the Decapod is filled up, its recurrence even in the development of the Stomapoda, the occurrence of a larval form closely approaching the youngest Zoea of Peneus in the Schizopod genus Euphausia, and the reminiscence of the structure of Zoea, which even the adult Tanais has preserved in its mode of respiration, all indicate Zoea as one of those steps in development which persisted as a permanent form throughout a long period of repose, perhaps through a whole series of geological formations, and thus has also made a deeper impression upon the development of its descendants, and formed a firmer nucleus in the midst of other and more readily effaced young states.
It cannot, therefore, surprise us that in transitions from the original mode of metamorphosis to direct development, even when produced independently, the larval life commences in the same way with this Zoea-form in different families, in which the earlier stages of development are effaced.
Thus, in my eyes, this point long constituted one of the chief difficulties in the application of the Darwinian views to the Crustacea, and I could scarcely venture to hope that I might yet find traces of this passage through the Zoea-form among the Amphipoda or Isopoda, and thus obtain a positive proof of the correctness of this conclusion.
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