Abstract
“COMMON and lowly as most may think the Crayfish, it is yet so full of wonders that the greatest naturalist may be puzzled to give a clear account of it.” These words from von Rosenhof, who in 1755 contributed his share to our knowledge of the animal in question, are cited by Prof. Huxley in the preface to the careful account of the English crayfish, and its immediate congeners, which forms the latest volume of the International Scientific Series, The book is not designed for “general readers,” those somewhat luxurious but presumably intelligent persons for whom so much scientific knowledge is chopped and spiced at the present day. It is, as we gather from the author's statement, intended as an introduction to serious zoological study, for those who will turn over its pages, crayfish in hand, and carefully verify its statements as to details of structure with scalpel and microscope. To these and also to those who are already well versed in crustacean anatomy, the book will have great value and interest; to the latter more especially, as showing how in the careful study of one organism we are “brought face to face with all the great zoological questions which excite so lively an interest at the present day,” and as an exhibition of that “method by which alone we can hope to attain to satisfactory answers of these questions.”
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References
"The Crayfish; an Introduction to the study of Zoology." By T. H. Huxley, F.R.S. (London: Kegan Paul, 1880.)
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LANKESTER, E. The Crayfish 1 . Nature 21, 353–355 (1880). https://doi.org/10.1038/021353a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/021353a0