[On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin]@TWC D-Link book
On the Origin of Species

CHAPTER VII
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These differ much in structure in the different species.

In their most perfect condition they curiously resemble the head and beak of a vulture in miniature, seated on a neck and capable of movement, as is likewise the lower jaw or mandible.

In one species observed by me, all the avicularia on the same branch often moved simultaneously backwards and forwards, with the lower jaw widely open, through an angle of about 90 degrees, in the course of five seconds; and their movement caused the whole polyzoary to tremble.

When the jaws are touched with a needle they seize it so firmly that the branch can thus be shaken.
Mr.Mivart adduces this case, chiefly on account of the supposed difficulty of organs, namely the avicularia of the Polyzoa and the pedicellariae of the Echinodermata, which he considers as "essentially similar," having been developed through natural selection in widely distinct divisions of the animal kingdom.

But, as far as structure is concerned, I can see no similarity between tridactyle pedicellariae and avicularia.


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