Investigations carried out by Blackman, and by Brown and Escombe, have shown clearly that the view put forward by Boussingault, that such absorption of gases takes place through the cuticular covering of the younger parts of the plant, is erroneous and can no longer be supported.
Similarly, the small amount of cuticular and of epidermal protection, and of lignification in succulent halophytes may also be related to the same circumstance.
The chief peculiarities that distinguish Trematodes from their free-living allies, the Turbellaria, are the development of adhering organs for attachment to the tissues of the host; the replacement of the primitively ciliated epidermis by a thick cuticular layer and deeply sunk cells to ensure protection against the solvent action of the host; and (in one large order) a prolonged and peculiar life-history.
It is to be remembered that the whole of the cuticular hard product produced on the dorsal surface and on the mantle-flaps is to be regarded as the " shell," of which a median band-like area, the ligament, usually remains uncalcified, so as to result in the production of two valves united by the elastic ligament.
Rudimentary cephalic eyes occur in the Mytilidae and in Avicula at the base of the first filament of the inner gill, each consisting of a I pigmented epithelial fossa containing a cuticular lens.