A Monograph on the Sub-class Cirripedia (Volume 1 of 2): The Lepadidae; Or, Pedunculated CirripedesDarwin, Charles
Science
A Monograph on the Sub-class Cirripedia (Volume 1 of 2): The Lepadidae; Or, Pedunculated Cirripedes
Darwin, Charles
Cirripedia; Lepadidae
The _Scuta_, as well as the other valves, are imperfectly calcified:
shape, variable. They usually consist of two lobes or plates, placed at
above a right angle to each other, and rarely (fig. 4 _c_) almost in a
straight line; the lower lobe is more pointed and narrower than the
upper; the two correspond to the lower and middle lobes in the scuta of
_C. virgata_, the upper one being here absent.
The _Terga_ are developed in an extremely variable degree; they are
often entirely cast off and absent. In very young specimens, they are of
the same length with the carina, but after the carina has ceased to
grow, the terga always increase a little, and sometimes to such a degree
as to be even thirty or forty times as long as carina. When most
developed (fig. 4 _a_) they are not above one third as long as the
scuta, to which they lie at nearly right angles; they consist of
imperfectly calcified plates, square at both ends, slightly broader and
thinner at the end towards the carina, where they are a little curled
inwards, than at the opposite end; they are not quite flat in any one
plane; internally they are slightly concave; finally, I may add, they
nearly resemble in miniature the terga of _C. virgata_. In full grown
specimens, the terga almost invariably drop out and are lost; but even
in this case, a long brownish cleft in the membrane of the capitulum,
marks their former position. The orifice of the capitulum is usually
notched between the terga, or between the clefts left by them; on each
side of the notch there is a slight prominence. In some few cases,
however, there is no trace of this notch. Behind the terga or the
clefts, the great ear-like appendages, as we have seen, are situated.
_Carina_, rudimentary (fig. 4) and often absent; it is
pointed-elliptical, and is rarely above the 1/40th of an inch long.
After arriving at this full size, calcareous matter is added to the
under surface over a less and less area, so that it becomes internally
pointed, and finally, in place of calcareous matter, continuous sheets
of chitine are spread out beneath it; hence, during the disintegration
of the outer surface, the carina comes to project more and more, and at
last drops out; subsequently, even the little hole in which it was
imbedded, disintegrates and disappears.
_Peduncle_, cylindrical, distinctly separated from the capitulum, and
generally twice or thrice as long as it: the thickness of the outer
membrane generally great, but variable: surface of attachment variable,
either pointed, or widely expanded, or formed into divergent
projections.
_Filamentary Appendages_, seven on each side, highly developed, long and
tapering; there are two beneath the basal articulation of the first
cirrus, and one on the posterior margin of the pedicel of each cirrus,
excepting the sixth pair; the filaments on the pedicels are nearly twice
as long as the cirri themselves.
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