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
In this same hermaphrodite specimen of _I. quadrivalvis_, the two
ovigerous lamellæ contained some hundreds of larvæ in the first stage of
development, which were liberated from their enveloping membranes by a
touch of a needle: they were about the 16/1000ths of an inch in length,
and presented all the usual characters of larvæ at this period. What a
truly wonderful assemblage of beings of the same species, but how
marvellously unlike in appearance, did this individual hermaphrodite
present! We have the numerous, almost globular larvæ, with lateral horns
to their carapaces, with their three pair of legs, single eye,
probosciformed mouth and long tail:--we have the somewhat larger larvæ
in the last stage of development, much compressed, boat-formed, with
their two great compound eyes, curious prehensile antennæ, closed
rudimentary mouth and six natatory legs so different from those in the
first stage:--we have the two attached males, with their bodies reduced
almost to a mouth placed on the summit of a peduncle, with a minute,
apparently single eye shining through the integuments, without any
carapace or capitulum, and with the thorax as well as the legs or cirri
rudimentary and functionless:--lastly, we have the hermaphrodite, with
all its complicated organisation, its thorax supporting six pairs of
multi-articulated two-armed cirri, and its well-developed capitulum
furnished with horny valves, surrounding this wonderful assemblage of
beings. Unquestionably, without a rigid examination, these four forms
would have been ranked in different families, if not orders, of the
articulated kingdom.
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